A Multi-day Hike in Cairngorms National Park
Our hike in Cairngorms National Park was the first multi-day hike we did in Scotland, and it’s where we saw our first Loch! We finished work on the Friday night and set off with our packs on our backs, and excitement in our hearts.
As we’d started late in the day on Friday, we only covered about 5km before stumbling across the perfect spot to set up camp and get some food on the stove. Tora is going to share their genius camping meals in another blog, but for now, let me tell you that despite having limited access to cooking materials, they still manage to rustle up some cracking meals while we’re camping. In the picture below, you can see the little bag they bring with us, filled with all the herbs, spices and sauces we’re going to need for the well-thought out meals we’re going to eat over the coming days.
Waking up surrounded by nature on Saturday was the perfect way to start the day and get ourselves hyped up for the hike ahead! We made some breakfast and coffee, got ourselves packed up and eased ourselves into the walk.
We followed a stream for some time, surrounded by magnificent tall trees dwarfing us, until we reached our first hill that lead us up to wide-open moorland covered with every shade of green you can imagine! There were hills and valleys as far as the eye could see and we were in total awe of our surroundings.
It was extremely windy up there, so we took a little break in one of the many shelters we came across on the moor. We don’t know what they are for, but assume they’ve got something to do with the grouse shootings that occur there.
After our break, we continued across the moor and headed towards the forest we could see in the distance, in hope of further protection from the wind, and ideally finding the river that would lead us back to the van the next day. The walk felt so wild - we were out in nature without another human in sight. In fact, apart from some dog-walkers in the morning who passed our tent, we didn’t see another human for the entire day! We did unfortunately see two dead toads who we believe had perished in the heatwave - the land was so dry and the sun was relentless.
This part of the walk was probably the most tiring becuase the hill felt like it would go up and up forever. Each time we thought we could see the top, we got there and there was more hill to climb! Finally, we saw a road in the distance and headed straight for it. Despite All Trails and Strava showing there was a path to said road, there absolutely was not. It was pure bog. Fun, at first… All that squishy grass which made you feel as light as a feather, but after about 5 minutes of this, the grass was no more, and our feet began to sink in the mud with every step.
We eventually got to the road and were happy to be walking on tarmac for a bit before re-entering the fields. We continued to head for the forest and when we got there, we could hear the glorious sound of flowing water. We followed our ears and made it to the river.
It was such a welcome sight as we were both pretty hungry by then, and VERY sweaty. It was the perfect stopping point to whip off our bags, shoes and socks and sink our feet into the gorgeous clear water before getting the cooking equipment out and making a spot of lunch.
After frolicking in the river for a bit and filling our bellies up, we pressed on and continued to be astounded by the beauty surrounding us! We ventured along more of the river, past ferocious waterfalls and into more dense forest before it started to rain and we decided we should probably start looking for somewhere to bed down for the night. In places like this, you could walk for hours and hours and just lose track of time completely! The sudden change in weather did make for the most magical double-rainbow, though.
We were looking in the forest for a while, but there were zero flat spaces for our tent, and any time we thought we could see a flat space in the distance, we were greeted by either a billion rocks, or a swamp! Giving up on the idea of sleeping in the forest, we decided to get back out onto the open road, and into the rain and look for something more suitable.
Legend has it, there’s gold at the end of the rainbow… so we decided to head for that spot just over the trees at the right-hand side of the rainbow and boyyyyyyyy did we find gold!! Look at this for a camping spot…
To this day, we’re still not clear on whether this was private land or not. In our rush to find somewhere to sleep, we ended up walking through a yard full of farm equipment; there were no “Private Property” signs so we just continued and that’s when we saw this beauty. To our knowledge, the only other entrance to the loch (which we found the next day) was a gate… which was locked… and said “Private” - so this tells me it likely was private, but we were happy to sleep there with the understanding that as always, we’d leave no trace, and if anyone asked us to move, we’d simply pack up and leave without any disagreement. Still though, we did see a man walking his dog around the loch that night, and saw some cyclists pass us in the morning… So, as I say, we have no idea!
Settling down for the evening, Tora had a paddle in the loch while I boiled the kettle for a little snack of miso soup, and we both just sat admiring our tranquil surroundings for a while. Being out in nature without distractions from other people, or technology does you all sorts of good that you didn’t even know you needed!
Finally, we pitched the tent and Tora got started on yet another delicious dinner. On this day, we covered around 30km and were ready for an early night.
Our last day was pretty short. It turned out we were a lot closer to the van than we thought, which was actually a blessing because we only had to walk a couple more hours before reaching her and being able to drop off our bags. We didn’t want to stop there though - we’d planned to walk all weekend! I spotted “Fairy Loch” on the map which sounded nothing short of magical, so to Fairy Loch, we walked. The walk from the van to the mystical-sounding Fairy Loch was around two hours. Two hours of more hills, open moorland, wind taking our breath away and sweat dribbling down our foreheads before we made it… aaaaaaaaaand… this was she:
I mean, I’m not saying it’s the ugliest sight in the world… but it didn’t quite give the fairy magic I was expecting! I took one look at Tora and, well, they didn’t care much for it either. So, on we trod, back to the van and made some friends along the way.
