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A couple of nights out near Aviemore

Bam

Bam

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Not long back from a couple nights away with Smurf, I'll do the 'first impressions' and leave the full debrief to the man himself, he's the man with all the pictures and vids....

Friday night we ended up tarping by Loch Gamhna, a wee loch hanging off the bottom of Loch an Eilein, nothing fancy, most of the ground was pretty scrubby but we got a spot to rig a wee 'dez rez'.

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Spent a refreshing night under the stars with some of my homemade dehydrated bolognese, braw, and as somehow some dirty booze had fallen into our bags we thought it best to consume it to lighten the load on the way out. :rolleyes: Saturday morning we had a fatboy fry up and packed our crap to move on, like Kaiser Soze we were gone.....

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The tarp worked anyway, everything underneath it was dry. We'd had some rain overnight but it was after we'd speared in.

Then on to our next location, Glen Feshie, it was about a 7K walk in (after a short drive) and we got to the bothy for about half two, I have to say its the fanciest bothy I've been to, I'll tease you with that and leave Smurf to do his thing, its worth a google though. We were in two minds whether to use the bothy or move and and use the tarp but with the weather we had I'm glad we went for the bothy, it was wild last night and we were toasty in the bothy with the fire going and again, for some reason there was a mix up with the bags and somehow we had some more dirty booze in there..... We were lucky enough to have the place to ourselves so we managed to put the world to rights in front of the fire. The walk out this morning was a lot easier with less weight and fresher legs.

Smurf, over to you........
 
G1ZmO said:
Good stuff, Glad you got out and looks like a nice wee spot.
Looking forward tot he rest of the photos :)
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Get on Smurf's case, he's the man with the cameras. ;)
He might say otherwise but he loves it when people pester him....... :D
 
Madriverrob said:
Nice tarp set up , can’t beat simplicity , thanks for sharing , looking forward to more .....,
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The weather was benign, we were half expecting a bit of rain but no heavy wind so in a hollow that setup was fine, if we'd been tarping last night I suspect we'd have derigged the tarp and just wrapped it round the rucksacks while we hunkered down in the bivvy bags. It weren't perty out there, thank feck for the 5* bothy.

Ark79 said:
Spot on bam 👍 looks like a nice spot...cracking set up mate :D


Common smurf.....need them pictures buddy🤣
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Get him telt !!!!!! :lol:
 
Nice trip and photos guys 👍

Just a thought for you @Bam and @smurf.....in a small shelter where sleeping space is a premium........ I like to use "Waterproof Pack Covers" and store the kit outside beneath them.
Freeing up space under the shelter and keeping your kit dry.......packs.....boots ..........jackets........stoves etc.
Great bits of kit........ the XL 120ltr will cover a fair amount....especially if you're going light.
Placed at one end of the shelter can help block out the draughts👍




Not much money and weigh nothing.....but do offer convenience.

Looking forward to Smurfs account of the trip.
 
1 shot willie said:
Nice trip and photos guys 👍

Just a thought for you @Bam and @smurf.....in a small shelter where sleeping space is a premium........ I like to use "Waterproof Pack Covers" and store the kit outside beneath them.
Freeing up space under the shelter and keeping your kit dry.......packs.....boots ..........jackets........stoves etc.
Great bits of kit........ the XL 120ltr will cover a fair amount....especially if you're going light.
Placed at one end of the shelter can help block out the draughts👍




Not much money and weigh nothing.....but do offer convenience.

Looking forward to Smurfs account of the trip.
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Cheers, I could do with something like that for my big bag.
 
Bam said:
Cheers, I could do with something like that for my big bag.
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Pleased you found the link useful Bam 👍

The 120 Ltr you can sit inside if caught out in heavy rain while walking.......pack and all.....poke your butt in and pull over your head. :D
Try and find one with the adjustable cinch cord........much better than the fixed elastic band.👍
 
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1 shot willie said:
Pleased you found the link useful Bop 👍

The 120 Ltr you can sit inside if caught out in heavy rain while walking.......pack and all.....poke your butt in and pull over your head. :D
Try and find one with the adjustable cinch cord........much better than the fixed elastic band.👍
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Why thank you very much BUT, :whistle::whistle::whistle::whistle::whistle::whistle::whistle: In the words of Shaggy, wasn't me :)
 
As I’d previously posted, I had solo camped beside Loch an Eileen a couple of weeks before and decided to return with Bam to explore further. We parked at the loch car park (they charge here for parking) and after walking to the south of the Loch I took Bam to the lochside spot I had the spent the night a couple of weeks earlier.

We decided since it was early, to head southward to Loch Gamhna as it is further away from the popular path around Loch an Eilein, so we headed south to circle round Loch Gamnha clockwise. There were a few spots right beside the path, but we had time and would prefer to find a more secluded spot. The terrain here is difficult and needs a bit of effort to find a spot.
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The rough terrain around Loch Gamhna
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Loch Gamhna

Eventually, we headed off the path towards a rise to the east of the loch and stumbled across a suitable spot. We took off our rucksacks here and wandered around to see if there was anything more suitable. There was not so it was time to pitch a single tarp which left enough room to fit two bivvy bags comfortably.
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The surrounding rough terrain

I disappeared to the feeder stream of the loch to get some water and there I marvelled at the old native trees and the wild terrain. Places like this make me happy, especially when there are no midges or ticks to spoil the party. I spent a bit of time collecting the water as I could smell something dead initially so I wondered upstream until the smell subsided before collecting water. I’d disturbed a herd of red deer earlier when searching for a camp spot so I assumed from the strength of the smell a winter casualty was lying in the scrub nearby and luckily not in the water.
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Our water source for our wild camp at Loch Gamhna.

With the water collected it was time to enjoy a few cheeky drinks and Bams bolognese cooked on his spirit burners.
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Bams spirit stove sitting under the stars

It got really cold as the stars came out and we saw frost forming on the tarp. I’d stupidly left my Buffalo shirt and jacket in the car and had decided on layers, but was a bit light on them so Bam helped me out with a spare layer of his - that did the trick. After a few more drinks I tried to take some pictures of the stars, but silly me had forgotten due to the lager that I needed to use the remote for longer exposures so this out of focus offering lit by Bam’s headtorch was the best I got. Next time I will try to remember to use manual focus and also use the remote shutter button.
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My attempt at lager-fuelled night photography...

It rained a bit overnight and warmed up and in the morning the mist and cloud cleared quickly and the sun eventually rose above the hills as we ate our fry up.

As we walked along the forest tracks back to the car, it was a glorious warm morning, there were only a few small patches of snow apparent on the Cairngorms and it seemed like winter was over. It was time to head to a remote glen of ancient pines, which luckily had a bothy, which was our backstop if the negative weather forecast was to turn out, which seemed unlikely this fine morning.

We headed to the next car park for our 7k walk to our destination. This was somewhere I’d been back in 1991 and that had been my first bothy visit. My memories are vague, but I remember an old coarse bare stone bothy and a cold night sleeping on a floor by the door. It had recently been renovated and I’d read good things.

The walk to the bothy was interesting. I remember back nearly 30 years ago having to navigate paths from Braemar that had been washed away by the fast flowing river and nothing had changed as the river was still busy washing away the paths, ancient trees and even the old bridge that I’d crossed at my last visit.

These pictures illustrate the problem and I’d hate to be on the wrong side of this recently formed gorge when the river was in spate.
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The river washing away banks and the damage caused by feeders in winter spate.

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The river washing away banks and the damage caused by feeders in winter spate.

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The damage caused when rivers and streams are in spate.

The sky was greying and the wind was picking up it was a dramatic change in such a short time since we’d left Loch an Eilein. We met a few hill walkers on the way who were coming off the Cairngorms early, one couple of lads told us they’d abandoned their route after the first peak and retreated to safety as they could hardly stand, they had spoken to other walkers who told them that gusts of 85 mph were being reported at the Cairngorm weather station.

As we reached the bothy it had started to rain and the wind was gusting. We’d abandoned all hope of a tarp amongst the ancient trees and were glad to walk into the most luxurious bothy we’ve ever visited. It had changed so much since my last visit and it was hard to believe that anyone could just turn up and stay here for free - even the firewood for the stoves was provided!
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Our accommodation for the second night.

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Our accommodation for the night. the sleeping platform is on the right.

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The brilliant bothy stove

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Looking down from upstairs of the bothy.

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The bothy toilet. You use the bucket to flush and there is a pool outside to collect the water.

We had the place to ourselves the whole time. It was a warm cosy night in this luxurious and remote place that even had an outside toilet. The weather worsened outside and the rain was rattling on the windows, we could hear the gusts of wind draw on the chimney and see it affecting the flames in the stove. We were toasty, the stove was glowing as was Bam’s spirit stoves cooking up a tasty dinner that I savoured as I washed it down with some cold beer.

I retired quite early and was awoken a few times by the wild cairngorm weather outside. At about 2:30 am I ventured outside to the toilets and returned feeling like I’d been jet washed by the high wind and horizontal rain. I removed my wet fleece and climbed back into my bag knowing it would be dry in the morning due to the heat and glow coming from the stove.

After a hearty fry up in the morning, we headed back and met a couple of groups of folk on the way who were planning to stay at the bothy. We were lucky to have had it to ourselves.
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Looking up the glen from the bothy

We walked with rain showers on our back but it was brightening. I caught glimpses of the Cairngorms tops in between showers and they had a fresh covering of snow, winter was not over yet. A little before we reached the car, the sun came out and a rainbow formed in the receding shower. It marked a colourful end to a great trip.
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Looking to the Cairngorms in between showers - the snow has returned.

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We saw this rainbow as we headed home.
 
The words wow, jaw dropping and beautiful don't do the place justice, and the Bothy, outstanding, great pictures and write up, thanks :)
 
Bopdude said:
The words wow, jaw dropping and beautiful don't do the place justice, and the Bothy, outstanding, great pictures and write up, thanks :)
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Thanks, I'm glad you liked it.:) We got speaking to a guy we met during the trip who took the time to tell us a bit about the area, he knew it very well - I think we'll be back soon to explore what he told us!
 
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