Day 13 - Comrie to Loch Freuchie

I'm laying back in the tent in what is probably our best wild camp spot of the trip. This is the type of backdrop I imagined when planning this trip to Scotland.

There are no bugs, which is a bonus, but that's because the wind is gusting at about 100 km per hour, without exaggerating.

I wasn't so sure the day would end this well. We had a decent stay at the campground in Comrie, and a delicious breakfast at a cafe in town to get us started properly.  Ben had the Wee Scottish Breakfast, and I had the Veggie Scottish Breakfast.  Most of the day was cloudy and misty.  Unfortunately, I think we missed a lot of beautiful scenery as a result.  We walked the banks of Ben Chronzie (elevation 941m) at about 650 m of elevation, but couldn't see a thing.  As we came over the pass the trail petered out and we ended up having to bushwhack through several kilometres of Scottish bog all the way down to the River Almond.  Our feet were so wet at that point that we didn't even bother hiking back upstream to look for the crossing, we just waked right through.  Good thing we have dry socks and backup shoes in our bags for tomorrow!

Back on the trail things seemed to get better from there.  When we stopped for dinner - ham and cheese buns, and potato-leak soup, the sun poked out for the first time.  Also, the owner of the cottage we stopped near for dinner, just about the only cottage we passed all day, allowed us to fill our water bottles, which means we are home free for tomorrow.

After dinner we walked another 4 km to find our current spot.  I would be surprised if, other than the cottage owner, there is anybody within a 20 km radius of us.

We are definitely on the home stretch now.  Twenty-two kilometers to Aberfeldy tomorrow, and then a quick 15 km to Pitlochry the next day.  We decided it doesn't make any sense to walk through Pitlochry, to Blair Atholl, only to take a taxi back to Pitlochry.  Getting to Pitlochry early will allow us to clean up and have a proper celebration!

That's it for tonight.

Things we learned today:

It is good to have a compass when you're lost in the clouds in the middle of nowhere.

Your feet can only get so wet, and then it makes no difference.

McVities vanilla cheesecake digestive cookies are yummy after a long day of walking!