The Speyside Way – day one

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A Curling Club in summer

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Don’t miss this turning on the right (below) at NGR NJ 06982 28725 – I did – it is the path down to the disused railway track that makes up the path as it passes Cromdale. If you walk over the bridge over the old line you have gone to far. Watch out for the bridge sign on the right – the path markers are not very prominent,

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Lunch, tuna with BBQ sauce and tea with some cashew nuts and banana chips. I found a convenient, and comfortable pile of logs, in a sunny clearing.

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I was charged by a deer (above) – which leapt the fence on the right to avoid me.

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I got caught in a shower during the afternoon but it had stopped by the time I reached the campsite at Cragganmore and I got the tent up in the dry – and got a chance to dry out my rain jacket. The site is free and has a toilet, a stand pipe for water, a bin and a couple of picnic tables which made unpacking (and packing) the rucksack very easy, as well as having somewhere to cook and eat in comfort.

One other thing the site had was midges – lots and lots of midges.

Having got my tent up, I was just sorting out the brewkit for a mug of tea when I was joined at the site by another lone backpacker, Emily. So whilst she put her tent up I made us both some tea. We then spent a very enjoyable couple of hours chatting, and sharing bits of our evening meal – her contribution was chilli flavoured olives and some milk sachets from the B&B she stayed in last night, mine was fruit and spice oat cakes and introducing Emily to whiskey in her tea! (She also let me use her midge spray – she borrowed my compeed stick.)

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