Day 13: Charr Bothy to camp near Stonehouse in Feteresso Forest

Following the original plan, I headed up Glen Dye to Glen Dye Lodge. On the way, I had the opportunity to watch some live sheep dog action (actually three dogs working in two independent groups).

Unusual hilltop near Glendye Lodge
My route went along a minor road and then onto some tracks and paths to a supposed footbridge over to Heatheryhaugh. This is actually something that the TGO challenger guidance said was missing but I guess I should read more closely next time. I also passed a couple, John and Sue, who told me about the lack of a bridge. I decided to see for myself to try to avoid a two mile detour but what I found was a cage on a steel wire that had a broken winch mechanism.

Not much of a river crossing
I looked around for places to ford but it all seemed a bit dangerous. I continued so far south up the side of the river, that I actually ended up going all the way to the Bridge of Dye, about one mile up. There was a wild deer on one section, apparently in quite a hurry to get out of sight, and quite a large dried-out river bed, that I walked along for a while. Eventually, after going through some woodland, I ended up in a field of sheep that had a gate out to the bridge. I later learnt from Melissa Mullan that there was a decent place to ford to the north of the broken cage.

Entering Feteresso Forest
 Following the track south towards Heatheryhaugh was a bit tiring in the sun. However, it was nothing compared to the very long upwards climb to Cairn Kerloch; possibly it was the heat and high humidity. Following this, coming down the path was quite painful; very rocky and steep.

It would have been a simple flat-ish path to get to the camp, just south of the Hill of Hobseat but this is where I made a navigational blunder. Somehow, I managed to take a path northeast, past the Hill of Blacklodge. By the time I realised, I was feeling tired and couldn't face going back the same way. Instead, I just went around a TV mast, after climbing a significant hill and then south to the camp area. This wasn't good; I ended up going an extra 3-4k.

It was a very nice summery evening when I reached the camp. There were a number of challengers there; including Darren, John and Sue, Fred and Sue, the Belgians and a few others. Plenty of room for at least ten of us. It wasn't hard to sleep that night, after finishing my last freeze-dried meal.







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