Scotland -Day 5

We awoke to blue sky and sunshine. Despite the great weather neither of us wanted to repeat ground from yesterday so we sacked the idea of Ben Macdui and drove to Glen Shee. This time we parked lower down at Spittal Spean bridge. Had we known we would have two days walking here we would have planned differently so today we were left with 4 munros and quite a short day; perhaps no bad thing after such a long day yesterday.

We had a boggy valley start for the first time this week and despite the sunshine it was chilly at first. By the steep rocky slope of Carnan Tuirc it was warmer. Even the tops and plateau here were boggy but my feet were happy not to be on stony track. Walking each day had not given them a chance to recover and although I still had no blisters they did feel generally sore. We made our way across the hillside to Tolmount and took our time.

 The views back to Cairngorm were good and now we could also get a good view of the Lochnagar peaks we had been on a couple of days ago. Tom Buidhe was quite close by and as we arrived here we met another friend out running.

This time it was Katy T training for her JNC. Bob had a little adoration of More Mile shoes with her and then we set off back towards the ski resort. We ambled along with hares darting everywhere. It was a longer climb up to Cairn of Claise than it initially appeared.

 From here we contoured above the huge cornice and the grassy spur of Sron na Gaoithe. This last ridge was like the Howgills and it just had to be run. We climbed the little 'nobble' on the end, spotted the van and then headed steeply downhill.  It was a short day and we pottered in the sunshine airing the van and I bathed my feet in the icy stream.

The base of my shin and my achilles on the right foot are still sore. It was breezy so we dropped to a lower lay bye. Unfortunately it was windy here too. Bob retired to the van and I climbed the fence to get to a sheltered hollow.

 All was well until I woke up from a doze and tried to climb back. I got caught on the barbed wire, struggled, got caught some more, panicked, grabbed it and then ended up on the floor.  Luckily most of the cuts were superficial and once the shock had passed I was fine.

 Driving south we both craved fish and chips. We could see nowhere to park in Doune but knew where to go in Aberfeldy. By mid evening we were parked up in the sun beneath Ben Lawers and ready for our last day.