Solo Wildcamping in remote Mountains,41 km in the Wilderness
Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2020 10:34 pmMovie of the Adventure - Night in the Wilderness, great pitch-view point:
Finally Lockdown lifted and the rules allowed to enjoy the oudoor fully again ! After the day out with my daughter Cheyenne in Glencoe & Glen Nevis incl. Steall Falls shortly after the lift and then our family hike on Ben Vrackie another week I had the opportunity to do something longer where I can stay one night. Because of upgrading some of my camping stuff, which I tried only in our garden during the lockdown, I was excited to go to the mountains and test it properly in the wilderness !
Decision made and after checking the weather which was not so good for the sunday, but offered some dry and clear hours in the South of Cairngorms, I planned the trip and wanted to enjoy as much freedom as possible so an remote area with the feelings of solitude would be the best ! Unfortunately the lockdown lifted, but the weather got back to the "normal" in the same time as we axperienced probably the best sunny and dry days in the time of restrictions...but nothing can stop us now, after the long time of waiting !
Photo - story:
Finally Lockdown lifted and the rules allowed to enjoy the oudoor fully again ! After the day out with my daughter Cheyenne in Glencoe & Glen Nevis incl. Steall Falls shortly after the lift and then our family hike on Ben Vrackie another week I had the opportunity to do something longer where I can stay one night. Because of upgrading some of my camping stuff, which I tried only in our garden during the lockdown, I was excited to go to the mountains and test it properly in the wilderness !
Decision made and after checking the weather which was not so good for the sunday, but offered some dry and clear hours in the South of Cairngorms, I planned the trip and wanted to enjoy as much freedom as possible so an remote area with the feelings of solitude would be the best ! Unfortunately the lockdown lifted, but the weather got back to the "normal" in the same time as we axperienced probably the best sunny and dry days in the time of restrictions...but nothing can stop us now, after the long time of waiting ! Photo - story:
- Nice nature friendly mini memorial just before Braemar
- Beautiful place for the headstone between Braemar and Inverey
- Linn of Dee car park, ready to go !
- Initial view just after the forest
- Along the way...
- Very long way ahead !
- Sign of the previous winds
- ...a few miles later
- The ruins of Ruigh nan Clach
- Bothy in the view
- closer...
- ...and from behind
- the Bothy back in the distance...
- Waterproof on as weather was changing many times, sun, rain, wind, fog, clear again...and again...and again...
- Spotted the forest and after checking the map, which shows it's the last one on the way, decision made - probably best place for the night !
- This would be the place...
- ...with this view !
- Done !
- The forest is a great shelter from the rain and wind, it has hard and dry ground and hidden from the road view
- happy with the viewpoint also !
- Camouflage :-)
- Can you spot it ? Jus if you know about it ;-)
- Time ( limited ) to continue towards the hills
- Geldie Lodge ruin
- Looking back, hill"walkers" left their bikes there...
- Another angle a few metres later
- Closer to Carn an Fhidhleir
- The pathless, boggy terrain later on
- Looking back from the slope...there is my tent in the forest in the distance
- Sometimes dry...and sometimes wet !
- far from the tent
- ...and back, closer to the tent again !
- Time to enjoy the camping ;-)
- ...and relax
- No trace left in the morning
- It was a great trip, enjoyed my solo wild camping after many years as I'm mostly doing one day trips ( with crazy night starts if distance to get back home the same day and caring about my daughter Cheyenne ).
I was optimistic to walk so far with the heavy stuff as I did not want to stay too close of Linn of Dee where some campers had the base, I wanted to enjoy the solitude for my camping, the forest was best option in the weather, didn't fancy to wake up on opened windy area and very wet grass. My later start from the car park and my reduced fitness level after the 4 month of gap as I must admit, allowed me just to get close to the 1st summit, then turned back to at least enjoy the relaxing camping as it was something I missed for years 
Shame, so close, but the Munros will wait for next and it will be as light packing as possible 
