Day 9: Hutchinson Memorial Hut to Braemar

After saying goodbye to the Germans in the hut, I started to head down towards Derry Lodge. It was still raining a bit but the path downhill from there was much easier than the one I had descended the night before. The views of Glen Derry were not bad.

Walking down Glen Derry from the north

Further on, I went over a footbridge and spotted a couple of dry patches of grass nearby; presumably where Lee and Tony had camped that night.

At Derry Lodge, I saw a few groups of hikers, including one leader who said he was taking his group up on to the Devil's Point (another Munro in the area). Given the weather, I thought they might not have a great day.

While taking a short break on the path, I was a bit surprised to see the two younger American challengers; they waved and said "hi" but didn't stop to chat. I assumed they must have had a long rest day in Aviemore and gone through the Lairig Ghru. I later reflected that they must have taken a different route into Braemar because I didn't see them again that day.

I followed the track southeast through some woodland and bumped into someone sitting down in the rain at an intersection of the path, boiling water in a jetboil, apparently not worried about the rain. He said he was waiting for his D of E group.

Following then a minor road for a short while, I reached the entrance to the Mar Lodge estate. I did see a sign saying "TGO Challengers Welcome", which I later learnt invoved tea and cake provided by Mar Lodge. However, I felt that I needed to keep going to get to Braemar as quickly as possible - someone told me the weather would actually get worse.

Approaching Mar Lodge

After crossing the Victoria Bridge and seeing a group of D of E students sheltering in a monument (hopefully not the ones the guy in the rain was waiting for), I started walking uphill and then alongside the River Dee towards Braemar; by this point the rain was getting progressively worse and I was starting to feel the dampness reaching the underside of my waterproofs. I was disappointed to find that the footpath into Braemar, marked on my map, was closed off by fences, so I ended up walking about three miles to reach Braemar.

View of the River Dee from a bridge in Braemar
On arriving at Braemar, I decided to visit Gordon's Tea Rooms (after seeing several posters advertising that they welcome TGO challengers). When I arrived, it was packed out and there were about 10 backpacks outside.

Originally I intended to stay at the SYHA but they weren't open when I got there. Given how I was feeling on the day and the fact that I had good memories of staying once in the Invercauld Arms, as a boy many years ago, I decided that I had to stay there. The interior of the hotel is still very warm and homely but I didn't really recognise any of it thirty years on.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Day 5: Edge of Monadhliaths to Coignafearn Ruins

Day 1: Shiel Bridge to Athnamulloch

Day 14: Feteresso to Stonehaven