Day Seven

Well that was fun. 

I woke up this morning late - the alarm didn’t go off and my little forest hideaway was that peaceful I slept in. I eventually got myself on the move and hit the road. 

The access laws in Scotland give you the right to roam but every now and then signs are put up to try to dissuade you from exercising that right. This morning that was my first problem. Lots of do not go further or disaster will strike. I chose to go further because a) I felt road works were unlikely on a Sunday b) I could not see or hear any road working evidence and c) it was too blinking far to turn around now. 

I traversed the silent building works and was spat out at the Falls of Dochart. Very pretty they are too. After a jacket potato for lunch and a stop at the co-op to load my bag with 3 days worth of food I started my climb.  My bag was very heavy. 

My climb went like this:

This is nice isn’t it

Yes a lift sounds lovely but I’ll carry on walking. Thanks for stopping to ask. 

Ooh, there’s a lot of up

More up. It’s quite hot. 

I’m getting too hot. Have to stop. 

All the streams are dry. 

Pigging cleggs*

Ah water. That’s freezing, straight out of the ground. Lovely. 

Pigging cleggs. 

I’ll stop at this quiet little spot next to the fence. Better put on a coat to prevent clegg attack. 

Eat something and relax. Get that body temperature right down. 

Oh look. 20 landrovers. Oh a lady on a phone buying a car. Are they hanging around? 

Yes. 

Damn, really need a wee. 

On we go then. Good god this mile is taking forever.  

Out of sight at last. Have a wee. 

Still not at the damn dam. 

I can see it. 

I swear it’s moving further away. 

Going up. Tired now. Might camp here. 

The damn dam is very low.

Ooh look at the view. 

Is that where the path goes? 

That view will be amazing.  

Okey dokey off we go. 

Not far now. 

Well. That view was worth it. 

Look how far I’ve walked. 

I am super woman. 

I’ll head down a bit to camp. 

A bit high and exposed here.

I’ll stop in an hour. 

And a bit. 

I’ll stop at those trees. 

It’s a marsh. 

Shouldn’t camp in a marsh. 

It’s big this marsh. 

Ooh look at the view. 

Still marsh. 

Marsh

Dry land. 

Camp. 

Cook tea. 

Try to maintain an insect free zone. 

Bloody cleggs 

Need a wee again. 

Get eaten alive by bloody midges. 

Pretty view though. 

*cleggs are horse flys. They are very buzzy, very annoying and very bitey. They may be the reason that I spent a significant proportion of my day with a hanky swinging under my hat