It was cold overnight, almost frosty. We set off on our walk from the site about 10am.
First we headed up the road past the Reindeer Centre and Glenmore Lodge Outdoor Centre, then onto the track to An Lochan Uaine (the Green Lochan). On the way we started to see parts of the forest devastated by the recent wildfire. Some of the paths are still closed because of unsafe trees.
At the Green Lochan it was obvious the the hillside above it had been on fire.
We continued up the track to the Ryvoan bothy. It was unscathed but wasn't far from large tracts of burnt forest.
We'd decided to climb Meall a' Bhuachaille, and the steep path up started just behind the bothy. The weather was stunning and the higher we got the views just got better.
We stopped at the shelter at the top (810 metres) to have some lunch.
From there looking east we could see the ridge that takes in a few more tops.
We descended to the shoulder than back up to Creagan Gorm (732 metres). This was quite busy as a large group of walkers had come in the opposite direction.
We descended again, then went to Craiggowrie (687 metres).
At the end of the ridge we descended towards a forestry track that took us to Badaguish Outdoor Centre. However in a couple of places we found our way blocked by fences warning of forestry operations. There were none going on today, but it meant we had to take a detour of a couple of extra kilometres, and at one point escape round the side of a fence. It turns out we probably shouldn't have been there, but no harm done.
After a long walk out, taking the total to over 20 km, we got back to the site, having bought some chocolate in the shop on the way in.
Later after resting and showering we went to the Pine Marten bar for a drink, it was very busy.
For dinner at the van we made tuna pasta with tomato and onions.
