Day 13 _ Sunshine and company

Although there are many ways to get from Tarfside to the coast the usual way is to walk down Glen Esk to Edzell and then camp at North water Bridge, and then make the short hop to St Cyrus or Montrose the next day. That was my plan. I had wanted to finish in a bit quieter place further east, but getting to such a place on Friday afternoon would leave little time for getting to Montrose in order to sign out. Now I was a day ahead I could have made for somewhere quieter, but I decided that for this first Challenge it would be interesting to join in with some other Challengers and make for St Cyrus as planned.

I was up at seven, and had a bit of muesli to keep me going, but I’d made my mind up to have breakfast at The Retreat. PW said she’d like to too, and she’d catch me up.

On the road down to The Retreat I found myself walking with a woman I’d exchanged a few words with all the way back at Corrour Station. Val had been walking along the path to Corrour just as I was packing up, but as the path was on the other side of a river to my pitch we’d only been able to swap a few words, but had agreed to meet in Corrour Station café. As it turned out the café had been closed and I hadn’t seen her again. But now it looked like we were to have breakfast in a café together after all.

Today the café was packed, but we got a table near the entrance which somebody had just left. PW joined us after a while. Despite my earlier muesli I had a full breakfast here. It was very good too.

PW and Val seemed to know a lot of the people there, and when we set off at 9.45 PW and I found myself walking with PW, Ali Agdon, Sue Oxley and David Albon who I’d chatted briefly to on the minibus to Glenuig.

At first we followed the road down the glen, but after a couple of miles (3km) we turned down a track, across the River North Esk, and then followed tracks down the SW side of the river.

These last two days had always looked like they might be a bit tame, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that if the scenery wasn’t dramatic, it was very nice, with rolling moorland dropping down into the wooded glen. The day was also turning out to be quite sunny.

Considering the number of people who’d been camped at Tarfside we saw very few other people on the way down, although some people seemed to have made an even later start than ourselves.

And then suddenly we found ourselves out of the glen and in farmland where I suddenly found myself the recipient of seven text messages, surely a record for me.

I was just following the others rather than looking at the map, so it was a bit of a surprise to suddenly find myself in the village of Edzell. There was a crowd of Challengers outside the pub, and no doubt many more inside, but we carried on a bit further to the Tuck Inn café where we added our rucksacks to the long line of those already there.

Inside seemed to be full of Challengers and we were lucky enough to find a table that would seat five. Somebody suggested scrambled eggs, and I instantly knew that that was just what I wanted. Maybe after a few Challenges I’ll be as expert as knowing the right food for the right time.

As sometimes happens in Scotland, the food was slightly different to what I would expect, although in this case it was perfectly good. First a plate each piled high with scrambled eggs appeared, and then a few minutes later, after we had already made a good start a plate piled high with toast arrived. Although we’d had a good breakfast that suddenly seemed a long time ago, and conversation subsided whilst we dived in.

The way out of Edzell proved to be typically Scottish – a suspension footbridge over the River North Esk.

PW and I then pulled ahead of the other three and found ourselves on a long straight road which led past a disused airfield to North Water Bridge campsite. The hills had stopped quite suddenly at Edzell, and when looking at the map whilst planning I’d wondered if this coastal plain would be a bit boring, but in fact, although we were now walking along a straight level road, most of the coastal plain looked pleasant enough – rolling farmland dotted with woodland.

It was only £4 a night to camp at North Water Bridge, but it did have the disadvantage of being very near a main road, which made it a bit noisy. There were quite a few tents already pitched, but by nightfall the place was packed. All Challengers. I was strangely tired and was falling asleep over dinner, so went to bed early.

Day 14

Intro