Day 10 – Scotland is Keen

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I never get tired of the blue sky.
~Vincent van Gogh

May 19, 2014
Glen Muick to Tarfside

There are so many wonderful things I have learned, experienced and loved about Scotland. In my unresearched opinion I have noticed that Scottish men have really nice hair. AND it seems that with age it only gets better. I know that is a bit off topic. There are also A LOT of English words that have completely different meanings. For example: restroom=toliet cash register = till crazy = mental fog = mist

I have certainly managed to botch about every word, the meaning and pronunciation every time I open my mouth.

In Scotland you can go anywhere you like and camp wherever you choose except in the immediate vicinity of private dwellings, and military installations. This is all protected under the Scottish Rights of Way Society. This means to TGO hikers: see a fence just climb it, like that field cross it, or spot a great place to pitch a tent go for it.

Today we were sad to leave the Cairngorms Mountains, but ended up loving walking through new terrain on heather (low bushes). We have heard there are ticks, so we were excited to find a new use for our dirty girl gaiters, just tuck in the pants.

We climbed our last munro of the trip, Mount Keen. Just as we reached the top mist rolled in limiting views from the summit. In tradition, we brewed tea and ate lunch at the top.

We decided to push further and walked into Tarfside with fellow challenger Allen. Tarfside is a small village where challengers meet at St. Drostans for food and drink that has been prepared by lovely volunteers. I ordered and ate 2 bacon buddies!

Tonight we are camped on soft, green lawn across the street from the Mason Lodge where we met to swap fun stories, including one hiker that had 60 ticks. Hares, pheasants, and sheep are frolicking nearby.

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16 Comments

  1. Bacon butties (not buddies)… 😉
    Mmmmmmmm, another culinary highlight of the Scots.
    Every time I go to check out your web-site, there’s another fantastic write -up posted. Love it!

  2. The Dirty Girlz shot is pretty cool! That’s a great idea tucking your pants in. Probably would work great in mosquito country too.

  3. Lovely! There’s one photo of you I really like. You’re wearing a purple jacket and it looks so nice against the browish green hills and blue sky. I like the cross photos too. Such a beautiful area.

  4. Thanks for sharing this great adventure ! I enjoyed following you two

  5. Pam Schallock

    Give my love to Scotland!

    • Great to hear from you Pam. Scotland was all we had dreamed it would be. Lots and lots of new experiences. Thank you for following along.

  6. So much fun to follow your adventures as we slog through our own bog of AWRs, MAs, and Special Orders! Photographs and words have both been sublime. Annnnd, while i may be mistaken (but i don’t think so), i do believe that two international travelers have been born and those shiny new passports are gonna become filled with stamps. 🙂

  7. It was Lovely to follow your Scottish adventure and get a taste of the Highlands here in the low Netherlands.

  8. According to your Track Scotland map you are both done! The posts have been a splendid read, and gave a wonderful sense of “being there.” Thanks for those! God speed home.

  9. Thank you for sharing your trip story! Someone once said that America and Great Britain are allies only separated by a shared language . . English! Looks like you only have a few more days on the trail. Do you think you will finish on time?

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