[August 2-19, 2019; Cairngorms Trip, Scotland, United Kingdom]

August 2, 2019. I arrived on a Lufthansa flight that landed at 8AM. I picked up my rental car, a Mokka X at the Hertz Rental Agency and drove to my daughter Hannah’s apartment in the Morningside section of Edinburgh. The drive was quite an experience! I had to deal with the left-side-of-the-street driving and the car’s standard transmission, in addition to the narrow, unfamiliar streets. I wound up calling up Hannah, who gave me step-by-step instructions. Hannah and her dog Estel were waiting for me on the street corner. Estel made crying noises when she saw me. I haven’t seen her since our trip to England’s Lake District, five years ago. Hannah served me a breakfast of bacon and eggs and salad. She also gave me food that she had bought for my trip. We then went for a short walk to the top of the hill in the Craiglockhart Hills Conservation Area, a bit of parkland near Hannah’s apartment. We walked across a grassy field, passed by a manor house, ascended through a short section of woods, and reached the grassy summit of the hill. It commands a nice view of downtown Edinburgh, including the Castle and the hill called Arthur’s seat. The Firth of Forth (bay) is visible in the distance, as are the three towers of the Queensferry Crossing cable-stayed bridge, which I knew I had to cross to get to the Cairngorms.

Hannah helped me load my gear. Estel hopped in the car, which was as planned, except that she refused to hop out when we needed to return to the apartment for more gear. We left her sit on the car seat as we grabbed the last bits of gear, and then Estel and I were off. I made one wrong turn, but the driving was fairly east after I crossed the bridge. The drive to the town of Avienmore took three or four hours, for the two turning circles in Perth had traffic jams, and further north, some sections of Highway A9 were slowed by construction.

We pulled off the highway at the Aviemore exit and into a little parking off of Road B970 opposite the Rothiemurchus Estate Visitors Venter. The lot has an information kiosk. I took Estel for a short walk. Afterward, I pulled out my guide book (Walking the Cairngorms, by Ronald Trumball) and tried to figure out where we should be heading. My plan was vague at best; I was hoping to find a safe place to park the car, and then to hike into Cairngorms National Park (where camping is permitted more-or-less anywhere). The map showed the Loch An Eileen (lake) Car Park as a possibility and, serendipitously, a road sign near the parking lot pointed towards it. So, we drove the rather narrow road to the car park. While the sign said the parking fee was £1.50 per person per day, we has arrived late enough - 4:30PM - that the attendant had already left.

We walked to the Lock An Eilein shore and admired the view, which was truly beautiful on this sunny day. The blue waters of the loch (lake) are surrounded with dark green of Pine Trees, with treeless rounded but tall hills rising behind them, lighter green to brown in color. I decided to head southeast, towards Creag Dhubh, one of the near hills mentioned in the guidebook. I packed up enough gear for a one-night campout, left a note on the dashboard of the car saying that we would pay the fee the next day, and headed out, with Estel on a lead beside me. I was not worried about the late hour, for the sun sets very late in summer in Scotland, on account of the high latitude (57 degrees North).

We first walked the west shore of the lake. We took an informal trail that hugs the lakeshore, and not the wider pedestrian path set back from it, for it provided extraordinary views. We passed a little island with the ruins of a castle. The trail, under tall Pine Trees and amid luxurious undergrowth including heather and fern, was boggy in places. This was may first trip hiking among heather. It has a calf-highbush with narrow evergreen leaves and tiny pink flowers. The informal trail eventually become so wet as to be unpleasant, so we bushwhacked up to the pedestrian path. We stopped to admire a smaller lake, Loch Gamhna. We then took a trail that followed the eastern shore of Loch Gamhna (lake) and that following a narrow strip of high ground that I suppose is an esker. The fields of heather in the vicinity was especially beautiful. We forded Alt Coire Follais (stream) and then took a narrow path that headed steeply uphill, roughly parallel to the stream, but to its south.

I began to appreciate the irony in the news that one can camp more-or-less anywhere in Caingorm National Park. While the legal restrictions are few, the natural ones are many. Much of the land is boggy. Much of the land is very steep. And almost all of it, at least at the lower elevations, is covered with heather. Finding a campsite is a bit tricky – and I had not yet learned the tricks! We climbed higher than I had hoped we would have to, but finally found a small patch of horizontal ground beneath a large Pine Tree, where the heather was just a few inches high. I set up my TheNorthFace Phoenix 2 tent, fired up the stove (a propane-fired MSR PocketRocket borrowed from Hannah) and cooked two steaks and boiled a liter of water for tea. The midges – microscopic bugs with a nasty bite – were starting to get pretty bad. I was prepared for them, with a repellant spray and a head-net, yet even so, they are atrocious! I put my tea in a Nalgene Bottle, so I could drink it slowly and without fear of it spilling. We soon retreated to the tent, which was very comfortable after we had swatted the hundreds of midges that rushed inside as we entered.

Estel and I shared one steak and I saved the other for breakfast. Night was soon upon us and stars began to shine brightly. Although the weather had been warm as we hiked, now it became cool enough that I wriggled inside my sleeping bag. Estel did not seem to mind the chill and stretched out on her little portable dog bed. I was soon asleep. Estel growled a few times during the night, hearing who knows what.

From ghoulies and ghosties, And long-leggedy beasties, And things that go bump in the night, Good Lord, deliver us! (Scottish Prayer).

August 3, 2019. We hurriedly broke camp, for the site was swarming with midges. I purified water at the stream. We ate the left-over steak as we continued our hike up the trail. We the patch followed Alt Coire Follais (stream) through a wooded ravine with a steep, rocky cliff on the north side and a rounded grassy hill on the other. The trail was very slick and muddy in places. The bottom of the valley where we hiked was in shade, but the morning sun lit the smooth southern side of the valley. Gradually, it rose high enough to shine on us. The stream, flowing amid heather and fern, and with many small cascades was a beautiful sight. The views to the lowlands to the west were very nice, too. Patches of fog nestled in the low spots. We followed the trail to where it exited the ravine and started to cross the mostly rounded top part of Creag Dhubh. However, the fierce midges were a problem for Estel, who was getting them in her eyes and ears. I decided to turn back with the summit yet an hour or more away.

We retraced our path as far as the Lock An Eilein (lake) pedestrian path. We stopped for lunch, sitting by the footbridge over the stream by which Loch Gamhna (lake) flows into Loch An Eilein (lake), eating a wedge of cheese. Many people passed by, some walking, some pushing baby carriages, and some riding mountain bicycles. We then took the eastern branch of the pedestrian path, so that by the end we had completed a circuit around Loch AN Eilein. Twice we took detours down to the lakeshore, to admire the views.

Estel was enamored of the little beach at the north end of Loch An Eilein (lake). So, after paying the attendant, I found her ball amongst our gear and returned with her to it. She played with it in the water, dropping it into the water, pushing it around with her paws, grabbing it up with her mouth and making it squeak. I threw it to her a few times, too, but she made a game of teasing me by putting it just beyond my reach in the shallows. Sometime during her play, Estel lost her dog tag. I think I mistakenly clipped her lead onto the ring that held it to her collar.

We then packed our gear for another hike. We went east around the lake, following the pedestrian path past the Forest Cottage. We stopped at a bridge over a stream and purified more water. I was surprised how crowded the path was; the lake is very popular! Just past the bridge, we connected with a woods road that headed east, heading in the general direction of Gleann Einich (valley). We found a little high knob, with mostly heather and just a few trees, just above the intersection with another woods road. The ground was dry there and the heather sparse enough that we found a bare spot large enough for the tent. I reheated some port pastries that Hannah had gotten for me. The midges started to get fierce, so we retreated into the tent for the night.

August 4, 2019. We made a quick exit, for the midges were fierce. They were not so bad once we were moving; in fact, I hardly noticed them. However, we had but to stop for a minute and they found us again. I carried a bag of granola and munched on its contents as we hiked. We passed Lochan Deo (pond) and turned south along a woods road that went straight into Gleann Einich (valley) and towards Loch Einich (lake) at its head. The woods road runs close to Am Beanaidh (river), which is the exit stream of Loch Einich (lake). We had to ford many of its tributary streams. Most were only a few inches deep and three to four feet wide, and could be crossed with impunity. Beanaidh Bhrag (stream), which we forded as we neared Loch Einich, is bigger and required more care.

The weather was overcast with occasional drizzle and some of the higher hills will shroud by clouds. We took a side trail that followed close to the river when the woods road detoured around some hills. This part of the river valley was lush with fern. We were treated to great views of the stream, and found a lovely campsite, on the western bank of Am Beanaidh (river), beneath pine trees. It is just north of where the side trail rejoins the woods road and where a pedestrian bridge crosses the river. We then entered the main part of Glean Einich, a long straight valley with low gravel hills immediately adjacent to the river, and steep rocky cliffs set further back. The cliffs are glacially carved; sort of a long cirque, and the gravel hills also appear to be of glacial origin, for the gravel contain boulders, some as much as six feet across. A little while later, we stet up camp on the shore of Loch Einich, on a grassy spot beside the road and near the exit stream.

I fed Estel part of tin of sardines that Hannah had given me, easting some of it myself, too. I set up camp – and just in time, too, for heavy rain started to fall. We retreated inside the tent. I spent fifteen minutes swatting a thousand midges, or so, that had snuck in while we were moving in out gear. The rain stopped and the wind picked up in the early evening, and we once more ventured outside. A couple of hikers, Lars and Elena had arrived and set up a tent a little further along the shore. Lars and I talked about hiking routes in the area, and he went off to check one of them out. Estel and I forded Am Beanaidh (river) just were it exits Loch Einich (lake), and walked around a beach on the opposite shore. My boots had become completely wet through by the end of today’s hike; so I just stoically walked across the stream. We had nice views of several waterfalls coming down the towering cirque walls – long, slender ribbons of silver. I spent a few minutes inspecting the many hanging valleys above us, which were formed by tributary glaciers flowing in Gleann Einich (valley) and joining the main glacier there. I could see a track leading up to one; but that adventure would have to wait! Back at camp, I finished off the granola and had some cheese and hot tea. Because of the midges, I’ve had to change my usual mode of camp cooking. I use the stove outside to make tea, but transfer it into a Nalgene bottle to drink within the tent. And I am mostly eating cold food inside the tent - cheese and green peppers (and the granola), today.

Rain began to fall, so we retreated into the tent once again. But then a little sun came out and we again went outside. Lars came by, reporting that he had hiked part way up the head wall at the south end of the lake, but could find no route up to the top (not withstanding the guide book saying one existed).

Rain fell during the night, heavily at times, and the wind was strong and gusty. I did not sleep well, because of all the vibration. Estel was on edge, and woofed a lot at things unknown. The sky was only really dark for a few hours, beginning at midnight.

August 5, 2019. The morning was overcast at first, but then partially cleared. Some sun broke through and lit of the top part of the west wall of the cirque. I made tea and had a couple of Kind Bars for breakfast. I offered Estel some of her own kibbles, but she did not eat much. We then headed back north on the road, fording all the same streams, both small and large, as we did yesterday, except that now they were perceptibly larger, on account of all the rain. The day continued to brighten and the walk out of Gleann Einich was really lovely. The grass and heather on the rounded gravel hills were brightly lit, and the waters of Am Beanaidh (river) sparkled. I decided to stay the night at the campsite beneath the Pine Trees by the bridge.

We laid out all or wet gear to dry in the breeze and intermittent sun. We explored the area, which has two campsites amid a dozen Pine Trees. The river divides with main and subsidiary channel. I let Estel play in the smaller channel while I sat on a rock in the mid-river island. I made a replacement dog tag for Estel, shaping the aluminum lid of a sardine can into a rectangle. I folded over it so it had no sharp edges, and scratched Hannah’s name and phone number on it with the tip of my knife. I pierced it through and attached it to her collar with a metal ring taken off my jacket. It lacked the detailed information of the original tag, but I had more peace of mind knowing that she had some sort of identification on her.

I had dinner of cheese, green peppers and tea. Estel had her dog food and a little cheese. The cheese was the “Number Six Top Strength” smoked gruyere that Hannah had gotten me. I thought it only mildly pungent. Night was a long time coming. Summer days are long here!

August 6, 2019. We arose early, at 5:45AM, owing to the early sunrise. The morning was overcast and the midges were swarming. I made tea while I hurriedly packed, and then we got underway. We walked back south to the main track and then took it north. It is higher than the side trail by the river, which I hoped would result in fewer midges, and indeed, as long as we kept moving, they were tolerable. The views towards the distant northern crags were nice, as were the ribbons of fog in the valleys below them.

At Lochan Deo (pond), we detoured east as far as the Caingorms Club Footbridge, a substantial structure that spans the Am Beanaidh (river) just below its confluence with the Allt Druidh (stream). I scoped out possible campsites. I was hoping to hike into Lairig Ghru (mountain pass) on our next segment, which is east of the bridge, and wanted to find a spot close to the path. I found several possibilities, the best of which was a patch of grass on the west bank of Am Beanaidh (river), just south of the bridge. It is about six feet above level of the clear briskly -flowing water. We then hiked back to Loch An Eilein. I let Estel rest in the car while I charged my cell phone. I then took Estel to the beach. Actually, we made two trips, for rain interrupted her playing.

I hard-boiled a half-dozen eggs while waiting for the rain to stop. I had three for lunch; Estel did not want any. I also bought a cup of coffee from the little gift shop near the beach.

We set off for the campsite near the bridge as light rain was falling. We set up camp quickly and sheltered in the tent, resting. When the rain let off we had dinner sitting by a boulder on the bank of the stream. It was a pretty view. The Am Beanaidh (river) was just a foot or so deep, but the water current was very strong. Several groups of mountain bicyclists crossed the bridge as we ate. I ate granola and smoked trout. Estel has some of her dog food and some of the trout.

We started to have trouble with the tent leaking. The Phoenix 2 is a single-ply tent that used TheNorthFace’s Drywall fabric. Rain water was seeming through the fabric, more or less uniformly across the roof’s inner surface. For the most part, it was running down the inner surface of the roof, to pool in the corners where I mopped it up with a rag, but we were getting occasional drips in our faces, too.

August 7, 2019. I made a serious error in judgement camping so close to the stream! Heavy rain began to fall around midnight, with quite a bit of thunder. We could hear that the Am Beanaidh (river) was running very strongly, for its sound changed to include very low-pitched knocking sounds, which I guess were boulders rolling and banging into one another in its bed. At about 2AM I checked the river level and was shocked to find that it was only a few inches below the level of the tent. Furthermore, is was now yellow in color – full of mud. I tethered Estel to a tree on higher ground, and then spent a frantic fifteen minutes in the pouring rain moving all our gear to that spot. Finally, I moved the tent, without collapsing it. By the time I made my last trip to check that I had not left anything, the water was beginning to cover our former tent site

Walking with Estel, I carried the tent to flat place beneath some trees that was about three hundred yards west of the bridge – a spot that I had scoped out the day before. I had been using an old Space Blanket as a tent pad; now I moved it atop of the tent to try to control the leaking, tying in on with short segments of clothes line. Our biggest problem was most of our gear was wet and we were both chilled. I resorted to running the PocketRocket stove in one-minute bursts inside the tent to warm the air. Such a practice isn’t a good idea, because of the possibility of fire and carbon monoxide poisoning, yet I felt the need was extreme. The tent fabric was soaked through, so fire was not likely, and the Phoenix 2 is very well ventilated, so I thought the buildup of gasses was unlikely. I did a burst every five minutes, hoping that the warm air would help dry out the gear, before it was replaced by cold damp air from outside. This process was tedious, but did slowly dry things out and make the tent much more habitable.

Conditions gradually improved. By late morning, we were reasonably rested and fairly dry. I packed up all the gear except the tent, the sleeping bag the Z-Rest sleeping pad and Estel’s dog bed. I strung a piece of clothes line in the tent and hung up the sleeping bag, using the folded-up pad to spread the bag out. Estel’s dog bed was completely soaked. I left it hanging in a tree, without much hope that it would dry. We then went out for a hike.

I had been planning to go up to Lairig Ghru (mountain pass), but all the hills were shrouded in clouds, so I decided to keep to lower ground. We crossed the Caringorm Club Footbridge with Am Beanaidh (river) roaring beneth us (even though it was now two feet lower than at its peak last night). We hike to the Piccadilly Trail Junction (an interesting name, reminiscent of the Times Square trail junction in Harriman State Park, New York) and then on to Loch Morlich (lake). The trail is all beneath Pine Woods with luxurious heather and fern undergrowth. We made a short detour to view Lochan nan Geadas (pond), which has particularly stately trees on its far side, and then connected with the path that circles Loch Morlich (lake). We headed around it counter-clockwise, so as to avoid (at least for the present) the north shore, which has a highway. The southern part of the path is not very interesting, for it is set way high up above the lake without much a view. Once we took a side trail down to the water; the view was nice, but the shore very marshy. The lake is large and edged with Pine Trees. Several sailboats plied its waters. The east shore was better; we took an informal trail down to the shore, and then another that followed it. We came to a small beach with a bench and let Estel pay with her ball in the water, while I sat and rested. I also opened one of our cans of sardines and shared it with her. We continued on, past interesting marshes and across a footbridge over the Allt Ban (stream), just east of Loch Morlich. I walked and Estel waded along a long swim beach with coarse tan sand, which I was assume was hauled in for recreation. We came to a building that housed the boat rental and the Sailing Club Café. I bought a cappuccino and an ice cream bar from the latter. We connected with a path that is just north of the highway on the northern shore. It was too inland to offer lakeshore views, but was much preferable to the highway. We finally connected with the trail from which we had come. We took a final detour to Lochan nan Geadas (pond) before heading back to Piccadilly Trail Junction. We passed several large black slugs, slithering across the trail. Today’s a good slug day, I guess.

The Am Beanaidh (river) had subsided further, though was still flowing much faster than before the storm and its water was still yellow in color. I could see from the watermark that our campsite had completely flooded, but that the water had not risen much more than a couple of inches above that level. The tent was dry, except for some puddles in the corners. My sleeping bad was now fairly dry, too. Hanging it in the tent was a good idea. We stayed in the campsite overnight, eating smoked mackerel for dinner. The night was dry and reasonably comfortable.

August 8, 2019. I moved the campsite in the morning to a spot that I had scoped out earlier on the shore of Lochan Deo (pond). I hung Estel’s dog bed inside, like I had done with my sleeping bag, hoping that it would dry by nighttime. We then hiked back to the Loch An Eilein (lake) Car Park. A Red Grouse walked across the tarmac. I bought cappuccino at the gift shop, and a decorative pillow, too, as a souvenir. I sat on the bench at the lakeshore, drinking the coffee and watching Estel swim in the lake.

In the early afternoom, I tore Estel away from the beach and we hiked up Ord Ban (hill), which is just west of the car park. It is a steep but low hill, wooded on its sides but with heather and rock (gneiss) ledges at its summit. The most difficult part of the hike was getting Estel past two deer fences, both of which were crossed via step-ladder style trail crossing. I discovered that the first, near a stone hut close to the north end of the car park, had a dog-door, larger than, but of the same design as people have on their houses for cats. Once I found it, traversing the fence was easy. The second, south of the summit had no door, but I able to pry open a locked ga te wide enough for Estel to slip through. Ord Ban’s (hill) summit has a large glacial boulder of gneiss and a cylindrical summit marker. We sat on the boulder for a while. The sun was finally beginning to shine! The view of neighboring hills and the valley of the River Spey are tremendous!

We continued on the path, down the hill and southwest and walked along the edge of a clear cut. A Red Grouse explosively fluttered out of the heather at our feet. After we negotiated the second fence, we did he bushwhack recommended by the guidebook, through Pine woods with fern and Juniper undergrowth. This took us to the Loch AN Eilein pedestrian path at a point just north of Loch Gamhna (lake). We connected with a trail that looped around that lake. It has more aquatic vegetation than Loch An Eileen, including reeds and lilies, and they and the water gave it a nice blue and green mixture of colors in the late afternoon sun. After circling Loch Gamhna (lake), we took the pedestrian path back to the Loch An Eilein (lake) car park. Estel got to do a bit more swimming.

About 8:30PM, with the light now starting to get dim, we walked back to our tent at Lochan Deo. Estel was worried about such a late hike, and plainly did not want to go. I talked to her in a calm, reassuring voice, telling her it would be fine. She was happy once we reached the tent. The night was uneventful, except for Estel’s occasional woofing at things unseen (and possibly nonexistent).

August 9, 2019. We broke camp quickly in the early morning and hiked back to Loch An Eilein. Estel took a last swim at the beach. I then drove straight back to Edinburgh. Rain was falling. I drove a long wat without much confirmation that I was going in the right direction, as most of the signs gave mileages to small (and no doubt lovely) towns I had never heard of. Finally, I spotted on for Perth and knew I was right. I picked up Dallas at the airport, arriving just a few minutes after her plane had landed. We then drove over to Hannah’s apartment. I had scoped out the easiest (though not shortest) route there, which involved only three roads: the City Bypass, A702, and Morningside Drive, and we managed to navigate them without any errors.

In the afternoon, Dallas and walked to the top of the hill in the Craiglockhart Hills Conservation Area. The sky was clearer than when Hannah and Estel were there a week ago, and the views better.

We stayed at the “CoDE Pod Hostels – THE CoURT” at Parliament Square in downtown Edinburgh. It’s a refurbishes jailhouse, and the rooms while comfortable still retain their jailhouse architecture. We had not realized, when we made the reservation, that the Edinburgh International Festival was occurring, and so were surprised to find the streets crowded with people. This posed no great problem, except for the sound of music and partying, which continued long into the night.

August 10, 2019. After breakfast at the hostel, we returned to Hannah’s apartment, packed up, did some last-minute shopping and got ready to head north again. One of the places we shopped was “Decathlon Edinburgh Park”, a large sporting goods shop just off the City Bypass on the west side of the city. The area had experiences severe flooding. We watched a mail truck try to ford a very large puddle, only to get stuck in the middle.

I drove north again up Highway A9, to one exit past Aviemore and then too Highway A95 east to the town of Grantown-on-Spey. We had trouble finding Brauchgorm, our rental cottage because it was set back from Woodside Avenue on a narrow lane. Eventually, Hannah spotted it and we moved our gear in. It is an attractive two-story cottage with hardwood floors and modern-style interior decoration. A little later, we walked around town, visiting the main commercial district on High Street (Road A939). It contains a neat, if somewhat austere, row of beige stone storefronts as well as a little park with a War Memorial. We walked as far north as the Grammar School. Returning to Brauchgorm, we cooked and ate dinner and relaxed for the evening.

August 11, 2019. We drove to the town of Boat-on-Garten, which is about ten miles west along Highway A95 from Grantown-on-Spey and parked at the Abernethy National Nature Preserve lot, off of B970 opposite the intersection with Deshar Road (the road that crosses the River Spey).

We hiked through Pine woods on an unblazed trail to Loch Mallachie (lake) and Loch Garten (lake), two neighboring lakes set within the woods and with grasses and water lilies growing in their shallows. Light rain was falling. We let Estel swim in them. We took a trail that first parallels the Loch Garten access road and later B970 back to the car park. We made one short detour, out onto a wooden observation deck that extended out into a small wetland. We passed by the car park and walked Deshar Road, crossing the highway bridge over the River Spey and walking a short distance south on a trail that followed the western bank of the river.

We then returned to the car and drove back to Brauchgorm (cottage). While Hannah cooked dinner, I took Dallas back to Loch Garten for a swim. We parked right near the lake and walked a short distance to the shore. Dallas reported the water to be very cold and the lake full of submerged boulders that made swimming difficult. We walked a short distance along the lakeshore to a small beach. There we saw a sign, posted on a tree, that warned that the lake was subject to dangerous blooms of poisonous Blue-Green Algae, especially at times of low water. Thankfully, we so no evidence of such blooms, today.

Back at Brauchgorm, we had a lamb roast for dinner.

August 12, 2019. After breakfast, I walked down to the local hardware store and bought a new frying pan and some cleaning supplies. We hung around the cottage during the morning, which was wet, waiting for the sun to shine.

In the early afternoon, we drove to the Lock An Eileen car park, and walked up the flank of Creag Dhubh (hill), following the same route that Estel and I took a week ago, and getting as high as my first campsite. We had a few hours of sun amid a mostly overcast and occasionally-drizzly day. We circled Loch Gamhna on the way back. We stopped at the beach by the Loch An Eilein (lake) car park, and Dallas and Estel swam.

August 13, 2019. We returned to the Lock An Eileen car park and hiked to the Piccadilly Trail Junction, where we took the Lairig Ghru (mountain pass) south. The level of the Am Beanaidh (river) and the Allt Druidh (stream) have subsided significantly since the day of the flood, but are still muddy yellow in color. The trail gently ascends through open Pine woods with lush undergrowth of heather and fern, and with occasionally Blueberry bushes and mushrooms. It parallels the Allt Druidh (stream), on its east side, but is set on a high gravel ridge that I guess is a lateral moraine. We ascended to a high spot along the trail, just south of where the trees thinned and the views opened up. We could see the great notch of Lairig Ghru (mountain pass) in the distance, with great glacially-steepened head walls reminiscent of those in the White Mountain notches (such as the one in Franconia New Hampshire). The view was truly majestic! The steep cliffs glittered in the sun on account of being so wet. The grassy summit of Castle Hill was to our east. Far to the south, we could make out the like of the trail that climbs up into the Chalamain Gap. We had lunch at this spot.

We then retraced our route back, getting caught in a brief rain shower on the way. Estel forded the Allt Druidh (stream) at a wide spot where the current was not too strong, the water rising to her shoulders, poked around the sand on the opposite bank, and then forded back. Afterwards, see seemed especially energetic, as if happy with herself for the adventure. Back at Loch An Eilein, Dallas and Estel swam while I rested on the shore.

August 14, 2019. I took Estel for a walk around town in the morning.

In the early afternoon, we walked through the Anagach Woods Trust, a patch of Pine woods immediately to the east of Grantown-on-Spey. We didn’t need the car today, but rather walked down Golf Course Road to where it joined a hiking trail. We then walked the trail east, through Pine Woods with lush heather and fern undergrowth. We spotted a deer – a small buck with antlers – in the woods off the trail. After passing a stream, we joined a path that followed the north edge of a field. Cows were witting mid-field, near a large but dilapidated barn. The path took us to a gravel road that followed the River Spey. The river was running strongly – about five miles per hour – but with only occasional minor rapids. Wildflowers bloomed along its grassy banks. Estel wanted to swim, but fearing the force of the current, we disallowed it. We walked upstream (southwest), passing several rowboats pulled up on the shore. They were all green in color and perhaps were stationed along the river for safety reasons. We investigated some sort of cast iron, foot-operated pump along the edge of the field. We spotted a red squirrel in a tree – one of the few wild mammals I have seen on this trip. We transferred to a woods road, just after passing Craigroy (cottage), and then to a trail that headed more or less straight northwest, back to Grantown-on-Spey. We spotted another deer, leaping through the woods. For a while, the trail followed the top of an esker, twenty feet or more above the surrounding land. Finally, it connected with the wider trail on which we had come, and then to Golf Course Road.

Back at Brauchgorm, we had road chicken for dinner.

August 15, 2019. Rain fell In the morning but stopped by noon, though the sky remained partly clouded. We drove to Loch Morlich and parked by the Watersport Car Park. We hiked a trail northward to the summit of Meall A' Bhuachaille (hill), a treeless grass-and-heather covered hill. The trail is off the bicycle path, across the street and a little east of the car park, just past a pedestrian bridge over a stream. The path ascends first through Pine woods, then along the edge of a field with grazing sheep, and then steeply up the flank of the hill. Some of the way is paved with flagstones turned on edge – a trail-hardening technique that hitherto fore I was unaware. We encountered strong wind once we reached the ridge line, yet the air was fairly warm and comfortable. Neverthess, I stowed my wide-brim Tilly hiking hat and put on a balaclava. We sat for a while in a crude (but effective) stone windbreak, built adjacent to the summit cairn and has lunch of smoked herring. The views were excellent: we could see both Loch Morlich (lake) and Loch An Eilein (lake) to the south and all the tall hills behind them; and to the north we could see Loch Garten (lake). We walked back via the same route by which we came, admiring the blooming heather and the many wildflowers that grew beside the trail.

Back at Lock Morlich (lake), I bought cappuccino and ice cream at the Sailing Club Café, while Dallas swam in the lake and Hannah played ball with Estel on the beach. After finishing my ice cream, I joined Hannah in playing ball with Estel, throwing it out into the water so she could swim out and retrieve it. Dallas reported the water to be very cold.

Back at Brauchgorm, we cooked burgers and squash for dinner.

August 16, 2019. In the morning, I took Estel for a walk in the Anagach Woods Trust, finding a new (to me) entry point along Forest Road. We passed a small skating rink between the forest and the golf course and crossed a large clearing full of heather.

Later, we drove to Loch Morlich and again parked at the Watersports Car Park. We walked the pedestrian path (red trail) along the east side of the lake, crossing the Allt Ban (stream) via the footbride. Hannah threw Estel into the stream for a quick swim, but Estel was not pleased, for she got her face wet. After passing the little beach with the bench, we transferred to a trail that headed south, directly away from the lake, through Pine. The way was complicated – along a series of woods roads that intersected obliquely – but Hannah navigated via her cell phone’s GPS. We passed one overlook with a bench that commanded a beautiful view of Loch Morlich (lake) and Meall A' Bhuachaille (hill), which we had climbed yesterday. After passing through a gate and reading a sign that warned of reindeer, we transferred to a trail that headed fairly straight southward. We crossed several boggy areas and passed a tiny but well-built hut. Eventually, the land opened up into a grassy hillside. The trail was muddy and slippery. Dallas called it a day, picking out a boulder for a seat and having lunch there. Hannah. Estel and I continued on for a quarter mile or so to the top of a ridge. There was set in a hollow between grassy hills Lochan Dubh a'Chadha (pond), a small pond. It looked anthropogenic to me, for its eastern shore seemed oddly high above the surrounding land and may have been dammed. The views to the south were superb, for the day had partially cleared both the grassy foreground and the distant hills were well-lit by the sun. The glacial history of the region was very evident (at least to me!), for I could see several gaps reminiscent of those in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Soon, a little rain began to call and a beautiful rainbow formed in the northeast. Hannah walked the slippery trail back to Dallas, but I cut across the grassy hillside, avoiding it.

Back at Lock Morlich (lake), I again purchased cappuccino and ice cream at the Sailing Club Café. Dallas and Estel again swam in the lake while Hannah threw Estel her ball and I rested on a bench.

August 17, 2019. We cleaned up Brauchgorm (cottage), packed up, and headed back to Edinburgh. After stopping by Hannah’s apartment, we checked into the KickAss Hostel on Cowgate (road) in downtown Edinburgh. I went on a walk through the maze of narrow city streets to find a parking garage suitable for an early morning exit. I located one on Viewcraig Gardens (street), just north of Holyrood Road.

In the evening, Dallas ad I walked from the KickAss Hostel to the home of Dr. Kamaljit “Kamal” Singh , one of Hannah’s colleagues from Heriot Watt University. We walked the Edinburgh Canal from its terminus at the Lochin Basin to the bridge at the Canalside Café Bar. We passed many long and narrow canal boats tied up at docks along the shore. And we passed a flock of very large cygnets, sleeping with their heads tucked into their feathers. We had a great dinner at Kamal’s house. Afterwards, we took a taxi back to the hostel.

August 18, 2019. In the late morning, Dallas and I climbed Arthur’s Seat, a hill composed of basaltic lava just east of the center of town. We walked to the Dynamic Earth exhibition hall and then into Holyrood Park, where Arthur’s Seat is located. We walked a trail southward along the base of the Salisbury Crags, a hogback cliff composed of the same lava as Arthur’s Seat (though not as high). We then took a sinuous trail – hardened with steps like a staircase – up the flank of Arthur’s Seat. Towards the top, Dallas was feeling a little faint, but one of the other hikers generously shared with her some of his water. We crossed a little grassy tableland and then took another steep trail up to the stop of the seat. The wind was very strong, and we had to step carefully so as not to get off balance and fall. The view of the surrounding hills, the city, and the Firth of Forth (bay) are superb. We stood briefly by the summit marker, almost clinging to it in the wind, and then headed down. We took a different trail, a shallowly-dipping grassy one that headed north, off of the hill. It may be the one that Dallas, her sister Pam and father Farrington used when the climbed Arthur’s Seat fifty-five years ago. It gave us a nice view of two ponds, Dunsapie Loch (pond) and St. Margaret’s Loch (pond) nestled between low basaltic ridges. The path took us by the ruins of St. Anthony’s Chapel. Only a couple of walls with and arch remain. We rejoined the path below Salisbury Crags, left the park and headed back to the hostel.

We spent the afternoon resting at the hostel. At 4PM, we walked first to the Chop House Restaurant on Bruntsfield Place where we met Hannah and Estel for dinner. The food was excellent, but expensive. We then walked back to Hannah’s apartment, detouring through Morningside Park on the way so that Estel could run a little on the grass. We picked up our suitcases, loaded them in our car, and said goodby to Hannah and Estel. We drove to the Holyrood Avenue Car Park that I had picked out earlier and walked back to the KickAss Hostel.

August 19, 2019. We left the hostel very early, at 6AM, and drove directly to the airport to catch our flight back to New York.