Day 4
Monday 17th May - Gorton Bothy to Loch Rannoch
This is the morning I agreed to give way to the younger ones who thought they knew best. The debate was about whether we should follow the river to the railway bridge, as I had done in 1997, or should I give way and do what they wanted which was to cross the river by the bridge across from the bothy and pick up the railway line much earlier than we would have done my way. At 2 votes to 1 I lost the debate and over the bridge we went. As we climbed towards the line I went into a pool of very wet peat up to my knees, much to their amusement. It took both of them to pull me out but there was no chance of them taking a photo to giggle about in future years as the camera was in a pouch round my waist - and by then it was beneath my body. The annoying thing was I had put on a fresh pair of clean, soft socks before leaving the bothy and in half an hour all that comfort had been lost!
We continued along the railway line until we were clear of the bridge over the ford and dropped down to the forest road. The walk from there to Bridge of Gaur was without incident and we made good time to allow us to walk towards Kinloch Rannoch and pitch on the Forestry Commission's basic campsite that evening.
