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Published: October 11th 2010
Camping... In the Fall... In Scotland.... Most people looked at us like we were crazy, including the park rangers who gave us the map for the hike to our camp. We got up Friday morning to a dark sky, heavy fog and constant drizzle. Only doubting for moment if we should go or not we made some coffee and packed the car. Jean and I went to pick up Jean's friend Jack and we were on our way by noon. It was not a far drive but thanks to the fog and narrow roads it took us quite a while to drive there. What I could see of the passing scenery was stunning. Everything is so beautifully green and the ancient stone walls in the country side were breathtaking. We arrived and paid the rangers 2pounds to park our car overnight. We used the last real bathroom we would have for the night and then loaded ourselves up like pack mules! Due to all of the foliage, fires are not permitted in most areas but we knew we would be needing one! The rangers pointed us in the direction of camp sites where fires were ok to have. The hike to
camp was not too far or steep. Never the less we all arrived at our spot happy to set everything down. We set up the tent and then went on the search for fire wood. We didn't have to go too far before we crested the top of a small hill and saw across a small field was a very densely wooded are. We were told we could take dead wood only and at the bottom of this wooded area was plenty of dead wood! Excited that our search did not take us too far we made our way across the field. Just before we reached the wooded area the ground got a bit soft and Jacks feet were submerged into mud and water! Jean went next and stepped onto a tuft of grass and across the little stream making it over to the woods with dry feet! I followed in his footsteps and when I went for the same tuft of grass it was apparently finished! My right foot was completely submerged in muddy water! We took some time collecting a bit of wood not wanting to have to go back and then we all trekked back to camp.
On the way back Jean joined the wet foot club! Even though the wood we gathered was under thick tree cover it was still damp. When we got back to camp Jack went down to the river we were near to rinse his hands and decided he was hot... He also forgot that he had the paper to start our fire zipped up just inside his jacket. When he unzipped it all the paper we had fell out into the river. Now totally useless we had to try and start a fire with some damp wood and some very wet logs. We made a large triangular pile in the fire pit and worked on getting it started for quite a long time. I began to doubt that we were going to be able to get it started but Jack(our native Dundonianen) assured me that it would be done! We ended up getting the fire started after the sun set. It was pitch black out before the fire was burning good and hot. Jean and Jack made Steak and Chicken on the fire and we feasted probably sometime around 10pm if not later. It was
crazy how dark it was out there. Due to the cloud cover if you walked out of sight of the fire you could literally not see your hand if you were holding it out in front of your face! I know because I tested this out haha We stayed up late into the night listening to music on a small set of speakers and maintaining the fire which kept us nice and warm. It was not until we decided to get some sleep and climbed into the tent that we realized it was actually quite cold outside. None of us slept much. We all shivered our way through the night. The morning brought more clouds and cool weather. We got the fire started again and made Bacon(which I like much more here than in the states, it's not as fatty!) and scrambled eggs. We piled it all onto rolls and warmed up by the fire again. After that we packed up camp and hiked back to the car. We had planned to do some hiking but with wet shoes, little sleep, and cool weather none of us were much in the mood for it. The drive back to Dundee was
not the easiest since we were all so tired. I was however able to see more of the beautiful mountains that had surrounded us! When we got back Jean took Jack home and I showered which was such a great feeling! Finally warm and clean we settled in for the night having pizza and salad for dinner as we watched Salt and 17 Again before calling it a night! I had hoped that I would crash due to the lack of sleep from the night before but it still eluded me. I woke 2 hours after going to bed and was up for an hour or so before falling back asleep to unsettling dreams. Jean wanted to watch football and rugby today and I was more than happy to just lounge about and relax. Late once again I can’t sleep. Hopefully a few nights out to the pub this week will cure that! Till next time 😊
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Colin
non-member comment
Beautiful
Sounds like you are having a blast, I appreciate the updates, and the pictures. You are pretty luck to have been able to see the mountains of Scotland like that!