Wild camping, part 2

We ate our lunch in the Gap and continued upward, avoiding Riders of
Rohan along the way, and paused to look back from whence we came:

Wild camping: the tale, part 1

On Monday we stowed our gear in our backpacks -Tim carrying his own
sleeping bag, wet weather gear, and cup by himself for the first time
- and set off on the Great Wild Camping Adventure. We reckoned that
heading off towards Beinn Macdhui might not be optimal, so went
towards Braeriach instead. (Hmmmm. In retrospect; but who can say?)

Osprey!!

Today, after yesterday's epic journey up and down Herder's Hill, we
took it easy and went to Boat of Garten. The resident birds flew on
Wednesday but I spotted the lone male we'd heard of in chatter here
and there: magnificent!

Timmy concentrated on studying the closer birdlife - especially a fine
coal tit - and mammals, including a red squirrel. That was the second
one of the day for me: Crocs on a spongy forest floor are very quiet
so I got within 1.5 metres of a fine looking one equipped with a bushy
tail and a nut to store, this morning.

It is genuinely cold at night. It will be very cold up top, but we'll
have a go and see how things are when we get there.

Katherine

Bannockburn field itself

Where an estimated 10,000 people died, and you could cross the river
dry-shod upon the bodies.

A Bruce! A Bruce!

Daddy has a go

Grrrrrrr...

Tim and the chainmail

14th century chainmail!

Bannockburn

After a travel day ending at the Curate's Egg Chateau (a small castle
hotel with an annexe for plebs, in which we stayed), we went to
Bannockburn, as you do.

The visitor's centre was a model of its kind, not merely well-meaning:
scholarly and lively. The film, especially, was brilliant at making
the battle itself as clear as possible given the lack of factual
material about Day 2. The model, the diorama, and film together made
the penning in and encircling of the English very clear: "I have put
you in the ring; now let us see if you can dance".

There's a display of a forensic artist's sculpted rendition of the
Bruce in old age based on a cast taken of his skull in the 1860s. The
bones showed signs of leprosy as well as of war wounds; his left eye
socket was larger than his right, and he was big, nearly six feet tall
and big-boned with it. The face the artist built was thus strong,
sturdy, square, but crumpled, wrecked. The expression in the eyes was
our equivalent of Victorian sentiment but believable, because it
showed a knowledgeable man well aware of death, including his own.

The chainmail shirts were bizarrely therapeutic because they were real
and very heavy. Moray and Katherine felt as if they had a massage; Tim
could hardly stand under the weight of his!

Then, there's the huge statue of the Bruce and his battlefield:
pictures to follow.

River Raiders

Today we went with Extreme Dreams (terrible name I know) to do River Raiders, an amazing series of climbing-type adventures in the Findhorn gorge at Dulsie Bridge, a picturesque road bridge constructed during Wade's major roads program in the 17th century.

Dulsie Bridge view

 Having abseiled down, we traversed using via ferrata about 50m of cliff face, then back an easier 50m higher up. Zip wire about 50m over the river, Tyrolean ascent back across, one more traverse and climb out of the gorge. Easy, right? No. 8 people took nearly 4 hours!

I bottled out of the last bit, failing to find a way I fancied of transferring myself from the ladder to the cliff face. Luckily, no pictures of that! Katherine couldn't even see it as I was round the corner.

Timmy and Katherine finished the whole thing, though poor Tim was absolutely exhausted and slept for 2 hours in the car. Katheirne went round in fine fettle and is thoroughly and rightly pleased with herself!

Really terrific fun, Andy and Rich from Extreme Dreams were terrific, in particular Andy really encouraged Tim and spent time boosting his confidence - and special thanks to Emma, a fellow 9-year-olf who looked out for him and encouraged him whenever he needed it.

Tim on his way across

Andy showing me the ropes

Doing the Tyrolean ascent - my finest hour...

Post-completion Katherine

Tent's up and all's well

On an island between a river and a burn - spectacular. A bit wet and midgy for dinner though - off to Aviemore for High Tea.
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Moray McConnachie

Grandtully

The Inn on the Tay - great place for a break from the A9 - food not much to write home about, but the view from the surprisingly warm terrace of the Tay is excellent, and there're lots of happy clambering spots, stone throwing places, and you can watch the kayakers fly by through the rapids.
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Moray McConnachie

First night

We spent last night at the Airth Castle Hotel http://www.airthcastlehotel.com/ , sadly not in the castle bit pictured but in the resort bit, which combined some of the best and worst of such places, but was certainly a place to get refreshed after a perfectly OK but nevertheless frazzling drive. Tim really enjoyed the pool, and his school is really improving his swimming - I hadn't seen him swim for a while, and he has the beginnings of a decent crawl.

Katherine will be the lucky one to post on the EXCELLENT Bannockburn Heritage Centre, but having survived an assault from Tim in full chain mail panoply, we are now just passing Perth on a typically wet A9, rising gradually into the hills. Big excitement in this car! We have had the luxury of a sunny morning, and are hopeful of more sunshine beyond Perthshire.