Aviemore to Corrour Bothy

Yesterday I convinced myself to take yet another rest day by thinking up a number of plausible reasons. For the next three days of walking I would be crossing the Cairngorms, the largest area of arctic mountain landscape in Great Britain and largely free of people and their associated infrastructure. Therefore the first reason I came up with was that it was raining hard, and I didn't want to get soaked and stay wet for three days . Also I needed to find food and fuel supplies. My final excuse was that I hadn't done much training before setting out from John O'Groats so my body probably needed a bit of time to repair and build muscle. Between you and me though, a rest day on a long walk is an invitation to guzzle cakes and chocolate without the usual increase in radius.

My pack strained to contain all the food needed for the coming days and the fuel for heating the bothies, which are far above the tree line. And as I began the slow climb through the vast forest of the Rothiemurchus estate, the weight on my back was more noticeable than in previous days. The mountain pass known as the Lairig Ghru is reasonably popular and the track was both well worn and easy to follow. After much effort, the trees began to thin to isolated clumps of pines and the outline of the narrow gap between white capped peaks became more defined. Following ridges of heather between deep scars I was soon enclosed between steep walls of black rock streaked by ice falls; fields of boulders at their feet. Strong winds blew light snow showers through the valley as I approached the highest point. At 835m this beats most of Britain's hills and you could say that it's now all downhill to Land's End (just don't try to tell me that as I struggle up some steep pennine slope in a few weeks).

Patches of snow obscured the path, but it's hard to get lost around here and the gentle descent began near the springs of the Pools of Dee. A burn developed beside me and was soon a lively companion. The views were expansive and everything was on a massive scale. It is these landscapes that allow you to glimpse at your own insignificance in the universe while leaving you at peace with the world around you. I couldn't help but feel revived by it.

Further on the burn began to slow and meander and was joined by the similar stream from a wide valley to the west to form a wide river I could now see the small stone building that was my shelter for the night but it was a long time until I crossed the small bridge and walked through the door. Inside were two guys who had trekked in with coal, logs, whisky and huge quantities of food the night before. Because of the weight of their packs, the journey had taken many hours more than usual and falling over caused problems recognizable by tortoises on their backs. After seeing nobody else all day, it was nice to have more company than just the deer and as I surveyed the provisions I could tell it was going to be a very comfortable night.