Day 12
Tuesday 22nd May - Rhynie to Rothienorman
photo © Jean Turner
photo © Jean Turner
I was now on schedule again (apart from those extra two miles), and felt able to accept Lucy's kindness and use the morning sunshine to dry off my tent in her garden for a couple of hours, and my washing on her line. Then a late start included walking back up the road to Clatt, walking her dogs Martha and Nutmeg. (I put in the remaining extra mileage by later detours, including one to see a stone circle to which, frustratingly, access was effectively barred once I got close to it.) My legs were protesting today, which made tarmac roads almost a relief - especially when so pretty and so rich in flowers, butterflies and birdsong (even the GOCKOO).
No-one I met was able to tell me why the Cadgers' Road is so called. There are two quite large churches up the hill there, and I wondered about charity-seekers in the past...but then Google revealed thousands of entries for many Cadger's Roads, and it seems it may simply be a surname.
It was good to be in the Doric-speaking lands of my childhood, and to hae a claik wi' a fairmer pittin up a fence, an anither fairmer takin' doon a fence (not the same fence, honest). Having thought of seeking accommodation at Rothienorman, I was lucky enough to find a good wild-camp site just before it, and slept early, planning an early start.
