Day 12: Invermark Lodge to Charr bothy


With an early start and some sun, I set off with Elton and Marcus towards Tarfside. This was only about 5k distance and involved walking over the Hill of Rowan and seeing the tall monument.

Monument on the Hill of Rowan
St. Drostans, at Tarfside
When we finally reached the refuge, we were greeted by very friendly TGO volunteers and were sat down for a bacon roll, cake, fruit and tea - nice! There was also a shower available, so I took the opportunity before heading back to the hills. Elton and Marcus decided to stay there for the day, like many others would (although I hear they ran out of booze at the pub), but I wanted to press-on to Charr, so that I would have an extra day in hand and make the Thursday evening meal (as recommended by Bernie and others).

View from the top of Wester Cairn
From there, I headed northeast up Wester Cairn and Mount Battock to reach a trig point and some nice views. On the Wester Cairn there were quite a few hares about, although I wasn't quick enough to take photos, and also a helicopter was hovering nearby, between some of the peaks (maybe an OS plane checking out the trig points?).

At the top of Mount Battock
Trig point at the top of Mount Battock

From the top of Mount Battock, the descent was fairly easy and lead to some tracks. Following these for several miles, alongside the Water of Dye, eventually lead to the Charr Bothy. I didn't see anyone, except for a blue 4x4 that had some sort of radar dish or maybe loudspeaker on the top; it overtook me.
On the road approaching Charr Bothy
Reaching the Charr Bothy, I was greeted by the Belgians; Marc, Gaetan and Guy and Darren (Fowler?). There were also a group of three camping nearby but we didn't see them, except out of the window. Darren seemed to have an interesting gear setup - a 45L pack with a huge meths stove.

I slept OK that night and there was plenty of room for the five of us.

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