Day 11: Gelder Shiel Bothy to Invermark Lodge

Follwing the path south from Gelder Shiel was fairly easy going, except that I started out on the wrong side of the river and had to ford it a little way down. Eventually, after a mile or two, I reached Clais Rathadan, a decision point on my journey. I had a plan to go up to the top of Lochnagar (Cac Carn Beag) from there that day. Looking back, I regret not doing so - despite the 600m climb, it was only about 5k of horizontal distance to go up and down. However, I was feeling a bit tired and the wind was considerable (probably somewhat stronger on the summit).

View towards Lochnagar from Clais Rathadan

Walking southeast from there, on a really unpleasant downhill stretch of path, I reached the Spittal of Glenmuick. At this point, I met up with Lee, Tony, Bernie, Colin (Crawford?) and another couple. The rain was starting at this point so I didn't want to stick around too long. It was after about 1.5km walking along the track towards the Shelin of Mark that I realised I'd left my walking pole (duh!) at the Spittal of Glenmuich, so that was about 3k extra distance added to my day. On returning there, I briefly saw Fred and Sue and Stephan and Lorraine.

Some navigational challenges ensued on my way to the Shelin of Mark bothy (my vetter warned me about this). Although I had a reasonable compass bearing, I had actually started out from the wrong point along the river. So I had to resort to getting a fix from my phone and, after some bog-clomping, I found my way there (feeling a bit tired) and made myself a coffee. Lee, Tony, Bernie and Colin were just heading off from there, over the Muckle Cairn.

Inside Shelin of Mark Bothy

Path alongside Loch Lee


The original intention was to stop at the Shelin of Mark for the overnight stay on this day but I decided to follow some of the others' examples and push on from there since it was not long after midday. I decided to throw out my plan to go for Mount Keen and go directly southeast along Glen Lee towards Tarfside, over the Muckle Cairn. After clearing the bogs leading up the Cairn, the going was suprisingly good; possibly it was the cooler conditions of the late afternoon / evening. Eventually I caught up with Elton and Marcus, perhaps around 7pm, alongside Loch Lee, in the rain. We also passed another Tony (Hewitt?; who is reputed to have ten tents). At this point it was raining a fair amount and we were getting quite tired. I pressed on with Elton and Marcus looking for a camp site. Marcus had the good sense to ask at someone's house if it was OK to camp and it turned out to be the groundskeeper. He pointed us a little way down the track, past a castle, and down a bank outside of Invermark Lodge, next to the River. All told, I think I had walked about 30k that day.

A typical evening inside my tent, in the rain

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