Day 14
Thursday 25th - Glen Dye to Long Meg
When I woke up last night at 1:30 I thought the weather had really broken at last; the rain sounded as though someone was running a shower across the tent. The problem was that it seemed to just go on & on. It was still pouring at 4:30 when I dropped off to sleep again. When I awoke at 6:30 it had finally stopped.
Looking out of the tent I could see why the rain sounded so heavy, I was actually in the cloud I could not even see the river on one side of me or the track on the other. I moved off at 7:30 and passed Spittal Cottage at 8:00 crossing the road and moving into the forest. Following my hand drawn map I reached the end of the track by 9:00 where I stopped for a short tea break and while sitting waiting for the water to boil the sun came out, things were indeed looking up.
After my break, with the morning sun warming me through nicely, I followed the fence to some new planting then across country to the small gully which leads to the Fetteresso Forest. There were plenty of boot prints on the track but no people - but I had only been walking for about 8 minutes when I found Mic taking his second coffee break of the morning. We walked along together stopping for lunch at the forest bridge. By the time you get to the forest it is beginning to dawn on you that the Challenge is over for another year and all you have to do is tidy up around the edges, this feeling can be quite dispiriting and I often get rather "down" on this finishing stretch instead of being elated at completing a successful crossing.
After lunch Mic headed off to Stonehaven and a B&B for the night while I followed some minor roads to the north and the coast. My target was to reach Long Meg. I lived in London for many years before moving to live in Cumbria and we have a standing stone called Long Meg, so when I found the same name on the OS map it seemed a good place to aim for. However as I stood on the cliff top just to the east of Auquorthies I could look out to sea and see Long Meg, at 180 feet much taller than our Long Meg, 2 or 3 hundred metres off the shore - no chance of reaching it unfortunately. So, after taking the requisite photographs, I wandered south along the cliff top until I could get down to sea level and finally came to rest on the shore by the golf course.
After cooking supper at 6:30 things quietened down, the golfers went home and I put up my tent hoping that the tides are neap not spring otherwise I may need the life belt hanging next to the tent. It is now 8pm as I am writing this in the shadow of the cliffs but the sun is still touching the tops of the rocks off shore. It has been a very long day with a lot (comparatively) of road walking which is quite usual near the end of a Challenge but what a beautiful place to finish an amazing walk. I have pitched the tent facing east and with luck I will be woken by a rising sun.
