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Scotland Aviemore Trip 2019 Pictures and Write ups

My write up and a few pics.

2019-02-03
Matt, Bill and Neil arrived 09:15 to collect me
We had a hearty breakfast then loaded up for the drive to Aviemore and left around 10am
On arriving at the turn-off Bill and I were so preoccupied with taking pictures of the Aviemore sign that we missed the turn!
Went to Tesco for food supplies and the garage for very expensive bags of logs (£9! and we later found that Home Bargains in Aviemore sell better ones for £3.50)
We drove along the road towards the ski centre, investigated a few potential camp spots and decided on one.
Got set up around 15:00 and it was dark by 17:30
I had dinner of fillet steak (£2.95 from B&M). onions and noodles
Bed at 18:30 as the other guys were tired after a long day driving.
Read my book and went to sleep around 22:00

2019-02-04
Woke a lot during the night. Too hot initially (British Army sleeping bag and arctic liner + thermals) and took jumper and socks off but had to put them back on again later as temp got down to -5C
Around 5" of snow fell overnight
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Had breakfast of Lorne, black pudding, tattie scone, eggs and coffee
Chatted for a while around the fire and had a cup-a-soup and pork pie for lunch
Went for a 2km walk across the road and up the hill along the track and spied out a couple of potential areas to camp some other time.
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Reorganised tent with sleeping area down the middle away from the sides. I think I'll get insulated footprints for inside and under the tent.
Dinner later was steak, onions and beans
Chatted around the fire until 20:30 and shared some rum and brandy then off to bed to read and sleeping by 22:00

2019-02-05
Woke 07:40 Temp was down to -2.5C overnight
Read my book for a while but as I was getting out of my sleeping bag I leant on my Kindle and broke the screen! Ah well it served me a good few years and I could carry on reading on my phone.
Had to call for Neil to help me out of the tent as the zips were frozen over. Coffee then breakfast of Lorne, tattie scone, black pudding, eggs and more coffee.
We drove into Aviemore for more wood and met John and Emily who would join us later in the afternoon for an overnight.
Tiso were selling self inflating roll mats reduced from £50 to £20 so we each bought one to use.
The snow gates were closed on the road back to camp but we managed to persuade the guy to let us through otherwise Bill would have been on his own for the evening!
Bill dried and took down his polycotton tent due to the rain forecast.
14:00 John and Emily arrived (must have smelled the stew and dumplings which Bill had made for us.
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They set up with Emily in a hammock and John on the ground
After a very fine stew dinner we sat chatting until around 20:30 when everyone headed off to bed.


2019-02-06
Woke 09:00 Temp -1.5C overnight
Still having trouble during the night with the zip of the sleeping bag sliding down and the liner bag has no zip so I'd rotate in the liner and lose track of where the bag zip was. The liner is a bit too restrictive for my shoulder width. (maybe I should add a zip to it)
Breakfast: Steak, black pudding and tattie scones (and coffee)
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John and Emily packed up and left around 11:00
We took a drive up to the ski centre for some photos
Back for lunch of burgers, carrots, mushrooms, onion.
Went for a walk and the rain came on as I was turning back so had to change on returning.
Second 1300mAh SJcam battery almost dead (lasted pretty well in the cold, though I've kept them close to my body through the day and in my sleping bag at night)
Phone at 20% so turned off and charged from the power bank overnight. (down to 3/4 capacity in the morning)
Sat around the fire in the evening until about 21:30

2019-02-07
Woke 07:30 and read. Up at 08:20
A little rainy outside
Coffee.
Others went to the visitor's centre.
Breakfast: Lorne, black pudding, onions, mushrooms, eggs, coffee
Did a bit of spoon carving
Matt also brought me a roll with bacon and egg and another coffee. Scoffed!
Packed 1 rucksack
Went for a recce to find another camping pitch for another time.
Sat around fire and carved.
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Dinner: Chicken Jalfreizi and rice
Sat around fire until 21:30
Packed up tarp and chair and retired to bed.

2019-02-08
Woke 07:15 Started packing 08:00 but other lads already packed away (an hour and a half earlier than planned (again))
Packed up in the rain and ready to leave by 08:40
Aviemore for bank and loo
Glenmore Cafe for breakfast and left around 10:30 to drive to Crianlarich to the B&B
14:00 arrived Inverardran House B&B, got settled, had long hot shower and headed to the Ben More Lodge pub for a couple of drinks and some top notch food.
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2019-02-09
Breakfast at 8 in the B&B (very nice) and left by 08:30
The guys had a quick cuppa at our house at 10:00 before they headed for their long journey south.
Set about drying all my kit :)

Things to change for next time:
Buy: Tent pegs, waterproof trousers, carving knife, insulated footprint for tent.
Fix zip to liner bag or find alternative 4 season bag.

Unused: Inflatable pillow (was burst), hammock, 4x4 tarp, underblanket, kettle, bow saw, some spare clothes, spare gloves.

All in all a brilliant 6 days with Matt, Neil & Bill (and John and Emily for a while)
It all went too quickly!

Video to follow but this will take me several days to be patient. :)

Thanks :)

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Great write up , looks like a good time was had by all, glad to see you were all eating well as has become the forum standard ! Thanks for sharing 👍

I've enjoyed some trips to bothies where folk are doing the uber light scrans and porridge sachets for breakfast while me and Smurf are getting fired into a full fatboy breakfast and you see the envious looks..... Mwah ha ha ha.

Its horses for courses, if you're living out of a rucksack and covering 50 miles over a weekend then sure, its all about minimal weight but if you're not then why stint yourself. :)
 
I've enjoyed some trips to bothies where folk are doing the uber light scrans and porridge sachets for breakfast while me and Smurf are getting fired into a full fatboy breakfast and you see the envious looks..... Mwah ha ha ha.

Its horses for courses, if you're living out of a rucksack and covering 50 miles over a weekend then sure, its all about minimal weight but if you're not then why stint yourself. :)
Humbug, just a bunch of bloody old men trying to be boys. What's wrong with a tin of beans
 
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