After going through the Lairig Ghru, I was ready for a town day. I knew that with just over 9 miles to get to town I could have a day and a half off, and after 8 days of backpacking my legs needed it. I was all packed up and ready to go by 8am. The first two miles were on a pretty level track. I saw a hiking group of 7 or 8 people on their way up the Lairig Ghru. We stopped to chat a little, and I told them they had a much better day to enjoy their hike than I had (it was cool but sunny).
The next mile and a half were through a lightly forested area, which dumped me out on a road that Mar Lodge is located off of.
Mar Lodge is a sporting lodge that is very friendly to the Challengers. They offer tea, coffee, cookies, and some other snacks to the backpackers coming through. After a nice snack and some chatting with other challengers (Phil, Doug, Dorothy, and a few others I didn't get the names of) I headed out again as I wanted to get to town as early as possible.
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| Mar Lodge - I was thinking it was pretty impressive...until I went around to the front |
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| Wow! |
The rest of the walk into Braemar was on a road. Not the most exciting walk, but everyone was going extremely fast thanks to the allure of town. I was looking forward to a nice lunch, and got into town right around 11:30am. 9ish miles in 3.5 hours with a nice long snack break...not too bad!
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| Looking back at Mar Lodge |
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| View from the road |
Once in town my first objective was lunch, so I stopped at a cafe called The Bothy (appropriately enough) that also had an outfitter attached to it. I sat outside to eat my lunch, and periodically rain clouds would pass by and deliver a minute or two of rain. I guess since I was so used to being out in the elements I didn't react at all and kept eating. I watched in amusement as everyone else scattered for the indoor seating each time.
After I had eaten, I decided to go find the Youth Hostel I was scheduled to stay in. Turns out they close every day from 10am - 4pm for cleaning. I had planned on staying there the following night also, but seeing as I was taking a rest day and wouldn't have access to a bed to relax on I was annoyed. I left to go find Kenny and Ava, who were staying at the campsite; they were walking up the street as I left the hostel. They were heading to the Bothy to eat, so I joined them as I had nothing else to do.
Right around 4pm I left to go back to the hostel, where we found out check-ins didn't begin til 5, so we had another hour to wait around.
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| This guy came and hung out with us while waiting to check in at the hostel |
Once we were finally able to check in at 5 I managed to get one of the showers first. Phil, who I'd met at Mar Lodge, and I went to get some fish and chips for dinner, and then we went down to the Invercauld Arms Inn, where everyone was gathered to enjoy the bar. Lots of people were there, including Ben from Baltimore, Matt and Lindley, Kenny and Ava, and Thom.
I was sort of annoyed about the situation at the Youth Hostel so I decided to go see if I could find somewhere else to stay for the following night that I could enjoy relaxing in during the afternoon. I was able to find a room at the Braemar Lodge Hotel, and they would even allow me to check in early at 11am.
With that out of the way, I joined everyone back at the bar for a bit before we realized it was 9pm and we were all exhausted.
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