We packed up and left the site, and headed for a walk up Morven. We parked at the bottom and headed straight up, the first section up to about 600 metres was very steep, and it was very hot.
Eventually it got a bit less steep, and we carried on to the summit at 871 metres. Like yesterday the views were great.
We went down by a different route, which wasn't quite as steep. It stayed sunny and warm all day.
After getting back to the van we drove straight home, arriving about 5pm.
We drove from the site to park for our walk in the village of Tarland a few miles away. The walk first left the village via a quiet country road, then left the road and headed up to a ridge of heather-covered hills.
We passed the summit of Broom Hill and headed on to the top of Pressendye (620 metres) where we stopped for our lunch. The view around were great.
We carried on east off the summit to complete a circular walk. On the way down we came across a mountain bike race that seemed very popular.
We saw a Speckled Wood butterfly.
Back nearer Tarland we walked down a nice avenue of beech trees.
We drove back top the Feuchside campsite for showers and a rest.
Later for dinner we had tuna salad.
We walked from the van today. We started a circular walk first by heading towards the Vat which gives Burn o'Vat its name. However we weren't aware at the time that you had to clamber over some rocks to get into it, so we missed it on the way out.
The path climbed steadily upwards through the forest, then into more open heather moorland.
It then went down the other side to Loch Kinord, which we circumnavigated.
At the far side was a nature trail with a nice boardwalk section.
We got back to the visitor's centre, then added on another bit so we could return to the Vat. We first went up to a viewpoint.
Then to get to the Vat you have to clamber through a narrow fissure in the rock across the river.
The Vat is a large pothole created by glacial meltwater at the end of the last Ice Age. It's quite impressive.
We drove off and headed further east, stopping in Aboyne to post some letters. We then got to the campsite where we'd prebooked for 2 nights, Feughside.
When we checked in the owner told us there's a chip van that comes round at 7.30pm every Friday. We quickly decided that was going to be dinner tonight.
The site is fine with everything we need. Most of the area is static caravans. It's quite quiet though, not full.
We had showers, and later had fish suppers from the van. They were very good.
We paid another £6 for day parking then set off on our walk. It was very sunny and warm in the morning, and our plans was to do the Cairnwell 3, three Munros situated on the west side of the Cairnwell Pass.
It's only a 275 metre ascent up Càrn Aosda (917 metres), and we were at the summit before 10am.
We then walked along the ridge to the furthest Munro, Càrn a' Gheòidh (975 metres). It was starting to cloud over at this point.
Up to this now we'd seen a golden eagle, two red deer in the distance, and a mountain hare as we sat down for our lunch.
On the way back it got very grey and dark, and a thunderstorm started. The lightning wasn't particularly close by, but there was very little wind and the storm wasn't moving away very quickly. We decided it would be best not to continue to the third Munro, Cairnwell (933 metres), and we made our way back down to the car park. On the way down we saw lots of frogs which had come out in the rain.
We drove on to Ballater to have a walk round the shops, but when we got there we discovered that its Highland Games was on, which had literally just been rained off because of a rain/hailstorm. We did park in the centre and bought what we needed at the shops, but decided to move on as it was very busy.
Next we tried a camping spot at Clarack Farm. It wasn't really a very attractive place, and the ticket machine didn't take cards, so we decided not to stay.
Instead we went to the Burn o'Vat visitor centre car park in the Dinnet National Nature Reserve. This is a very nice place in the forest, with room for 6 campervans to stay at £10 per night (24 hours).
We went for a short stroll in the woods, then later for dinner we had pasta with garlic and herb cheese and pancetta.
We left the house in the afternoon and drove to the ski centre at Glenshee. There are some parking spaces with electric hookup for £12 per night, but anyone can stay in the main large car par for £8 per night. We went into the café to pay for our spot.
We went for a walk round the area, then chilled in the van for a bit. Later for dinner we had chicken salad with home grown new potatoes.
Since the weather wasn't brilliant, we decided to make today the last day. We left the site and drove to Bardon Mill and parked near the station. We were doing a circular walk which started by crossing a bridge over the River South Tyne.
The path took us to the village of Beltingham, which had a nice church with old yew trees in the grounds.
We then went across farmland towards a gorge above the River Allen.
The high path at the side of the gorge is known as Allen Banks. There are a few disused old summer houses there.
We went as far as a ruined castle called Staward Peel. There wasn't much left of it though, as all the stone had been removed locally to build houses.
We came back along the side of the Allen River.
The walk finished by following a faint right of way through some fields.
After reaching the van we drove in to Sainsburys in Haltwhistle before making our way home, arriving about 6pm.
We walked from the site to Hadrian's Wall today. First we had to get to Haltwhistle, which was about a 2 mile walk along the River South Tyne.
From Haltwhistle is was still about another 2 miles uphill to reach Hadrian's Wall. We arrived at Milecastle 42 (Cawfields).
Eventually we reached Sycamore Gap, which was a sad sight to see. It's sprouting at the base but it's obvious it'll never be the same again.
We carried on walking east. Since the wind behind us was quite strong we decided to keep walking as far as we could, then get the 3pm bus back to Haltwhistle.
We didn't quite have time to get to Housesteads Fort, but we made it to the bus stop in plenty of time. Unfortunately the bus didn't show up! We had no alternative but to walk back along the main road, which wasn't particularly pleasant.
The bus eventually passed us about 40 minutes late, but we weren't in a position where we could flag it down. Instead we walked as far as the Twice Brewed Inn, which was about 2 miles along the road.
We had a drink there and waited for the 5pm bus, which fortunately showed on time and took us back to Haltwhistle.
In the town we went for another drink at the Black Bull pub, down a lane off the main street in the centre.
We decided not to walk the 2 miles back to the site, and took a taxi instead.
Later for dinner we had chilli and rice that we'd brought with us.
We left home about 10am in the campervan and drove south. We parked just outside the village of Castle Carrock and went for a walk up Talkin Fell.
The route went down and across the River Gelt, through some woodland, then up to open moorland. We could then see the top of Talkin Fell, with its unusual cairns.
The path went round the back of the hill, then steeply up to the summit. It was pretty windy there, we were grateful for a shelter from the wind to have our lunch.
The cairns are called curricks, and some are many decades old. I think they were just built by locals as curiosities though.
We completed a circular walk then got back to the van. We then drove to our site, the Camping and caravanning Club Site Haltwhistle, which is actually a couple of miles south of the town.
We rested for a while in the afternoon, then took a walk to the nearest pub which was said to be 25 minutes walk away. It felt like more than than, but it was probably about right.
It was the Wallace Arms, in the countryside near old Featherstone station. It was warm enough to sit outside, and we stayed for a couple of drinks before walking back again.
For dinner we made sausage, mash and beans!
