The Long walk Blair Atholl to Lin O' Dee via the wilderness.

The Long walk

Blair Atholl to Lin O' Dee via the wilderness.

17th June 2005 and the bold me had been planning to do this walk for a while, if only I had known how hard it would be. lol. The plan was to leave one car at the Linn O' Dee then the family and I would drive down to Blair Atholl in the other car. When we reached the Linn O' Dee it was heaving with cars with hardly a parking space to be found. Managed to squeeze in beside this guy who was not for moving, seemed a grumpy F****. Got everything into the other car and set off for Blair Atholl. But just  a couple of miles down the road I remembered I had not paid for a parking ticket. "Bollocks". So about turn and back to the Linn O' Dee to pay for the parking place. Still busy must be a load of folk on the hills today. There certainly was and you will find out why when we get up Glen Tilt later today.

  I drove down to Blair Atholl not 100% sure where the start of this walk was, nothing new there then. No G.P.S. at this time just the old map and compass. As it was 12 ish by the time we got to Pitlochry, decided to find a cafe for lunch. I had meant to start this walk late so I would arrive at the over night stop late in the evening. Found a cafe tucked down the back of the main street, ordered lunch steak sandwich yum yum, cost a bit but good fuel for the trip.
Food would be one of my headaches for the next 2 days walking as I had to carry everything on my back in the rucksack.
 When you get to Blair Atholl you take the Old Bridge of Tilt road heading north till you get to the old bridge and turn left there. There is a car park just up a bit but I had another driver and a long way to walk so we drove right up to the start of the west side walk. Darn, the road was closed due to the firing range being used that day. Now what? There is a path up the  east side of glen tilt so back in the car and went in search of it. Not that easy to find. Back to the old bridge and turned left up the hill drove up there till we came to the end of the road at some buildings. " Nope this can't be it" I said. Nose into the map to study it. We had gone past the start of the path by a good bit so about turn and back down the road. I'll find it yet.
 "Found it" pack mule time and I am the mule. I know what you are thinking at this point!!!
Me at the start of the walk with all my gear.

Boy was that pack heavy. I had intended taking 4ltr of water with me but it was just too much when I tried to load on the last 2ltr's. 2ltr's would have to do, I would just have to pick water up on my travels. Well I am here now and it's a long way to go. Said bye to the family and set off along the track.

 I am on my way home - only 27 miles ish to the car!!!

I was on the old way past Kincraigie and on into the woods heading up Glen Tilt. The pack was so heavy I had to put a lot of weight onto my walking poles to help me chug along. Midges ahead, darn. When I hit the woods the damn Midge came out in force, had some anti insect wipes with me but did not do a lot of good. Nothing for it but to plod on and plod was the right word. A couple of Km on I had to stop to take the weight off for a while and take a few photos. Had 35mm camera with me and 2 films, which I rationed along the way. No digital camera then with a few thousand photo memory.

A rest stop looking back down Glen Tilt. Just opposite  was the rifle range and as I walked along I could hear the bullets whizzing down the range on the other side of the glen, glad I was over here.
 I walked on along the east side of Glen Tilt passing Croftmore and Gilbert's Bridge. This is where I would have come over to the east side had the firing range not been live. A few folk going about walking and biking. 3km into the walk and it was a boiling hot day so I was down to a teeshirt and of course that meant more weight in the rucksack. Must be 70 deg today, sweat running off of me and only 2lts of water to get me to my overnight stop. A good way to go so I'll have to watch how much I drink. Had a cunning plan though, took chewing gum with two reasons for that. One as a teeth cleaner and secondly it makes your mouth nice and moist stopping you drinking so much.
    Down by the river on the landrover track now heading for Marble Lodge and the bridge over to the west side. I met a bunch of older ladies from Glasgow shire who were a bunch of comedians and I had a great laugh with them.
When one of them saw my tent she was all for spending the night in it with me - I don't think so. They had stayed last night in a bothie further up the Glen and I am sure there had been a lot of hilarity up there. They were just nuts the lot of them but all good fun. They took my mind of the big climb ahead with a 15+  Kg rucksack which wasn't going to be fun.  I stopped at the bridge at Marble Lodge for a break and to take a few photos.

   6km into the walk now. Still on the Landrover track up Glen Tilt with about 2km to go to Clachghlas and the start of the big climb up onto Carn a'Chlamian which was my first Munro on the trip. Still chuckling about my encounter with the Glasgow shire ladies I plodded on towards Clachghlas in the heat must have been at least 75 deg+ down there in the glen.
  Marched on to the start of the track up to the top of Carn a'Chlamian just by Clachghlas in Glen Tilt. The climb would start here in earnest, darn who's stupid idea was this walk then?
Time for the chewing gum as I plodded up the track fairly slowly with my heavy
rucksack. The first bit heads west cutting across the steep side of the glen to take off the steepness and about 500m up turns north-east with a much more steady incline but still up. Now I mentioned about the car park at the Linn O' Dee being full and I would find out why as I climbed up just after the first bend in the track. 3 or 4 walkers came down all with white tee shirts on with blue logos and we stopped to chat. They were part of Water Aids put a person on top of every Munro in Scotland on that day. 17/6/2005 no matter what the weather. That's why the car park was so busy with so many Munros being accessible from Linn o' Dee. I nearly got a tee shirt out of them, but it would have been more to carry. I had told them my plans and they seemed impressed with my walk.

The view back down Glen Tilt.

As I climbed I could see people making their way back down from Beinn A' Ghlo on the other side of the glen. They were heading back and I had not reached my first Munro yet. How would my timing work out for reaching the overnight stop?

Only one thing for it keep on plodding up quite slowly with this heavy pack.
About 10 km into the walk the path flattened out a  bit and Glen Tilt disappeared from view.

A bit of a respite on the flatter path. My load had lightened a Kilo or so as I had drunk a litre of water, didn't seem like it was any lighter though. On up the path and Carn a'Chlamian came into view.

It was getting closer. Not too bad walking up here but my feet getting a bit sore now. I had my soft sole boots on on this walk which are not the best on metal roads.
On these big walks I am constantly questioning myself, should I take this route? have I got enough water ? and the big one have I got enough food to last the trip? Basically will I, wont I?
  Didn't think water would be a problem as I would be crossing a load of burns and rivers.
The last bit to the top gets steeper and just as you thought it would get easy all the way this comes into view.

This is Graham's photo taken in 2011.

Are we there yet? nope.
I reckon I must have reached the summit around 5-6pm then had a nice rest for a cuppa and a snack. The little gas stove I still use today was bought for this trip with 2 cans of gas, which I hoped would be enough.

Made it, the summit cairn of Carn a'Chlamian. One of the 15 Munros I would climb in 2005.
It was around 14km to here from the start of my walk, with about another 4 km ahead to my overnight stop.
 The wilderness starts here with no paths or roads after this. I headed north and downhill through the heather and there were quite a few sheep about. I'd have to boil the water from any burn around here.
I headed down over Conlach Beag and on down to Glen Tarf must have arrived at my hotel yes hotel out here around 8-8.30pm, I was at the AA Tarf hotel.

The Tarf Hotel.

This could well be the most remote hotel in Scotland.

Vacillates 2005

Water on tap       :- no, burn outside the door. Boil the water as sheep shit all around.

Toilet                  :- no, go dig a hole away from the building.

Central heating    :- no, but there is a fire you can light.

Comfy beds         :- no, raised wooden platform for your bed roll.

Wash vacillates    :- yes, a wash hand basin on a raised stand in the hall.

Table and chairs  :- yes.

Electricity only when there is lightning.

Nearest road to the north.  31.5km at Coylumbridge.

Nearest road to the south. 16.5km at Killiecrankie.

Nearest road to the west.   30km at The pass of Drumochter.

Nearest road to the east.    21.5km at Glenshee ski centre.

With Munros to climb over in each of these directions.

These are approximate distances.

A great place if you want to be alone.

Well would you believe there were two tents just off to the east. "We are not alone".

My route had been around 17-18km to get here.
I surveyed the interior and found a nice room with a fireplace with a raised wooden platform and chairs to sit on. Had the tent with me but decided to spend the night in here. Getting a wee bit chilly now so I lit the fire as there was some coal left for people to use. I just lit a small fire so as not to use up all the coal.

Told you it was a wee fire.

Food and a hot cup of tea. I let the water from the burn boil for a few minutes. I tell you this it was one of the best tasting cups of tea I have ever had. A sort of peaty taste with sheep poo and urine for added flavour. When out here needs must. I had taken a couple of Scotch Pies with me one frozen to keep it fresh for the second day. I had a couple of bags of rice which could be heated up in a pan with some water. For my tea, rice with a pie very slightly warmed up sitting on top of the rice as it cooked and a cup of soup and a wonderful cup of tea, sheep flavoured to wash it down. 5 star cooking you know in this hotel.

Stuffed from my gourmet meal I decided to have a look around outside.
I could hear the neighbours in the tents off to the east but never met them.
Getting on now and quite cool so I went back to my fire.
There was this plaque on the wall in memory of some flight lieutenant.

Now to save weight I had taken this 7oz sleeping bag, which rolled smaller than a loaf of bread, big mistake there. Had the old blindfold to cover my eyes as it was near midsummers day and hardly got dark for long. Laid out the sleeping mat on the raised wooden platform and got the sleeping bag laid out. Now when I am out in the wilds camping I always take my pyjamas. It's just great to get out of the walking clothes and get the pj's on. A small luxury and being the middle of summer I had shorts bottoms. Gee was I cold that night, ended up putting my clothes and jacket over my sleeping bag to try and keep warm. Had a real rough night and

not a lot of sleep.

The blue dots are other Munro's 

Day 2  18/6/2005

The killer walk.

5am with hardly any sleep got up, it was cold this morning. Had clean trousers and tee-shirts with me for day two, so a clean start to the day. Boiled the kettle for hot water to have a wash in the nice wash stand, luxury? After I filled the basin put the kettle back on for clean boiled water for drinking. Have you ever had Alpen with powered milk made with hot water? not the best combination a wee tad chewy but I was keen to get walking as I had a long way to go.  Filled my water bottle with clean water from the kettle and hoped it would cool down before I drank it. Got all the kit packed up and into the rucksack, ready for a 6am ish departure.

 I had been outside and it was not too warm so had most of the kit on for the walk. I reckoned I would have been warmer if I had slept in the tent and had put it in the lee of the Hotel. A cold north wind was blowing. Kitted up I set off taking a few photos of the Tarf hotel before I left.

The east end wing.

Looking back to Carn a'Chlamian and where I had come down the night before.

First challenge a 20 foot wide river just out the back of the hotel. The Tarf Water.
Wouldn't it be great to start a walk by falling in the river? Well I got across it on stones as it was not that deep. Skirted round the base of Meall Dubh-chlais in the flat boggy land passing an old sheiling ruin and started up the 722m hill heading for my first Munro of the day. Boy was it tough going up through the heather, no paths, not much sleep and with a still heavy pack it would be a plod.

The view looking back to the Tarf Hotel

 As I climbed it got colder with 4 tops to get over till the Munro. By the time I reached Leachdann Feith Seasgachain I was well tired. It was really cold now and decided to put my gloves on. Hmm, yes I did take them. On my last hill walk I found a good left hand glove some one had lost. Of course to keep the country side clean I had picked it up and taken it home chucking it down with the rest of the gear when I got home. Yep you guessed it I had 2 left hand gloves with me and no right one. lol. It was so cold that I just had to use the 2 left hand gloves, not the most comfortable but they kept the cold at bay.  You try holding your walking poles with your thumb in the pinkie hole.

Braight Coire an Stuic Chuithais next then a 906m top and the climb to Carn an Fhidhleir or Carn Ealar at 994m a Munro. Well the cloud came down and it started snowing side ways in the strong north wind. Visibility was down to about 100m or so with snow blowing straight into my face. with all my waterproofs on now I was warm enough walking. Getting up here had been a struggle and I was not feeling that great - it was getting to the what the hell am I doing here time.
Plodded onto the top. It's a long hill south to north and fairly flat on the top. I reached the top head down in the driving snow and mist. I  decided just to keep walking as I could not be bothered stopping and dropping the pack to get a photo. So I have borrowed one of Brian's taken in 2011 on Carn an Fhidhleir  and doctored it to resemble that day. Cheers Brian.

Brian's photo

75 deg one day and -4 deg the next, welcome to Scotland in July.

After reaching this top I had decided not to bother with the second Munro as I just did not have the energy to get down and back up another hill and still a big walk to the Linn O Dee after that.
Just a tad cheesed off now I kept walking north and my feet were quite sore as well. As I walked on about 1 km north of the summit the cloud to the east cleared for a minute or two and I noticed the river with many bends in it. I had seen that on the map as I walked along with the intent of just going down the north end and turning east. Brakes on and right turn down the east side of the mountain. Dropped down a bit and came out of the cloud and snow. Much nicer down here.
Stopped for something to eat and a cuppa. Checking to see what food I had left, I found a few cup a soups and that cheered me up. Still had the other pie and a rice as well as some other stuff. Felt better now after the food and set off down the mountain.
 I met a bloke just before it levelled off coming up to bag the two Munro's. Had the usual chit chat with him about where I had been and where I was going and we parted company.

Tank traps ahead.

Its about 1.3km across the peat burns you see below some of them are pretty high and it took me about one hour to get across and would you believe it I came out smack onto the path.

Notice the cloud has come down on the second Munro now so I was glad I did not bag it.

Around 3.5 km to Geldie Lodge from the start of the track and hard metal road all the way to the Linn O Dee. Pack was lighter now as I had eaten a lot of the food etc. Looked at the map and the hike to Linn O Dee. Most people bike to these two hills and it was a bit disheartening as there was round about 15km walking to the car and I had already walked 10km over the hills.

Nothing for it but to put one foot in front of the other and keep moving east. A few blisters on my feet were giving me jip now. Tried walking funny to move my feet around in my boots which eased it off for a while. About 1/2 way to Geldie Lodge I came on this unusual bird which I had never seen before. So of course I tried to get a picture of it. It would not co-operate, must have been camera shy. I looked it up in a book when i got home but I can't remember what it was now. Never seen another since.
In a wilderness now with no trees just bog and heather.

Onward to Geldie Lodge and a sign of civilisation.

My first view of Geldie Lodge.

A beacon of humanity from bygone days. A cheering sight for a lone walker.

Followed the path down to the lodge and took a few photos.

Geldie Lodge 2005

Geldie Lodge 2011 Graham's photo.

North now to the Geldie Burn crossing, a 25 foot wide burn to cross, great. There are stepping stones upstream a bit from where the Landrover track crosses the burn and that's where I crossed.

Geldie Burn crossing 2005

Brian crossing in 2011 at the Landrover track.Grahams photo.

Graham crossing in 2011 at the Landrover track. Brians photo.

Time for food. Got the stove out and heated up the last rice and my saved pie. Took off my boots to get some relief as my feet quite sore now. I stuck some plasters on the blisters to see if that would help. Cuppa and some food is a good way to cheer yourself up. Had covered about 14km to here but still with the walk out to Linn O' Dee on hard Landrover Track ahead. Packed up my rucksack and filled up my water bottle from the burn but didn't bother boiling it here as it was a fast flowing burn. Pain from here on. This was the first time I had been on this part of the Landrover track so I didn't know what it was like. Plod mode, very tired now just kept putting one foot in front of the other. 1 km further down the track came to an old bridge over Altt Dhaidh Mor  no cars allowed over the bridge it has been doctored to stop cars.  

The hill off to the left is called the Duke's Chair but no idea why. Still had all the waterproofs on as I couldn't be bothered taking them off - good job as 1.5km on another wee burn to cross but with a nice little bridge.

It started to rain. 2.5km further on down the track and I came to an old ruin still with a roof on and took a seat as my feet were throbbing with the pain from the blisters. Didn't want to take my boots off again just in case my feet swelled up and I couldn't get them back on. Made a cuppa and found what was left of the food for a snack.

A welcome rest stop.

Nothing else for it but to hobble along towards White Bridge and familiar territory.
1.5km further to White bridge passing old ruins on the way.



I was a very happy me when White Bridge came into sight as I knew it was only 3 miles to go and it was a path I had been on before.

The White Bridge.

Crossed the bridge and from here to the Linn o' Dee hobbled along keeping my feet at different angles trying to relieve the pain from the blisters.

A welcome sight at the car park - my car. The mirror was bent in I bet it was that arse who was parked next to me. Clicked the mirror back into place and started the task of de-kitting. I had left my shoes and clean clothes in the car. Took me a wee while to get organised and slumped into the drivers seat, bliss boots off and loose shoes on. As I left the Linn o' Dee there was a herd of deer grazing right beside the road,  not at all bothered about the cars.

I got a phone signal again when I reached Inverey and phoned home around 6pm with still a one hour drive home. I had a soak in the bath for a good while when I got home but it took a few days for my feet to recover.

I had walked something like 27 miles in the 2 days.
Day one about 17km and day two 25km+  approximately and I was well tired at the end. I returned to climb the second Munro on the 27th of August 2005 but I was on my bike this time and it was only a day trip.
That would have been about my 39th Munro and I am now on 149. Still a few to climb yet as there are 283 altogether.

Walk for day two from flag to flag.

The two small tins of gas lasted the whole trip too.

So if you want to get to a hotel away from it all follow in my footsteps.
Hope you enjoyed my tale.

Brians photos of there walk.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/44907198@N00/sets/72157626958737758/
Grahams photos of there walk.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chimpaction/sets/72157626821377943/

Dino60

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