So I had an idea I wanted to do 60 wild camps in my 60th year (ie between my 59th & 60th birthday, which occurs in late July). That's an average of 5 a month, or 15 a quarter... although the TGO Challenge 2026 ought to guarantee a dozen at least over its couple of weeks in May, reducing the pressure over the rest of the year to nearer 4 a month.

First three months: Summer into Autumn

August, September and October (and the last few days of July). A good time of year especially later on once the midge are past their worst.

#1: Bonaly Reservoir

It seemed important to get things kicked off on my birthday. As it was quite windy going high was unappealing, so we headed for the popular local spot of Bonaly Reservoir.

#2: Dun Rig

From Peebles (reached using the bus) headed round the Dun Rig horseshoe over a leisurely couple of days with a camp on Dun Rig.

#3: Cauldcleuch Head

A solitary Donald; went in and out from the west. A notoriously boggy hill, but I managed to find a dry (albeit lumpy) pitch on the summit.

#4 (1/2): Well Hill

First night out on a traverse of the Lowther Hills; Well Hill is a "New Graham" (using the new 600m+ criteria). Accessed by bus.

#5 (2/2): Louise Wood Law (Lousie Wood Law?)

Second night out on a traverse of the Lowther Hills.

#6: Crammond Island

Another local hit. The tide times were convenient for heading out in the evening and then getting off again in the morning.

#7 (1/2): East Cairn Hill

First night out of two on a three-day "extended Pentland Skyline", after starting at Hillend; the idea being to extend the normal "Pentland Skyline" route as far south and east as it'll go until the hills run out.

#8 (2/2): Mendick Hill

Second night out on an "extended Pentland Skyline" circuit, before finishing at Flotterstone. The bench is a nice feature, but the wind soon had me retreat to the tent!

#9 (1/5): Beinn Dearg (Blair Atholl)

First night out on a six-day trip from Blair Atholl to Aviemore (accessed using the train; Scotrail were running one of their "Club 50" offers). This was to get my last couple of Munros (and a Munro Top) in the area needed for my second round.

#10 (2/5): An Sgarsoch

Second night out on a six-day trip from Blair Atholl to Aviemore; this and its neighbour (gone over to get here) were the two remote Munros I'd still needed.

#11 (3/5): Ben Macdui

This ought to be on any summit-camper's wish-list. Conditions were perfect for it: light winds and inversion conditions. I didn't use the windbreak near the trig point platform: that'd have obscured the views.

#12 (4/5): Bynack More

Came over to this one from Macdui because I had no record of ever doing its Bynack Beag top. My memory of Bynack More's summit was that it's all very rocky and I was expecting to have to camp lower down, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a nice pitch just next to the summit cairn.

#13 (5/5): Lurcher's Crag

Another last night high in the Cairngorms and above the clouds before heading down through the forest to Aviemore the next morning.

#14: Meall Dearg

Out with the girls again, this time for a Graham summit camp (pretty easily reached by some meandering windfarm and moorland tracks, except for the last climb to the summit).

#15: Beinn Bhreac

Another train-accessed (Scotrail "Club 50" promo pricing again) hit on a couple of Grahams just west of Loch Lomond, during a brief window of better weather. First time out with a new toy: a Bonfus "Middus 1p" (with solid inner).

This camp meant I'd achieved the target of 15/quarter... but can that be maintained through the winter?

Second three months: the bleak winter

November, December and January can be awful in Scotland. Lows constantly roll in bringing front after front, gales, low cloud and the days are short. And it's unlikely to have been transformed into a winter wonderland, at least initially. I thought these months were going to be the toughest ones to keep the momentum going.

#16: Beinn na Gainimh

After a day doing the other couple of Grahams to the west, on a circuit from Amulree. Wet, but an interval of lighter winds needed to be taken advantage of.

#17: Tinto Hill

An easy one for a quick snowy hit during a brief weather window: 101 bus to Biggar, 91 to Thankerton (there's a stop through the village just across the road from the Tinto Hill Tea Room cafe) and then not much over an hour's walk to the top. Good flat grassy pitching near the trig point. Met office forecast for the hill was predicting a minimum of -7C overnight; I was glad I bought two sleeping bags up! Back down the same way in the morning, good breakfast in the cafe (opens 9:00, but closed Wednesdays).

New toy for this trip: a pair of Liteway "Choonie Apex" insulated booties helped keep my feet warm.

#18 (1/2): Mid Hill (Luss Hills)

Weather forecast for Tuesday 25th November looked very good so got a bus from Glasgow to Luss on the Monday - arriving early afternoon - to head off around the six Grahams there. Just headed up to the first one (going round anti-clockwise) for the first night, and camped a bit beyond and south of it to get a bit of shelter from the northerly wind.

#19 (2/2): Beinn a'Mhanaich (Luss Hills)

The fifth of the six Grahams on the circuit. I hadn't woken up until 8:00 when the sun hit the tent, and with the late start it had just set when I got to the summit of this one at about 16:00. Not much for tent photos here because it was pretty dark by the time it was up, and then next morning was clagged in and pouring. Exited out to Luss and a bus back to Glasgow via the sixth and final Graham of the circuit.

#20: Spartleton

A one-nighter on Spartleton (468m) during a brief improvement in the weather. Parked at Pressmennan Wood and then reached it across Dunbar Common, through the Crystal Rig windfarm using a bit of the old "Herring Road" right-of-way. Then next day down to Whiteadder Water and returned via the route over the high ground from Johnscleugh to Stoneypath.

#21: Sgiath a'Chaise

Another quick one-nighter snatched in a brief spell of lighter winds between storms. Only about 90 minutes from the road to the top (645m). Very wet underfoot, but fortunately the summit was acceptably dry. Some fog in the glens in the morning, but far from full-on inversion conditions. Quite a lot of the higher things surrounding it (e.g Ben Ledi) are on my summit camping hit-list, but this solitary Graham was still on my bagging to-do list so it had priority.

#22: North of Ben Ledi

First one of 2026, in a brief spell of light winds and sunshine at least on the first day; clag and some fresh snow blew in overnight. -5C seen on a thermometer outside the tent. Icy-in-places paths up and down but never quite bad enough to put the spikes on, although an ice axe was needed to hack a hole in Lochan nan Corp to draw some water. With Ian P.

#23: Beinn Bhalgairean

A one-nighter at 636m on Beinn Bhalgairean before bagging the neighbouring (and higher and snowier) Meall nan Gabhar next day; these are a pair of Grahams west of Ben Lui and south of Dalmally. Would have been nice to have camped on the snow, but it'd have probably meant being up in the cloud too, which is less pleasant.

#24: Meall Dearg

At ~550m on Meall Dearg (not a Graham), on a round of the three Grahams bounded by Loch Etive to the east and south, and Loch Creran to the north-west. A bit too windy for a comfortable summit camp higher up on one of the Grahams, so opted for a lower pitch on a lump lying amongst the complex terrain between the last two of the Grahams (after Beinn Molurgainn, and before Beinn Mheadhonach done the next morning).

Third three months: here comes the spring

The previous three had indeed been as awful as expected: only nine camps added (well below the fifteen in the first three), and only one trip of more than a single night out: the gales seemed to be relentless. There were none of the extended periods of high pressure that sometimes yield spectacular conditions. Hopefully February, March & April would be more productive!

#25: Broad Law

Another one night hit between gales. Despite the light winds, it was not going to be dry so I headed for Broad Law (840m), the highest thing within an hour's drive of Edinburgh in the hope any rain would fall as snow. What precipitation there was seemed to be mainly sleet, and some icy accumulations built up against poles and guy-lines.

#26 (1/2): Capelaw Hill

Had an appointment in West Linton in a couple of days, so decided to take advantage of another brief spell of weather by walking there, spending a couple of nights out. Bus to Lothianburn late afternoon then walked up Capelaw (453m) the easy way via the Howden Burn track. Snow was already down to about 400m, but snow flurries overnight topped it up and moved the snow line much lower down. One runner went past well after dark in a blizzard, and wished me a good night!

#27 (2/2): Mount Maw

From Capelaw, went over Black Hill (still as boggy as ever under the fresh snow) and Hare Hill in improving weather then crossed to the southern line of hills via Red Gate and Logan Burn to go over Green Law, The Mount and Grain Heads to Mount Maw (535m). Down into West Linton the next morning.

#28 (1/2): Ben Vrackie

I was dog-minding for a few days, and a brief spell of sun and light winds at the start of it - before a return to the usual gales next day - suggested a high-then-low trip. First night was spent on a snowy Ben Vrackie (841m), although increasing wind overnight had us packing up early a little before sunrise to descend by head-torch light.

#29 (2/2): Clunie Woods

From Ben Vrackie's Loch a'Choire we went down to Killiecrankie, although the early start meant I was too early for the visitor centre cafe to be open, but after a wander along the River Garry and Loch Fascally we arrived at the Festival Theatre cafe nicely timed for lunch. We then headed up into Clunie Woods for a more sheltered camp. No in-situ tent photos this time, 'cos... reasons. Returned back to Pitlochry for breakfast at the Festival Theatre cafe (good value!), then back to the car in Moulin.

#30 (1/2): Beinn a'Chleibh

First of two nights out on a circuit over the Ben Lui hills from Dalrigh. Crampons and axe were needed to reach the top of Ben Lui via the ridge on the right of the main corrie, but the summit area was too sloping and rocky to find a nice pitch anywhere so I continued on over to the lower neighbour Beinn a'Chleibh (916m); a grassy lump where it was much easier to find a nice spot. Clag came down and wind got up overnight. This camp marked the halfway point!

#31 (2/2): Fiarach

From Beinn a'Chleibh, in continuous clag and mizzle I traversed the south flanks of Ben Lui and over Ben Oss and Beinn Dubhchraig, and then on east to Fiarach (652m), my 100th Graham (using the 600m+ "New Grahams" list). Camped just north of the summit crag, which provided a useful windbreak from increasing southerly winds overnight. Didn't emerge from the cloud until I'd dropped down to around 400m on the way back out to Dalrigh the next morning.

#32 (1/3): Leum Uilleim

First night out of three - with the doggie - on a circuit around the Blackwater Reservoir from Corrour station to Rannoch station. The objective of the trip was primarily to bag a couple of Grahams (Beinn na Cloiche and Stob na Cruaiche), but a summit camp on top of the 906m Corbett next to Corrour station was an obvious first stop after getting off the train at Corrour mid-afternoon. Fantastic views in all directions.

#33 (2/3): South of Blackwater Reservoir dam

Not a summit camp, but a natural approximately halfway-point break through the remaining distance to the next Graham to even up the two longest days of the trip. This was reached after descending from Leum Uilleim to Loch Chiarain and its MBA bothy, bagging the Graham behind that (Beinn na Cloiche) and then descending to rejoin the path to and along the north side of the reservoir to the dam. The dam is no longer accessible but there's an easy crossing point below it. If I hadn't been with the beastie I might have been tempted to continue on up Beinn a' Chrulaiste (a Corbett and a popular wildcamping summit for its views across to Buachaille Etive Mor) but the girl had done enough for the day. Everywhere was very wet, but we found a dry spot on top of some raised lumps.

#34 (3/3): Stob na Cruaiche

Followed the tracks to the south of the reservoir to this hill for the last night out on this trip - on my 102nd Graham (740m) - before descending to Rannoch station on a soggy ATV track next morning. Great views across Rannoch Moor and to Glencoe... but it was quite hazy. Clag came down overnight.

#35 (1/2): Badandun Hill

First night out on a leisurely circuit of the three Grahams around the south end of Glen Isla. It was tempting to go somewhere higher in search of a last snowy camp, but I was put off by the forecast for wind, and warm temperatures with the freezing level way above Munro summits even overnight likely meant it would likely have been camping on slush. This hill was easy walk up the track from the small parking bay south of the bridge at Little Forter to a summit area (740m) that's a nice flat expanse of short soft heather.

#36 (2/2): Mount Blair

Second night out on a tour around the three Grahams in the area, after crossing Glen Isla and traversing over Duchray Hill from the previous night's camp. This summit camp (744m) less satisfactory: next to the tower there's an equipment cabinet with noisy fans continuously whirring away. The large indicator made a useful windbreak though. Packed up in the clag and mizzle in the morning; easy walk along the minor road (and the Cateran Trail's route) to the starting point.

To be continued...!

A five nights out trans-Cairngorm trip during a spell of fantastic weather, camping at 900m+ every night.

This trip was primarily motivated by a need to bag the remote pair of Munros Carn an Fhidhleir and An Sgarsoch - the only two remaining Cairngorm Munros still left for my second round - and also the Munro Top of Bynack Beag which I had somehow never managed to visit (not one I remember or recorded anyway). But the promise of some high camps - including the chance of one on Ben Macdui - in perfect conditions was at least as much of an attraction.

Day 1: Blair Atholl - Beinn Dearg

After what felt like weeks of storms continuously rolling in across Scotland the forecasts had finally delivered a promising looking break. I got off the train a little after midday at Blair Atholl on Friday 10th October.

From the train station, I made my way up the River Tilt and then climbed to pass by the rifle range - which was noisy as it was a day for "long range" shooting - and along the track beside the Allt Slanaidh. With the late start (and sunset comes early at this time of year), that seemed to be a shorter, quicker route for getting higher up on Beinn Dearg than the alternative of heading towards Glen Bruar and passing the Allt Scheicheachan bothy. It also eliminated the possibility of being tempted to stop in the bothy instead!

I drew some water for a camp when I crossed the Allt Scheicheachan (the bothy being a couple of km downstream) and got stuck into the final haul up. Beinn Dearg I remember as being quite rocky on top, so I opted to stop at ~920m on the flat grassy (and dry!) dip just north of Sliabh na Cloiche Moire.

It was quite breezy, and cloud eventually blew in as the sun set.

Day 2: Beinn Dearg - An Sgarsoch

Cloud was coming and going next morning.

I climbed up to Beinn Dearg's summit trig in the clag, but the cloud was lifting nicely as I made my way down towards Beinn Gharbh and then the upper reaches of Tarf Water. The going was rough! Someone in the Tarf bothy once described this whole area to me as "MAMBA country: Miles And Miles of B***er All". The Tarf was easily crossed and I went over Beinn Bhreac (a Corbett) to get onto the high ground extending west from Carn an Fhidhleir.

The crossing from Carn an Fhidhleir to An Sgarsoch was as rough and pathless as I remember it being from my first round's visit! There were a few other folks around, who all seem to have cycled in from Linn of Dee to Geldie Lodge.

The summit area looks grassy, but is actually quite rocky below the superficial green covering. I found a not-too-stony pitch a little way away from the summit cairn. Poor peg placements were compensated for by piling some rocks on top.

Sunset was obscured by cloud.

Day 3: An Sgarsoch - Ben Macdui

Woke to find clear skies, and spectacular views north to the main Cairngorm range.

I packed up and headed down to the Geldie Lodge ruin. I was expecting the fording of the Geldie Burn to be a boots off job... but a passing park ranger in a truck gave me a ride across, saving me the hassle! From there I marched along the track past the Red House bothy (didn't call in this time) to White Bridge and turned north up Glen Dee.

The path up Glenn Dee took me below Beinn Bhrotain's eastern flanks, and then past The Devil's Point and Corrour Bothy. A little further north as the path climbed towards the Lairig Ghru I turned off right up the Taylors' Burn path.

I drew water for a camp from the upper reaches of the Taylors' Burn before the final rocky climb to the summit. Cloud was blowing through when I got there, but it soon fell away to leave only lower level banks. I declined to occupy the pitch surrounded by the stone windbreak near the summit as it seemed a shame to block the views, and found a just big enough stone-free patch nearby instead. Initially there were just a few late daytrippers around, but later a chap from Stirling turned up to camp and occupied the windbreak spot.

Day 4: Ben Macdui - Bynack More

The morning was clear again; winds were light and the inversion conditions persisted! Just fantastic!

I had a relatively leisurely day planned today: Bynack More is not that far away and I could afford to take my time.

I eventually managed to tear myself away from enjoying the view from Macdui and headed down towards Loch Etchachan and then more steeply to the west end of Loch Avon.

This was new-to-me territory, so I could not resist taking the short detour to visit the famous "Shelter Stone".

I think I'll stick to using my tent!

From there I made my way along the rough track on the north side of Loch Avon. It got better as I climbed to The Saddle east of Cairn Gorm and then over A'Choinneach to my still needed Munro Top of Bynack Beg, drawing water for a camp when the All a'Choire Dheirg was crossed.

I was not optimistic that a summit camp on Bynack More was going to be possible as my memory from previous visits was that there's just a lot of rocky tors and I was expecting to have to go down to the flatter grassy surroundings to find anything. But amazingly there was a rock-free gritty pitch right next to the summit cairn! It was a fabulous spot camped above the sea of cloud to the north.

Day 5: Bynack More - Lurcher's Crag

Conditions were just as amazing in the morning, with the inversion conditions persisting.

With all bagging objectives for the trip completed and the weather stable there was no pressure to do anything or be anywhere other than to get myself into position to get out to Aviemore for a train home the next day. I headed down from Bynack More back to The Saddle and then over Cairn Gorm (quite busy) and along the rim of the Northern Corries to Lurcher's Crag, which was an obvious opportunity for a last high camp before heading down into the Rothiemurchus Forest (and the cloud!). Water for a camp was obtained from a burn flowing off north-east from the dip before Lurcher's Crag.

The layer of cloud was flowing through the Lairig Ghru like a river!

The dips between the rocky high point and the couple of lumps to its north were flat enough for a camp and with good views, but still very stony. After quite a bit of searching I was able to find a stone free gritty patch providing a good pitch and a fine camp was made with the sun setting into a sea of clouds again.

Day 6: Lurcher's Crag - Aviemore

It was finally time to head for home. I didn't have enough food for another night out, but the weather forecast showed the stunning conditions would not last much longer so I did not mind heading out from the hills too much. I descended from Lurcher's Crag through the layer of cloud (a couple of hundred metres thick) and down into the Rothiemurchus Forest, crossing the Cairngorm Club footbridge and going out to Coylumbridge and heading into Aviemore via the "Logging Road".

I got into town about 12:30; the next train was around 13:30 so I had time for a fry-up from the Cobbs cafe near the station.

The route

This map shows my trail of Garmin inReach pings, at ~30 minute intervals plus camps and summits (went south to north, from Blair Atholl to Aviemore):

This was a fairly leisurely pace compared with most "bagging" trips I've done: a total of 95km and 4300m of ascent, over the equivalent of about 5 full days (taking into account the first and last days were really just half days). The biggest day by both distance and climbing was from An Sgarsoch to Ben Macdui which was ~26km and 1030m ascent.

Someone warned me last year that The Challenge had addictive qualities, and after my first one in 2024 in brilliant weather I was keen to have another go. This time I wanted to scratch an itch to do a joined-up traverse of all nine of Scotland's 4000ft peaks; these sit in a cluster of four in the west (Ben Nevis, CMD & the two Aonachs) and five in the Cairngorms (Braeriach, Sgòr an Lochain Uaine, Cairn Toul, Ben Macdui & Cairn Gorm). A wish to revisit Ardgour - somewhere I have not been enough! - dictated the Acharacle start, and a desire to not repeat the last days of the previous year's route into Montrose had me select Stonehaven as an interesting-sounding finish. Taking those requirements together - along with me wanting to generally stay high and tick off a few more of my un-bagged Grahams (2000ft+ hills) along the way - pretty much dictated the rest of the route to be taken.

After last year's generally fantastic weather, I was not all that optimistic that such good conditions would be repeated: I suspected I might have used up all my TGOC "weather karma"! The success of the plan would surely depend on it not being sabotaged by foul weather on one or the other of the two critical periods traversing the highest ground. Colin - my TGOC route vetter again this year - was most encouraging about the plans but cautioned me that my objective was "a worthy goal but one which has probably been attempted more often than achieved"!

As it turned out, the weather was even better than last year - too hot even, according to some participants - and again I was able to stick to the main planned route throughout, with some minor variations.

The route description at the start for each day below is adapted from my route sheet submission, but edited to be what actually happened (mainly related to stopping a little earlier or later than planned to enjoy a summit camping opportunity). G/C/M/MT indicates a Graham, Corbett, Munro or Munro Top. The normal TGOC convention is to limit route descriptions to locations listed on OS 1:50,000 mapping but in some cases (e.g "The Sneck" between Beinn a'Bhuird and Ben Avon) I have mentioned things only labelled on 1:25,000 maps.

The day before my start date I reached Acharacle by train to Fort William and then the midday-ish bus via the Corran Ferry to arrive in the afternoon to stay in the Loch Shiel Hotel, which provided very pleasant last stay in civilised surroundings before pretty much two weeks of wild camps. A few other challengers were around, including a couple of fellow Aarn pack users who'd begun the day before at the Kilchoan start point further west. Since the TGOC is supposedly a coast-to-coast enterprise but Acharacle itself isn't on the coast, before dinner I wandered the few kilometres down to Kentra Bay to dip my boots in some sea; fortunately the tide was in else there would have been little but mud flats. The journey to the east coast could now begin!

Day 1

Acharacle - N then E on A861 to Langal - Dalelia - ferry to Polloch - S then E on road S of Loch Doilet - antenna at Pt.342 - Druim Glas - Druim Garbh - Sgurr Dhomhnuill (888m, C).

After an excellent breakfast at the hotel, I hurried off to get the first bit of tedious road walking out of the way and arrived at the Dalelia jetty well before any trips were due to run. The boatman kindly did a first run as soon as there were two of us there, and it was on being dropped off in the wilds at Polloch on the other side of Loch Shiel that the trek felt it had properly started; a feeling that continued despite some more quiet road walking in this remote bit of Ardgour.

Leaving the road at the high point by an antenna I made my way along a roller-coaster of lumps and bumps towards Sgurr Dhomhnuill.

While conditions underfoot were dry, some water for a camp was obtained from the outflow of one of the many lochans passed and the hill's summit gained via a steep and rough climb to the bealach to its south, from where a good path runs up.

I'd remembered from a previous visit that it had some grassy pitches just to the north of the summit cairn, and the tent was up by 17:30; it's a spectacular spot.

Day 2

Sgurr Dhomhnuill - Sail a'Bhuiridh - tracks to Tighnacomaire - bridge over River Scaddle at NM 945679 - forest track - leave at forest break - SE to Druim na Sgriodain (734m, G) - E to Sgurr na h-Eanchainne (730m) - N to Pt.596 - SE to Cille Mhaodain (burial ground) - S on A861 - Corran - ferry - Inchree - ascend SW ridge of Beinnn na Gucaig (616m, G).

A bit of a murky start to the day. Descending west off Sgurr Dhomhnuill I encountered 3 chaps and a dog in a large tunnel tent, there to do the hill, and later the other Acharacle starter I'd been with on the Dalelia ferry who'd taken a lower level route through the glen.

While I'd already done most of the Ardgour Grahams in the process of getting the Corbetts there done, I still needed Druim na Sgriodain so my route took me over that on the way to the coast; it's a huge sprawling mountain and quite a slog, although the loch-strewn area around the summit turns out to be very nice once reached.

Descending, I was surprised to meet another Graham bagger; that's a pretty rare occurrence compared with the frequency with which you encounter folks on Munros! Finding my way down off the hill, I drifted too far south and found myself blocked by crags, but contouring north for a while soon revealed a way down to the burial ground and the coast road. It was very tempting to stop at the Ardgour Ales brewery as I passed by, but I needed to press on.

The Corran Ferry was taken (still free to foot-passengers then) and I climbed first on marked trails in the woods above Inchree and then out onto open moor where a faint path led me to the summit of Beinnn na Gucaig, another Graham I'd wanted to bag on this trip. It was windy but a summit camp was still feasible; the tent was up around 17:30 again and fine evening views of Ben Nevis, the Mamores and Loch Linnhe were to be had.

Day 3

Beinnn na Gucaig - NE to Sron Gharbh - SE to Lochan Lunn Da Bhra outflow - road N to Blarmachfoldach - track junction NN096704 - NNE to Cow Hill - descend W to Fort William - Nevis Bridge - N side of River Nevis - Achintee House - path to Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe - Meall an t-Suidhe summit.

After a rough pathless descent off Beinnn na Gucaig to the farms by the loch, there was some more road walking until a little north of Blarmachfoldach where I turned off onto increasingly faint tracks and then paths to reach Fort William via Cow Hill (which I had never been up before).

I spent some time refuelling (and recharging electronics) in the Black Isle Brewery and then hit the Morrisons for a resupply to last me until Dalwhinnie before heading out of town for a late start on the ascent of The Ben (resisting the distracting temptations of the Ben Nevis Inn at Achintee). Much as I'd like to summit-camp Ben Nevis, it's so rocky I suspect the most practical time to camp it is early enough in the year that it's still snow covered so I stuck to my plan of heading for the top of Meall an t-Suidhe, the lump next to the "halfway lochan". Water was drawn from a thin trickle flowing off the hillside (and filtered); I was relieved not to have to take it from the loch directly or anywhere more exposed to the crowds on The Ben.

With a lot of cloud about the sunset was nothing special, and the wind dropped enough to permit a few early midges to make their presence known.

Day 4

Meall an t-Suidhe - pass N of Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe - S then E on zigzags - Ben Nevis (1344m, M) - Carn Mor Dearg (1220m, M) - bealach at NN186721 - W then N to Aonach Mor (1221m, M) - S to Aonach Beag (1234m, M) - Stob Coire Bhealaich (MT) - Sgurr Choinnich Beag - optional: out-and-back to Sgurr a'Bhuic (MT) - Sgurr Choinnich Beag (MT) - Sgurr Choinnich Mor (1094m, M).

I knew this was going to be a Big Day, and my body clock obliged by waking me up at 04:30 for an early start.

I headed down from Meall an t-Suidhe and around the west end of the lochan. Some sights beside the path on the zig-zag climb reinforced my suspicions of the likely water quality in the area!

At the summit there were a few bleary-eyed folks who'd been in the shelter the night before (one party having lugged a tent up but then found it impossible to pitch it anywhere!) and some three-peaks challengers around.

The traverse to Carn Mor Dearg via the CMD arete went well (the first time I have done it with a big backpacking pack) despite being quite breezy.

The descent from CMD to the bealach before the Aonachs was straightforward. I was expecting the route up from there to be more obvious (indeed I am sure I have done it once before years ago; I remember it being horribly eroded!), but I couldn't see anything like a path or an obvious natural line so I just slogged up the steep grass avoiding the craggy bits and it seemed to go well enough.

Pausing for lunch between the two Aonachs, I was delighted to meet a TGOC legend Roger B (14-time challenger in his mid-70s, and also on a 4000ers trip this year "to see if he could still do them"; I just hope I'm still going that strong at that age!) He'd been in the Ben summit shelter the night before.

We continued on together over the couple of tops south-east of Aonach Beag and then the tricky brief steep descent into Coire a'Bhuic.

In the corrie I was able to obtain some water for a camp and we parted ways with him descending to the glen while I continued on the high ground towards Sgurr Choinnich Beag.

I was not entirely sure where it'd be feasible to camp in this part of the world, and my original plan had specified a stop at the bealach between Sgurr Choinnich Mor and Stob Coire Easain as it seemed a safer bet there'd be somewhere suitable there. But before reaching that, the summit of Sgurr Choinnich Beag offered a tempting grassy spot for a high camp; however I rejected it as any sunset views would have been blocked by the great wall of Aonach Mor to the west and I decided to press on to the next, higher peak. Sgurr Choinnich Mor's summit turned out to be impossible to camp on, but continuing to descend the knife-edged ridge off it I suddenly came across a just-big-enough grassy terrace, albeit with something of a cliff on the north side.

One of those pitches which makes you think "not a place for sleep-walkers!", and before getting the tent out I also got online to make a final double-check that a gale wasn't forecast to blow up overnight.

Day 5

Sgurr Choinnich Mor - bealach S of Stob Coire Easain - Stob Coire Easain (MT) - Stob Coire an Laoigh (1116m, M) - Caisteal (MT) - Stob Coire Cath na Sine (MT) - Stob a'Choire Leith (MT) - Stob Choire Claurigh (1177m, M) - Stob Ban (977m, M) - E then S to Meall Mor - S to Beinn nan Each - E to Creag Ghuanach (621m, G).

I'd been along the Grey Corries a few times as a day-trip and it always seemed like quite a big undertaking with a long walk in and then later out to get back to the start. It seems a lot easier and goes a lot faster when you wake up at altitude right next door to it all!

I lingered on the top of Stob Choire Claurigh for a while in the good weather before descending south to tackle Stob Ban's horrid scree slopes.

From the summit of Stob Ban I followed the usual path down towards the Lairig Leacach for a while but then broke off south across some rough but dry country.

Crossing a couple of minor lumps, I made my the way to Creag Ghuanach where I camped by the small lochan on the summit.

Wandering a little away from the summit to above the hill's craggy eastern side I could see a couple of backpacker-looking tents - one of them another Scarp! - set up next to the derelict Creaguaineach Lodge; surely other TGOCers!

The sun went down behind the wall of the Grey Corries hills.

Day 6

Creag Ghuanach - S towards Staoineag - path to Creaguaineach Lodge - track S of Loch Treig - track to W end Loch Ossian - track N side of Loch Ossian - Corrour Shooting Lodge - track N side Uisge Labhair - Meall Glas Choire (MT) - Beinn Eibhinn (1102m, M) - Aonach Beag (1116m, M) - Geal Charn (1132m, M)

I woke up early to find I was in cloud, but soon came out of it descending towards Staoineag bothy where there were obviously a few people in residence. The track plod towards Corrour and then along the north side of Loch Ossian to the lodge went swiftly, with a brief pause to allow forestry operatives to drive a lorry out.

The fog on the hills all soon cleared and a little further east there was no reason not to stick to my main route's plan to go high again along the line of Munros north of the Bealach Dubh.

These are high-and-dry hills and rather than have to haul water over all of them my original plan had anticipated descending off Geal Charn towards Loch an Sgoir to find a camp with a water supply; my memory from a previous visit was that it was was fed a burn with some potentially good pitches next to it (albeit they'd loose the sun behind Geal Charn quite early), the burn flowing from a delightful cascade on the eastern cliffs of Geal Charn. However soon after the Geal Charn summit - while descending the gently sloping summit plateau towards the Aisre Ghobhainn which is the route off to the east - I came across a hollow with an enormous late-lying snow patch feeding a gushing burn which must have been the main supply for the aforementioned cascade.

With such an abundance of water there was no excuse to not do another summit camp so I filled my platypus bottles and headed straight back to pitch my tent near the summit cairn.

Day 7

Geal Charn - descend via Aisre Ghobhainn (named on 1:25K OS map only) - Diollaid a'Chairn (MT) - Carn Dearg (1034m, M) - Pt.827 - track S of Loch Pattack then E - NNE through gap in trees - Meall Cruaidh - Pt.901 - The Fara/Pt.911m (C) - ESE descent via firebreak to An Tochailt - track to Dalwhinnie (use railway underpass, not the closed rail crossing at station)

I descended off Geal Charn by the steep and narrow Aisre Ghobhainn spur at its east end - meeting a few deer and some ascending Munro baggers who'd been camped outside the (closed) Culra bothy - and continued on to traverse Carn Dearg.

I continued down the north-east ridge off Carn Dearg to meet the track towards Loch Pattack.

The weather was fantastic, so I stuck to the plan of reaching Dalwhinnie by a traverse of The Fara; I've done that before and it's much nicer than the long tedious plod on the estate track besides Loch Ericht.

It was pretty hot, and by the time I reached Dalwhinnie I was ready for an ice-cream and a cold drink from the garage, and then more sustenance from the Apiary Cafe before checking into the excellent Dalwhinnie Old School Hostel where I'd booked a room and my wife was arriving by train bringing supplies.

There were several other TGOCers in residence, including the chap I'd started with in Acharacle. Most of them headed off to take advantage of the Apiary's late opening for Challengers (normally both of Dalwhinnie's eateries - the Apiary and the Deerstalker - close too early for an evening meal) but my wife had bought up abundant supplies and we made good use of the hostel kitchen and it was a nice change not be eating backpacking food.

Day 8

Dalwhinnie - bridge over River Truim at S end of town - track NE besides Aqueduct and under A9 - track past Loch Cuaich - leave track to follow Feith na Braclaich - bealach S of Clach-mheall Dubh - River Tromie neart Bhran Cottage - S besides River Tromie to find a crossing point, worst case dam at N end of Loch an t-Seilich - N on track to cross bridge over Allt Bhran at NN763902 - path ESE to confluence of Allt na Cuilce and Allt Coire Bhran, S of forest SW of Carn Dearg - N then E on track on S flank of Carn Dearg - Carn Dearg Mor (857m, C).

I saw my wife off on the train back south around 10ish and made a late start on the next leg eastwards, following tracks past the various hydro installations and Loch Cuaich and then onto a rough path or sheep track that soon faded away. One deer fence climb was required at a decaying gate secured with a rusted padlock. I continued to follow faint traces of an ATV track over rough ground parallel to the Allt na Feinnich. At times it was tempting to escape by slogging up the heather slopes to find a proper track marked on the map as descending from Carn Thomais; if conditions underfoot were wetter I probably would have done.

Eventually I did converge with that track and it led me towards the river crossing at Bhran Cottage. Some years ago there was a bridge here, but it was destroyed one winter; some salvaged metal bridge sections - some quite mangled - are stacked near the building and I had my lunch sitting on them. With no bridge, the choices are a detour south to cross at a dam, adding 4-5km to routes continuing eastwards, or to wade across at the ford. Fortunately with the dry conditions fording it was not particularly difficult, although definitely a boots off (Croc-alikes on) and trousers rolled up above knees affair.

After pausing for lunch, a track took me another couple of km eastwards to an isolated house and another bridge. OS mapping shows a path continuing on the north side of the Allt Bhran, and a track on the south side. The track looked dull, dusty, hot and unappealing, so I stuck with my planned route using the path (as did another Challenger who's route briefly converged with mine here). It started off well enough, and was clearly once the access to some old decaying grouse butts, but it soon ran into an extensive area of freshly planted forestry (of which there seems to be a lot going on in Glen Tromie) and disappeared.

As attempting to follow the contouring line of the path marked on the map became increasingly hard work I gave up and floundered my way down to the banks of the Allt Bhran and was gratified to find a hint of a path there outside the planted area. Although squeezed against the hillside by river meanders in a few places, that eventually took me to where I rejoined the track coming back across from the other side of the river. I've no idea what became of the other Challenger, but I did subsequently learn I wasn't the only one who'd had a nightmare here. Stick with the track south of the river if you head this way!

Anticipating a later start and a shorter day, my plan had originally been to camp here by the river but with the excellent weather it seemed a shame not to press on for another summit camp. I headed on a bit further via tracks, grabbed some water at a burn crossing and after passing more fresh forest planting followed ATV tracks to the summit of Carn Dearg Mor.

It was the windiest camp yet and the ground was not particularly cooperative for securing tent pegs (everywhere seemed to be either too mossy or too rocky) so I resorted to piling rocks on top of some poor stake placements.

Day 9

Carn Dearg Mor - Carn Dearg Beag - path NNE - descend NE across Coire Chrion-alltain - Glen Feshie - N on track to bridge over River Feshie NN850964 - track NE then E besides Allt Fhearnagan - track to S of Carn Ban Mor - Loch nan Cnapan - flanks of Carn na Criche - Wells of Dee - Braeriach (1296m, M) - Carn na Criche (MT)

The wind had completely dropped off overnight and it was very still in the morning. I continued over Carn Dearg Beag through more newly planted forest to meet tracks above Glen Feshie, from where I needed to get to the bridge which is a choke point for Challengers coming through this area. The easy but long way would have been to stick to a track descending south towards Glenfeshie Lodge and then dogleg back north up along Glen Feshie to the bridge, but a far more direct route descending via Coire Chrion-alltain was too tempting a short-cut to resist. This turned out to be a bit of a bushwhacking nightmare in scrubby woodland and I eventually emerged on the track looking like I'd been dragged through a hedge... which is pretty much what it had been necessary to do to get down. From there I headed north a little more and crossed the Feshie by the bridge; there was no sign of other Challengers, but it was too early for the wave of folks likely to be coming from Newtonmore/Kingussie to have got there yet.

I continued eastwards, climbing out of Glen Feshie on paths initially through the woods then onto the open high ground south of Sgur Gaoith (already in the bag for my second Munro round, so I felt no need to make a detour to it; and in any case I was far more focused on the five Cairngorm 4000fters which would be soon be reached). A few km further east I reached the loch-strewn area around Loch nan Cnapan.

My original submitted route plan had specified a camp at Loch nan Cnapan, followed next day by a traverse of the hills west of the Lairig Ghru from south to north, a descent by the "Duke's Path" from Braeriach (which I had done before) and an ascent of Ben Macdui by a spur parallel to the Allt a'Choire Mhoir (apparently possible, but terrain new to me). However having gotten further ahead yesterday than planned, it was still early and I was keen to make a dent in what was going to be a Big Day tomorrow. So instead I decided to change plans and do these hills north to south and cross to Macdui using the descent to Corrour bothy and then the Taylors' Burn path up, both of them familiar ground, and this would also mean I could draw water for a high camp from the Wells of Dee rather than have to carry it up. Accordingly, I headed northwards to climb the slopes of Carn na Criche bypassing its summit (for now) to visit the Wells and grab some water before continuing to Braeriach.

Braeriach was quite busy with people (including a guided party doing the Cairngorm 4000ers over two days and some wild swimming folks who's objective seemed to be to tick off swims in high and remote lochs).

While I have summit-camped Braeriach before, good pitches for a non-freestanding tent are in short supply and it was very windy; I decided to continue on a bit further in the hope I'd find something better or the wind would drop (as it often does as the sun gets lower). Heading south now, over on Carn na Criche's broad summit area I easily found a good pitch and although it was still windy it was nothing my tent couldn't handle.

Later another Challenger passed by, but they went off towards the Wells of Dee in search of more sheltered ground.

Day 10

Carn na Criche (MT) - Sgor an Lochan Uaine (1258m, M) - Cairn Toul (1291m, M) - Coire Odhar - descend to cross Lairig Ghru at Corrour bothy - ascend via "Taylors' Burn" route - Ben Macdui (1309m, M) - path NNW to Lochan Buidhe - path ENE to Stob Coire an t-Sneachda (MT) - NE to Cairn Gorm (1245m, M) - Cnap Coire na Spreidhe (MT) - path E then SSE to The Saddle - Loch A'an outflow.

The wind seemed to have increased overnight and shifted; I found one corner peg had ripped out in the morning but the gritty loose Cairngorm soil does not grip particularly securely. Should have piled some rocks on the pegs!

I was on the move by six. This was the only time on the trip I wore my waterproof jacket, and it was as an extra layer of wind-proofing against the gale rather than for rain protection. The next two 4000fter Munros were swiftly traversed - I did not need to include an out-and-back to The Devil's Point - and I descended by the path from Coire Odhar down to Corrour bothy.

The bothy and surroundings seemed to be mobbed with folks, including two guided Cairngorm 4000fters groups (each group going round in an opposite direction; I'd met one party on Braeriach the previous day). From there I headed up the Taylors' Burn route to a blustery Ben Macdui summit, and then north for a relatively sheltered lunch next to Lochan Buidhe.

Then it was off over Cairn Gorm via Stob Coire an t-Sneachda, and out to the Munro Top of Cnap Coire na Spreidhe (a new bagging tick for me).

It'd have been tempting to camp here; the wind had eased and I had spotted water available not far away in the burn that flows off Cairn Gorm via Ciste Mhearad. However it was so rocky there was nowhere to pitch, so instead I decided to continue my route on down via The Saddle to the Loch A'an outflow and see what all the fuss was about there.

It is indeed a very nice spot! I was amazed to find there was no-one else around and I had the prime position on a grassy terrace behind the small beach to myself.

Cloud eventually came down onto the hills and there was some light rain so it'd have been a poor evening for a high camp anyway. Later a few more folks turned up and camped further away down the south side of the Loch. I slept well!

Day 11

Loch Avon outflow - Fords of Avon - Beinn a'Chaorainn (1082m, M) - Beinn a'Chaorainn Bheag (MT) - S then E to North Top of Beinn A'Bhuird (1197m, M) - out and back to South Top (MT) - Cnap a'Chleirich (MT) - The Sneck - Leabaidh an Daimh Bhuidhe (1171m, M) of Ben Avon.

With blue skies and sunshine this morning it was hard to get moving from the idyllic waterfront spot, but the journey had to be continued.

It was mobbed with campers around the Fords of Avon refuge, although none of them seemed to be TGOCers. With the ground conditions being so dry I easily crossed the ford with boots on and slogged up the heathery slopes of Beinn a'Chaorainn and then onto its neighbouring Top.

Beinn a'Bhuird's North Top soon followed, although I went out-and-back to the South Top first (both the small cairn which marks the actual Top, and the large cairn which everyone seems to think is it... some other visitors to it today included!)

Beinn a'Bhuird is surprisingly good for water at its eastern end around Cnap a'Chleirich and I loaded up with camp supplies from a spring before crossing The Sneck onto Ben Avon. The climb from The Sneck is a bit nasty and eroded (my diary's notes for the day say "Worst path of the trip?") but then fast progress was made towards Ben Avon's summit tor of Leabaidh an Daimh Bhuidhe.

After a scramble to the top of the rocks to bag the hill for my second round of Munros, I then had to ponder where to camp: the summit rocks sit on top of steep grassy slopes and the obvious solution is to go further away on the plateau to where it flattens out, but I was able to find a big enough grassy flat patch on the eastern side which still offered a view of what promised to be a nice sunset. Over at another tor to the northeast there were a couple of chaps from Tomintoul (and their dog) out bivvying.

Day 12

Leabaidh an Daimh Bhuidhe (Ben Avon) - Carn Drochaid - tracks E besides River Gairn - bridge near Daldownie - SE to Blairglass - S to B976, briefly N on road - track to Pt.568 - E to Geatlaig Hill (743m, G) - track to Carn Dearg - leave track to descend to forest path/track to Culsh - S on A939 - E on off-road route parallel to A93 on S side - Ballater.

The calm bright morning saw the first real inversion conditions of the trip, although the nearest cloud was quite far away due to the sprawling expanse of Ben Avon's summit area.

I paid the bivouackers a visit then descended off over Carn Drochaid to reach the River Gairn at a ford where some stepping stones made for an easy crossing. There followed a long hot plod east on the track beside the river until I eventually left it shortly after the bridge at Daldownie to follow another track to the B976 on the north side of Geatlaig Hill. I followed the road to the high point, then went uphill over heather for a short distance to pick up a track which wound its way up to the summit trig point. In the route-planning stages I'd half wondered about this hill's summit camping possibilities; it turned out it's pretty awful: nothing but a carpet of thick heather, and the last flowing water seen had been miles back at the River Gairn.

From there I followed a faint path - in places being reclaimed by the heather - down to Culsh on the A939. A bit of quiet road walking took me to the busier A93 but then after the bridge over the River Gairn a footpath let me get into Ballater away from the road.

I'd expected to find some TGOCers at the campsite as Ballater is well known to be a hotspot, but there was no-one around. It seemed I'd lingered too long in the mountains and I was a day behind the main pack of Challengers who were by now all over in Tarfside munching bacon butties. My solo backpacking tent sat alone on the camping area surrounded by a ring of campervans and caravans. I was glad of the excellent showers! Fish-and-chip supper.

Day 13

Ballater - E on Deeside Way to Dinnet - cross River Dee on B9158 - briefly W on B976 - minor road to Netherton then S to Newton - path SE to Glen Tanar - bridge NO477956 - Firnmouth Road S then E around Baudy Meg - SE over Pt.466 to Fungle Road - track S to/around Birse Castle/Ballochan - E on track on N side of Water of Feugh.

From Ballater, it was now a straightforward march to the coast. To beat the heat I made an 06:00 start to plod along the Deeside Way to reach Dinnet in less than three hours.

From there I turned southeast and made my way along farm tracks to Glen Tanar where a ranger ambushed me and briefed me about the "aggressive Capercaille" issue in the area. He was also keen I avoid nesting Ospreys on the north slopes of Baudy Meg - where I'd intended to take the track - and pointed me towards the Firnmouth Road passing to the west and south of that hill instead; that turned out to be a good idea as it gave me more walking in shade in the woods on an increasingly hot day. A couple of side-tracks leading off into the Capercaille danger zone were well taped-off with warning notices!

Emerging from the Glen Tanar Forest onto the high ground, I soon left the track and headed off cross-country over some rough and ridiculously thick heathery country to reach the Fungle Road at Black Moss. Along the way I encountered a couple of curious ball-on-pyramid memorials, apparently commemorating a long-range stag shot. I took a closer look at them hoping they might have a bit of a path trodden to them, but no... the going was just as tough!

The Glen Tanar ranger had been quite disparaging about a neighbouring estate's heather burning practices, but when I eventually reached some shorter growth I was very glad of the easier going! I followed the Fungle Road down to Birse Castle and took the signed path skirting the grounds to reach the road besides the Water of Feugh.

I followed that for a while, looking for a promising camping spot. The north side of the burn where the road was didn't have much to offer but I eventually spotted a woodland on the other side that looked interesting. The burn was crossed fairly easily with a bit of rock-hopping and I found a level spot out of sight of the road amongst what looked like a relatively young birch plantation (I vaguely remember there might have been a decaying sign identifying it as a millennium project).

It was cloudy, so I did not feel I was missing anything by not camping higher. It was also the first significant midge I'd had; not too bad, but I did cook dinner with the fly zipped closed.

Day 14

Beside Water of Feugh - track/road E Finzean Sawmill - SE to Wester Clune, Tillyorn and past Bogmore - Water of Aven (ford) - E to The Drummels - S then E track N side of Burn of Greendams - briefly minor road S to meet B974 - S on B974 to ~1km past Bridge of Dye - E on forest track over Garlot Hill to forest edge - path to windfarm tracks - South Dennetys - Mid Hill - E to forest tracks W of Leachie Hill - N then W in Fetteresso Forest to near Stonehouse.

A last long penultimate day to get near enough Stonehouse that the last day would be a short amble into town and give me plenty of time to get a bus or a train to Montrose.

I returned to the road across the Water of Feugh and wandered along east to the "Bucket Mill", which I should not have been surprised to learn was once a place where buckets were manufactured. Further east, leaving the road for farm tracks I made my way up to and through the south end of the Wood of Easter Clune; a little light drizzle was the nearest to rain I'd had while walking on the route, and it wasn't worth getting the waterproof out for. From there I descended to cross the Water of Aven at some stepping stones (would probably be a much more formidable obstacle in wetter conditions; I'd had my final bit of Foul Weather Alternative route planned here in case it was likely to be in spate). Tracks through forest then led me to the B974 and some road walking took me to the Bridge of Dye, where I met - crossing it in the opposite direction - a Canadian Challenger I'd previously met at Dalwhinnie Hostel.

A little to the south of the bridge I turned onto a track into the vast expanse of the Fetteresso Forest.

The high ground with the wind farm was crossed and I followed the wind farm access track (some vans coming and going; it looked like one of the turbines was getting a lot of attention) down to a junction where I caught up with another couple of Challengers. There was some consternation here as forestry operations on the slopes above us to the north had barred the continuing track with "no unauthorised access" signs and barriers. With no obvious alternative except forest bushwhacking or what looked like a huge detour using other tracks, we decided the Scotways' Right of Way sign was the only "authorisation" we needed and pressed on regardless. Fortunately the supposedly out-of-bounds bit of track was short and the right-of-way soon diverged to follow the Cowie Water.

I camped in a large clearing just west of Stonehouse which is recommended in a TGOCer's "Fetteresso Forest Guide" as one of the few decent places to camp in the area. The noisy forest operations continued nearby until 07:30.

Day 15

NO767877 - track/road E to Snob Cott - bridge at NO806883 - E on minor road past Chyne Hill to Kirktown of Fetteresso - Stonehaven Harbour - Station for train to Montrose.

The forestry operatives were back at work well before 06:00 so there was no excuse to not get moving early. I continued east to gain a minor road at Mergie, and followed quiet roads and some tracks near Fetteresso Castle into Stonehaven. At one point a passing van driver stopped to ask why there were so many people around carrying big backpacks; maybe they'll be a new recruit for the event!

Fish and chips at the beach, a chat with some other Challengers also arriving to dip their boots in the sea and then I got on a bus to Montrose to sign in with Challenge Control.

Epilogue

Some numbers

Of 14 nights on the trail, I spent 12 of them wild camped, one night in a hostel (Dalwhinnie) and one night in a campsite (Ballater).

Of the 12 wild camps, 9 of them I'd consider summit camps: Sgurr Dhomhnuill (888m, C), Beinnn na Gucaig (616m, G), Meall an t-Suidhe (711m), Sgurr Choinnich Mor (1094m, M), Creag Ghuanach (621m, G), Geal Charn (1132m, M), Carn Dearg Mor (857m, C), Carn na Criche (1265m, MT), Leabaidh an Daimh Bhuidhe (Ben Avon; 1171m, M). The other three were lower level, although the one by Loch Avon still at around 730m.

Total "bagging" haul for the trip was 20 Munros (and numerous associated Tops), 3 Corbetts and 4 Grahams.

Total distance for the main route on my route sheet was 348km, an average of 23km/day over 15 days. Total ascent was 16100m, an average of 1070m/day over 15 days. The longest days were the last two full days where I did 29 & 33km. Unsurprisingly the days with the biggest ascent totals were those going over the 4000ers: 2050m ascent on the Lochaber ones, and 1660m in the Cairngorms (the latter ended up being defused slightly by starting it from a higher camp than planned, although crossing the Lairig Ghru at a lower point offset much of the gain).

Equipment

This was much the same as last year. Main items were:

• Tarptent Scarp Ultra. The Ultra TNT material is a bit weird, but its stiffness results in an incredibly robust tent for summit camping in exposed windy conditions.
• Exped Ultra 3R M Mummy air mat with pump bag and repair kit.
• PHDesigns "triobag" - an experimental product in 2018 and not offered again since, so far as I know.
• Aarn "Natural Balance Pro" pack with "expedition" balance pockets. Last year I used an older Aarn "Featherlite Freedom" pack, but I'd since got hold of this larger model for winter and/or trips with the dog where a bit more space is useful. It's such an improvement - just multiple minor details rather than anything significant - over the older pack that I just had to use it on the TGOC; I found the extra space was useful for swallowing all of my bulky Ultra tent, my Crocs and space-gobbling things like a multipack of Hula Hoops from Fort William Morrisons.
• Optimus Crux stove, MSR "Titan" pot and mug and a small Optimus non-stick frying pan and Optimus wind-shield. (The frying pan is an addition since last year; I've gotten more into cooking stuff rather than eating freeze-dried and a non-stick pan is better than having food burnt onto the bottom of the titanium pot; I also switched to the Crux stove from a Pocket Rocket because the wider burner spreads the heat over a pan base better).
• Alpkit "Hippo" water filter. I don't normally bother with a water filter on trips in Scotland where I'm at altitude and away from livestock and civilization, but as that wasn't the case for all of this trip I did take an Alpkit "Hippo" water filter along and used it in a few places.

What would I have done differently?

Very pleased with how this route worked out. The last few days in the east did seem a bit of out of keeping with what had gone before though; a more truly high level line across Scotland would have been better if it incorporated the natural line of hills I'd followed east from Mount Keen last year, but obviously I didn't want to do the same again. I'd rejected a lot of ideas in the planning stage which all seemed to need just one more day than the fifteen allowed by The Challenge, at least without introducing some unacceptably long (to me) days elsewhere. That included some route ideas trying to break the big multi-4000er crossing days into more than one day; I just couldn't make them work though. In the end along-the-way adaptations like those made at Braeriach and Carn na Criche worked out well though.

Back again next year?

Oh yes! But I'll probably try to explore some more new-to-me territory than do another Munro bagging epic. And I'm anticipating that my luck with the weather so far must surely run out at some point!

I think I first became aware of "The Challenge" after moving up to Scotland in 2003; we were quite taken by the novelty of the bothies back then, and inspecting bothy log books would often turn up comments such as "Big TGO crowd in tonight" for the appropriate dates in May, although we never ran into any at first hand. At the time I was a bit puzzled by the idea: if you wanted to walk across Scotland, surely you'd just walk across Scotland and why did it need an organized event? However two decades rolled by and despite doing a lot of multi-day Munro and Corbett bagging backpacking trips in Scotland and other trips abroad I still hadn't walked across Scotland. On returning from a second Pyrenean Haute Route crossing in 2023 I decided it was high time this omission was fixed, and that "The Challenge" would be ideal for providing a much-needed hard deadline for planning and doing it!

The route planning was an interesting exercise. My first thoughts were that I'd simply join up high-level traverses of some of my favourite mountain areas, but it quickly became clear that the constraints imposed by the need for FWA (Foul Weather Alternative) fallback plans and the logistics of resupplying didn't make it quite so easy. It also bought it home to me just how much of Scotland isn't so mountainous: there's quite a lot of less well known wild land needing a route planning across it to connect the more familiar spiky bits.

My HRP experiences had previously gotten me interested in whether there were any particularly "recognized" high-level coast-to-coast routes across Scotland. The term "Scottish Haute Route" seemed to have been largely appropriated by Scottish ski-tourers and a few long walks connecting the Cairngorms to Lochaber, but I subsequently - when I was already well into planning my own route - stumbled on a route described as "Scotland Over The Top" which I think makes a not unreasonable claim to be "a very good candidate to be the definitive Scottish coast to coast route". I was intrigued to see my own nascent route idea picking out a similar line to that in places. But on the whole I heeded advice - for a first crossing - not to delve into other TGOers' write-ups of their own routes as I wanted this to be all my own creation.

I eventually settled on a perhaps over-ambitious plan taking in 18 Munros, 14 Munro tops and a Corbett, many of which would make a useful contribution to progressing my second Munro round. Between Shiel Bridge and Montrose start and end points, civilization was touched at Fort Augustus, Kingussie, Braemar and Edzell. Encouraging input from an experienced TGOC route vetter was invaluable for clarifying details of some of the connecting sections I was unfamiliar with and for planning escape routes.

The day-by-day descriptions below are adapted from my route sheet to be the staging I actually did: the generally superb weather meant I often cut days short or extended them a bit to make the most of summit camp opportunities, and there were some minor variations from the planned route. I've maintained the TGOC route-sheet convention of listing points of significant elevation (>2000ft) in bold. (M), (MT) & (C) annotations indicate Munros, Munro Tops and Corbetts.

Day 1

Kintail Lodge Hotel – Allt a’Chruinn – Beinn Bhuidhe – Sgurr nan Saighead (MT) – Sgurr Fhuaran (M) – Sgurr na Carnach (M) – Sgurr na Ciste Duibhe (M) – Sgurr nan Spainteach (MT) – Bealach Lapain – Saileag (M) – Sgurr a’Bhealaich Dheirg (M) – Aonach Meadhoin (M)

A warm and initially overcast day. I dipped my boots in Loch Duich on way to Kintail Lodge Hotel to sign the "Start Register" and then went along the road a bit to Allt a'Chruinn before heading inland and up the Five Sisters, although lowest and westernmost Sgùrr na Moraich was bypassed as this was already going to be a huge day for ascent (2315m on the route sheet).

It was hot! I was glad to get a bit of a breeze once some altitude was gained.

The superb roller-coaster ridge walking over four of the Sisters and then the neighbouring "Brothers" ridge went well, with the best visibility I've had on most of these hills.

The original plan specified a camp at Bealach a'Choinich which I expected to have water and be a bit more sheltered than the ridge, but conditions on Aonach Meadhoin a little before there were so perfect that it would have been criminal not to summit camp and I found usable water below a snow patch in the bealach just before it.

I was aware there was a remarkably high aurora alert in force for that night and set the alarm on my watch for 1am. But it completely failed to wake me! Apparently I missed quite a show!

Day 2

Aonach Meadhoin (M) – Sgurr an Fhuarail (MT) – Bealach a’Choinich – Ciste Dubh (M) – Bealach a’Choinich – NH076160 (connect FWA) – Coire Odhar – Mullach Fraoch-choire (M) – Stob Coire na Craileig (MT) – A’Chraileag (M) – A’Chioch (MT) – Bealach Choire a’Chait – Drochaid an Tuill Easaich (MT) – Sgurr nan Conhbhairean (M)

This was another big day for ascent according to the plan (1820m total). Weather was again superb, although it became increasingly blustery as the day progressed.

Ciste Dubh I had only visited once before, and I remembered it being a lot more rocky and cliff-bound that it actually is. The original intention had been to do it as a pack-free out-and-back from a Bealach a’Choinich camp, but instead I traversed it and descended steep grassy slopes to 400m at Bealach Allt a'Chaorainn Mhoir to cross the glen separating it from the hills to the east.

I slogged up Coire Odhar and onto another roller-coaster ridge walk. The out-and-back visit to Mullach Fraoch-choire was perhaps the most tricky summit of the whole crossing with an awkward step. After A'Chralaig, the Munro top of A’Chioch also demanded an out-and-back excursion.

Despite the increasing wind, I thought there was still a chance of a summit camp and so on the return from A’Chioch I loaded up with abundant water from the burns east of A'Chralaig and headed on over another top to the summit of Sgurr nan Conhbhairean.

The original plan - if conditions didn't permit a high camp - had been to press on down to Coire Dho where shelter and water could surely be found, but again a summit camp opportunity was irresistible. This one was quite rocky, but just enough grass could be found for a tent pitch and it seemed to be a curiously calm and sheltered patch considering the buffeting I'd gotten approaching it. I'd noticed that before on a previous visit: it's as if the steep slopes around it somehow deflect any wind over the top of the small plateau-like summit area.

Aurora activity was still supposed to be very high, so I set the alarm for 1am again. This time it did wake me up, but the sky was completely cloudy when I looked out.

Day 3

Sgurr nan Conhbhairean (M) – Sail Chaorainn (M) – Carn a’Mhadaidh-ruaidh – An Reithe – Coire Dho (confluence of burns forming River Doe) – Track besides River Doe – Ceannacroc Lodge – Ceannacroc Bridge – A887 – Power Station – <redacted>

The weather seemed less inspiring today, with rain and possibly thunder forecast for later. Munros and tops in this area were already in the bag for my second round, so my plan took me north to Sail Chaorainn and then a slight backtrack to descend down the spur of An Reithe to Coire Dho and along the track besides the river to Ceannacroc Lodge.

After the River Moriston was crossed at the old bridge, I was reluctant to walk along the A887 for the stretch needed and instead decided to explore east along the old track besides the river... unfortunately it simply ends abruptly and there was some awkward squeezing through a gap in a deer fence and then a climb over a barb-wire fence to escape to the A-road. What's more, I was now further east than I needed to be by not much less distance than if I'd simply got onto the road as I'd planned.

A short road walk (fortunately with wide verges) took me to the windfarm power station, from where I could access wind-farm tracks traversing the slopes of Meall Dubh. I will not go into details as I understand the estate prefers to keep the specific location unidentified online, but after a bit of a wander through the wind farm, some hellishly rough moorland - plus a gate climb and two deer fence climbs - I arrived at a rather nice bothy (a non-MBA one) just in time to avoid the heavy showers which persisted all evening with occasional rumbles of thunder heard.

This bothy is particularly notable for the upstairs landing being papered with old newspapers from the 1940s.

Day 4

<redacted> – Fort Augustus – B862 – track at NH401090 – track up Glen Doe to Coire Doe – Lochan na Stairne – track to N of reservoir – W on windfarm tracks

From the bothy, I made my way through bluebell woods (with much evidence of winter storm damage) into a busy Fort Augustus. There were quite a few people with big backpacks around, but none of them seemed to be TGOers! Gorged on coffee-and-cake and then fish-and-chips, and picked up a gas can from the "Tarff Trading" store just in case my resupply plan in Kingussie in a couple of days fell through (a Covid scare was brewing back home!)

From Fort Augustus I skirted the south end of Loch Ness and found a new-looking path (The South Loch Ness Trail?) besides the B862 usefully avoiding what I'd expected to be some road walking.

Turning off that, it was a long plod into the middle of the Glen Doe wind farm. I met some other day-walkers on the access track who said they'd been turned back "by a man in an SSE van" on the grounds "it was an active construction site" or something like that; this would have been a major setback (or at least forced a diversion onto far rougher terrain) so I simply pressed on. There did seem to be a major exodus of vehicles and trucks - around 15:00-15:30 was clearly "knocking off time" - but no-one did anything but wave at me.

My original plan had been to camp by Lochan na Stairne, but if walking through the windfarm during working hours was going to be an issue I decided I'd best carrry on and make some progress through it while it was quiet.

Clearing the highest point on the track finally revealed the reservoir and the wind farm (and also a curious metallic-looking structure in the distance I subsequently learned was the Glendoe Eagle sculpture). The scale of the landscape is vast; it was still at least another hour's walking until I was even anywhere near the first wind turbine!

With rain brewing, I eventually stopped a little east of the huge building in the centre of the wind farm, figuring that as I was now more than half-way across I was unlikely to get chased out by someone wanting to send me back the way I'd come. Grassy earth embankments besides the windfarm tracks provided a better drier pitch than any of the boggy mire further away.

Day 5

Windfarm tracks then trackless to Carn na Criche – Cairn Ewen–Carn Odhar na Criche – Beinn Odhar – Sneachdach Slinnean – Carn Ban (MT) – Carn Dearg (M) – Carn Ballach (MT) – Meall a’Bhothain – Carn Sgulain (M)

A murky, bluster day with the threat of rain or drizzle always in the air, although it never quite properly arrived.

I finally escaped from the windfarm's track network onto the open moorland and headed for higher ground. A lone distant figure with a large-ish pack striding eastwards must surely have been another TGOC-er, but they seemed to be taking a compass-bearing direct line while I was navigating from lump-to-lump, and they soon disappeared off ahead of me.

I eventually arrived at the lochan of Sneachdach Slinnean; this was my planned stop for this night on my route sheet, but having pushed on further than planned through the wind farm yesterday I was now around half a day ahead of schedule and it was still far too early to stop.

From there the Munro of Carn Dearg was an easy out-and-back bag, and then it was the standard Monadhliath Munros' "follow the line of fence-posts" thing along the ridge.

Some useful (and not brown peat-stained!) water was acquired from a gully full of melting snow.

My route was taking me to Kingussie tomorrow night rather than Newtonmore, so I ignored A'Chailleach - the other Munro in the area - and stayed with the high ground onto Carn Sgulain where conditions - although breezy - seemed reasonable for a summit camp. I soon found myself in the clag as the cloud lowered.

Day 6

Carn Sgulain (M) – Am Bodach – Meall na Gearra – join track beside Allt Mor – Pitmain Lodge – Kingussie.

I found myself completely in the cloud this morning. Shortly after leaving camp - with the intention of continuing the line along the high ground eastwards over Am Bodach - I got the compass out, and a little later was puzzled to find myself headed back towards the summit of Carn Sgulain and my campsite! The dreaded "reverse polarity" had struck!

Fortunately I always carry a spare compass (stored separately) and that - OK, and a check of the electronic mapping - let me get back on route in the clouds, although they soon cleared away.

Reaching the estate track before Carn an Fhreiceadain, I headed down past Pitmain Lodge into Kingussie to meet my wife and our dog in town. We stayed in one of The Seelies apartments for the night, which was very pleasant. I loaded the pack up with provisions again, and switched some equipment around.

Day 7

Kingussie – Speyside Way – Tromie Bridge – Drumguish – Baileguish – bridge NN826979 – Glen Feshie – bridge NN850964 – track towards Ruigh Aiteachain bothy – turn off E before bothy up track N side Allt Coire Chaoil – Mullach Clach a’Bhlair (M)

Much better weather today. And many TGOC folks around; the most I'd met since the start. Some who'd also stayed in Kingussie yesterday and others who'd come up from Newtonmore this morning.

I made a late start out of town eastwards towards Glen Feshie and the Cairngorms. It was hot enough for some hardcore TGOCers to be swimming at the Feshie bridge; they did not persuade me in!

Most TGOC folks on this stretch seemed to be headed a little further south down Glen Feshie to Ruigh Aiteachain (an MBA bothy) - but I turned off at the track climbing to Mullach Clach a’Bhlair as conditions seemed ripe for a summit camp. It turned out it was quite windy up there, but the tent coped well.

Day 8

Mullach Clach a’Bhlair (M) – track via Pt.953, Moine Mhor, Pt.957, Allt Sgairnich –Tom Dubh (MT) – Monadh Mor (M) – Beinn Bhrotain (M)

Another fine but still quite breezy day. I was surprised by an early morning visit from a walker with a dog. I made my way along tracks to Tom Dubh and then on to the slopes of Monadh Mor. Some other folks with big packs could be seen paralleling my path a little further north, and later on the trip I met some TGOers who'd been camped up towards Sgor Gaoith that night.

Crossing to Beinn Bhrotain I met another chap up there out on a day trip from Edinburgh. My own plan had me stopping down at White Bridge (or the new Red House bothy would have been an option in terrible weather), but yet again the conditions seemed ideal for a high camp if a little more sheltered spot could be found. Beinn Bhrotain's summit was far too rocky and exposed (although the wind did drop off significantly later) but my route vetter had recommended a visit to the adjacent not-a-top lump to the east and I took a look.

There's an intervening dip that was nice and grassy in the bottom, but with restricted views it was unappealing. I continued on over what's marked as Pt.1108 on OS maps and found a pitch on a grassy terrace just big enough for the tent and with fine views of the panorama to the north and also in the direction of sunset.

Day 9

Beinn Bhrotain (M) – Carn Cloich-mhullin (MT) – descend WSW to Chest of Dee & White Bridge – Linn of Dee – Mar Lodge – Victoria Bridge – road E to NO118897 – forest track to Tomintoul – Auchendryne – Braemar.

Yet another fine day, although rain and possibly thunderstorms were forecast for later. I headed back to Beinn Bhrotain summit and then down towards White Bridge. Quite a few daytrippers headed up, with it being a Saturday, and there were more folks out and about in the glen. I eventually caught up with a mass of TGOCers at the much appreciated Mar Lodge refreshments stop.

From there, there was some more tarmac bashing until a turn-off into the woods through which a more interesting approach to Braemar could be made. I arrived in town to the sound of thunder in the distance, and a motley crew of already well-refreshed TGOCers welcomed me under the awnings of the Fife Arms just at the deluge began.

I picked up a resupply parcel at the busy Braemar campsite, where I was staying in one of the pods. Fish-and-chip dinner outside later (thankfully the rain had stopped) and then on to the public bar of the Invercauld Arms ("the pub the locals go to", apparently). TGOCers everywhere!

Day 10

Braemar – Lion’s Face – Carn nan Sgliat – Carn nan Leachda – Pt.795 – Loch Phadruig – Meall an t-Slugain – Creag an Loch – lochan at NO195845 – Lochan E of Creag an Loch – path S of Carn an Sagairt Mor and E to Cac Carn Mor – Cac Carn Beag (M)

A late start as every other TGOCer in town had obviously had the same idea of going to the Bothy Cafe for an (excellent) big breakfast. Most seemed to be planning on heading towards Lochcallater Lodge which apparently has a tradition of offering some fine hospitality for TGOCers over the couple of nights most would be passing through this part of world. However I wanted to get further on and my planned route took me over something I was curious about: the high ground running south from the "Lion's Face" and east of Glen Callater.

An increasingly faint path eventually petered out completely, and there were a couple of steep and rough heathery climbs to negotiate. But eventually I reached the main path coming up from Loch Callater and climbed up into the cloud. All the Munros in this area apart from Lochnagar and its tops were "in the bag" for my second round, so there were no distractions from just enjoying the trail weaving across the high ground. The cloud remained thick but there was minimal wind and I camped on a patch of grass next to the summit tor of Cac Carn Beag.

Day 11

Cac Carn Beag (M) – Meall Coire na Saobhaidhe (MT) – Coire na Saobhaidhe – cross Lochnagar outflow – Meikle Pap (MT) – Cuidhe Crom (MT) – Little Pap (MT) – descend SW to Glas Allt path – Glas-allt Shiel bothy–track NW – Boat House – path/track to Spittal of Glenmuick – N on road to track joining W of The Cairns – up to track high point – Hunt Hill – Faseilach

Lochnagar has four tops I needed to bag, and they are spread around a bit awkwardly. The cloud started to clear as I headed north from the summit to Meall Coire na Saobhaidhe and then east across the outflow of the eponymous loch. I had been in the corrie before - in winter for climbing - but not on this side of the loch; the boulder field is horrendous! From there I climbed to the Meikle Pap, and then up "The Ladder" stone steps which are the usual route to the summit, except that instead of returning to that I turned off eastwards for the tops of Cuidhe Crom and Little Pap (more boulder rock-hopping required on descent from Cuidhe Crom!).

With all the tops ticked, I headed down towards the path to Glas-allt-Shiel bothy. That was the designated stop for the night on my route sheet, but it was still early and the good weather demanded another high camp. I skipped calling in at the bothy and headed north on the track besides the loch to Spittal of Glen Muick. Some TGOCers who'd been at the Lochcallater shindig the night before were encountered, apparently still recovering from very sore heads!

I headed a couple of miles north up the road before turning east on a track climbing the flanks of Hunt Hill. Leaving the track at its high point I went up over rough heather and tussock onto Hunt Hill and then onto Faseilach where I managed to find a reasonably dry patch amongst the quite boggy terrain.

Day 12

Faseilach – follow crest/watershed west via Pt.664 to Head of Black Burn – Mount Keen (M)

My plan for today was to reach Mount Keen by traversing over the high ground west of it. It looks like an appealing "natural line" from Faseilach on the map, although somewhat less so when the vast and obviously rough expanse is viewed from Mount Keen! It also gets a mention in Ralph Storer's "Ultimate" guidebook: "For a real walk on the wild side, consider approaching Mount Keen across the Mounth from the west". My route vetter's cautionary words on this section are pure poetry, so I will quote them here:

I’m going to do my best to deter you from your planned route of today but my success will depend on how determined you might be to face a truly tough outing. Can I offer a cautionary note on your intention to visit Fasheilach, which is a collector’s piece but for quite the wrong reasons. I questioned my sanity when I traversed this hill on a dreich afternoon, finding the lonely trig point to be an oasis of relative comfort amidst a sea of surrounding peat. Think of the Pennines at their worst and you won’t be disappointed; a zoom view on aerial imagery gives a stark impression of the nature of the terrain. On my descent from the trig, I found myself in constant tiring clambers between one set of channels and the next. Just occasionally, I’d find one of the conduits headed in the right direction but any relief was fleeting and I emerged from the labyrinth quite spent. Look at the aerial imagery in more detail and you’ll realise that this very unforgiving terrain persists to the base of Mount Keen. Truly a route which I’d recommend to folk who might wish me ill. Tackle it if you must but don’t say that you weren’t warned. Personally, I’d wimp out on your FWA to Glen Tanar and go up to the Munro from there.

So this was the stage of the trip I'd been most dreading what I might find! The going was indeed so rough that I quickly abandoned any thought of following the indistinct crest along the highest ground and instead opted for a direct beeline towards Mount Keen. Fortunately it seemed to be remarkably dry: peat hags were firm and provided swift progress when their channels ran in the right direction. If it had been much wetter I'd have probably been cursing myself for not heeding my vetter's warning to take my Glen Tanar FWA route instead .

At one point I startled a grouse from under my feet; nothing unusual about that in Scotland, but this one had been sitting on some eggs, which I'd never seen before. I moved on swiftly. I also flushed out a small owl a little later, and a hare hopped ahead of me along one of the peat-hag trenches.

In the distance I could see what I took to be another walker, but they seemed to be pacing backwards and forwards repeatedly over much the same ground each time. Had they dropped their phone or some other valuable? It turned out it was someone doing a wildlife survey.

I finally escaped the rough going onto the slightly easier slopes and then path up Mount Keen. There were four other TGOers having lunch on top before heading on to Tarfside, and later in the afternoon another small party who'd made a late start from Ballater went past. Mount Keen is not particularly friendly to would-be summit campers, but descending a little found me a not-too-stony and just-about-flat-enough pitch for the tent.

Day 13

Mount Keen (M) – Braid Cairn – Hill of Gairney – Cock Cairn – Hill of Cat – Tampie – Mudlee Bracks – Hill of Cammie – Mount Battock (C)

There was some fog in the glens this morning, but a layer of high cloud foiled any chance of more spectacular inversion conditions.

Again, the plan was to follow the obvious "natural line" along the watershed between Glen Tanar to the north and Glen Esk to the south to get to Mount Battock. Apart from the last one (a Corbett) this was all new-to-me ground and there was some urgency as a storm was expected and the Met Office had an "Amber Weather Warning For Rain" in place for later in the day and overnight. The route was an ups-and-downs mix of tracks, faint paths and heather bashing with the cloud coming and going.

On Mount Battock's summit the weather was still fine but I had to make a decision what to do next as the storm was clearly approaching. Dropping off in search of more shelter was unappealing as the ground seemed to be sloping and/or rough and boggy in all directions and I didn't want to go a long way down as I planned to continue along the high ground the next day. But I'd been very impressed with the tent's performance in wind so far, and decided to tough it out.

The summit had a substantial pile-of-stones windbreak on top of it, but unfortunately the wind was forecast to swing round from north-east to north and the south side of the windbreak was too stony to pitch a tent. I tucked in as close as I could get to the west side and moved some rocks to make a low wall providing a bit more protection from the north, then took cover in the tent as the rain came in.

A wild night ensued! Rated at 140,000mm (seriously!) hydrostatic head there was no risk of the "Ultra TNT" material being anything but completely waterproof, but there were still a few drips into the inner as the tent vestibules were full of an aerosol of spray being blown under the fly (and through the vents?) and water then dripped off the fly's zippers and through the mesh in the upper parts of the inner's walls and doors. I used a bit of spare elastic cord from my repair kit between the inner's door zips to usefully cinch the inner's walls inwards a bit to stop drips off the fly falling straight through the mesh and that helped keep the inside dry. I managed to make some coffee on the stove in the vestibule before the worst of the weather hit, but later cooking was out of the question; fortunately I was behind on lunch and snack consumption and had a surplus of things to munch on. I made one excursion to tighten the guylines at 21:00 and then fell asleep for the rest of the night apart from a brief interval at 1:30 when a spell of stronger wind woke me up for a little while.

Day 14

Mount Battock (C) – Hill of Saughs – Hill of Fingray – Shank of Mondair – Murmannoch – Craigancash – Sturdy Hill – descend tracks W of Burn of Corfinnoch – Auchmull – road to Twr – riverside path to meet B966 and bridge – B966 to Edzell – Hill of Edzell

Pretty unpleasant conditions today; I made a coffee and munched some biscuits for breakfast and then packed up and headed off. It seemed much rougher going along the crest than yesterday: very wet and with often only a hint of a path until I hit some tracks around the telecom mast on Sturdy Hill. There seemed to be some new tracks here not on the OS map, which confused me and I actually got led down to Mains of Balfour rather than Auchmull by the planned route listed above. By the time I realized the mistake it made more sense to carry on than to reverse course or try and go cross-country to get to the originally intended track.

From there it was easy road and riverside walking into Edzell in time for a nice lunch at Sinclair's Larder, where I ran into a few more TGOers.

Most people seemed to be heading for a nearby campsite, but after such a superb run of high camps I was determined to get one more in before the finish. Hill of Edzell looming over the town was the obvious location to inspect and turned out to have a nice little grassy patch next to the trig point.

Day 15

Hill of Edzell – Edzell – S on B966 to Inchbare – at Smiddyhill SE on minor road ot Hill of Stracathro – E then SE to Hillside – S on A937 to Montrose

The final day into Montrose!

This was mostly a lot of tedious tarmac bashing. Along the way some TGOC veterans had mentioned the Charleton Farm cafe as an essential final day stop, and at Hillside I diverted from the planned route - a straight plod into town beside the A-road - to pay a visit. Lots of TGOCers present!

From there, the obvious line was to continue directly eastwards to the coast, where boots were dipped in the North Sea.

A march down the beach (shingle then sand) bought me into Montrose and to the Park Hotel and a check-in with "Finish Control" at the end.

What an epic trip! And overall, so lucky with the weather!

As I'd started on the second of the start days and used the full fifteen days allowed, this was the last of this Challenge's series of dinners. It was busy! I was especially pleased to meet my route-vetter Colin who'd been so encouraging in his comments.

Epilogue

Some numbers

Of the fourteen nights out on the trail, I spent eleven camped out: ten of them summit camps, including seven on Munros and one on a Corbett. The other three were in a (non-MBA) bothy, an "aparthotel" in Kingussie and a "pod" in Braemar campsite.

Total "bagging" haul was (as per the original plan) eighteen Munros, fourteen Munro tops (many of them useful additions to my second round of Munros) and one Corbett.

According to the numbers I'd entered on my route sheet, the average distance per day was 19.5km. (Or 18.1km for the FWA days, but I never needed to use any of them). Ascent varied enormously, with 2315m & 1820m for the first couple of days, but then in the 100m-1000m range for the rest of the trip.

Equipment

Main bits of gear were:

• Tarptent Scarp - originally a silnylon model which I'd been using in Scotland for a few years now, but I upgraded the fly to the new "Ultra" material earlier this year in time for the TGOC.
• Exped Ultra 3R M Mummy air mat with pump bag and repair kit.
• PHDesigns "triobag" - an experimental product in 2018 and not offered again since, so far as I know.
• Aarn "Featherlite Freedom" pack. Started the trip with "expedition" balance pockets fitted, but then switched them for the regular pockets at Kingussie.
• MSR Pocket Rocket and an MSR "Titan" pot and mug.

I don't normally bother with a water filter on trips in Scotland where I'm at altitude and away from livestock and civilization, but as that wasn't the case for all of this trip I did take an Alpkit "Hippo" water filter along. In the end I never used it.

What should I have done differently?

No regrets about the route taken, but if someone forced me to do much the same route again I'd probably:

• Take a more sporting line across the Monadhliath rather than the rather tedious tracks through the Glendoe wind farm.
• Not try and repeat the Faseilach - Mount Keen section. I think I got lucky with the dry conditions this time. But now having "been there, done that" I don't think I'd push my luck with it again!
• Find a route to the east coast with less road walking on the final day. Stonehaven seems to be a popular TGOC end point with this in mind.

Back again next year?

Oh yes! A high-level route connecting Ben Nevis with Ben Macdui (and ideally including all the Scottish 4000ers) perhaps?

Left Lescun after lunch and the shop and slogged up to Source de Marmitou, which - along with the Barroude lakes - was on my camping must-do hit-list for this trip.

A couple of other parties subsequently appeared (not HRPers) and seemed a little miffed to find someone was already on the spot they'd clearly had in mind (follow the cairns up towards the source and there's a nice flat non-stony grassy patch with a fire ring). "Are you staying here?" one of them asked hopefully (hmmm... let's see... tent up, laundry hanging out to dry, second pot of tea on the brew... what do you think?)

Day 34: Source de Marmitou to Cabane d'Ardane

From Source de Marmitou, climbed over the Col d'Anaye as the cloud lowered and drizzle started. There was no shortage of red-and-white route marks; at one point I could see and count the next nine ahead, despite reduced visibility in the cloud.

Walked to Belagua in the rain and had a long lunch and made the most of a recharge opportunity as the solar panel was stowed well away today.

The weather looked like it was improving as I left but it soon reverted to clag and drizzle, although with occasional glimpses of sun, blue sky and green valleys. It got even better later, and I would have been tempted to camp... if I'd had more water on me, but there's just none up on the ridge except for one gully with some very muddy and thoroughly animal-messed puddles.

I went down towards Cabane d'Ardane in search of water, but by the time I found any I was so near the Cabane I just went in there anyway. It was empty when I arrived but I was later joined by a German family of 3 (west-to-east HRPers), and the French east-to-west chap I'd already bumped into a couple of times before.

Day 35: Cabane d'Ardane to Crete de Heguichouria

Despite all of us in the hut agreeing we were setting alarms for 6, somehow we all overslept until 7! Opened the door to beautiful clear blue skies.

A delicious cool brisk tailwind propelled me over the lumps and bumps and up a busy Pic d'Orhy (goodbye 2000m+, that's it for this trip). I did much of this section (except the Pic) in cloud in 2018 and it was nice to get a look at what was very mysterious back then.

Had a long lunch stop on the Crete de Millagate (one of the "hunters"' emplacements had a nice bench in it) then along the traverse to Col Mehatze as the cloud returned. The fog rather confused me and I ended up following a yellow-blazed path down to somewhere on the D19 east of the Col Bagargui rather than straight down to it, and I had to walk up the road to the Col.

I'd had a very nice lunch in the Restaurant d'Iraty in 2018, but this evening it seemed to be more of an entertainment venue - some sort of touristy "folk night". Certainly there were some unusual instruments in use, including much use of cow bells. The menu was restricted however: assiettes of charcuterie (my pick) or cheese, and a few deserts. (The "flan" - called something fancier on the menu - was absolutely top notch!) The cultural fun more than compensated for the lack of menu choice though. There was some sort of events calendar on the door; I got the impression there's something or other going on most evenings, presumably with a similarly limited menu... HRPers wanting hot food should probably aim to hit the place lunchtime rather than the evening.

As the event seemed to wind up (and sunset crept nearer), I eventually had to admit it was time to hit the trail again. I loaded up with a couple more litres of water and headed out into the fog (to find it was now persistent drizzle - full waterproofs on!) and then not that long afterwards I threw the tent on the ground as the drizzle turned to rain somewhere on the Crete de Heguichouria. I was a little past the couple of chalets at the high point; there are some tree-screened grassy patches in the edge of the forest just before the descent to rejoin the D19 starts.

Day 36: Crete de Heguichouria to Refuge d'Azpegi

Woke to continuous rain. A brief pause tempted me out to pack the tent up, but it didn't last.

Crossed the D19 and reached the D18. Stopped in at Refuge Aterbea to use the facilities... oldschool squat holes! I didn't investigate the showers but apparently they were functional as someone was using one of them.

Chalet Pedro was just flipping their sign to "open" as I walked past (10:00) but a glance at their menu board convinced me this was a fancy high-end place and not really "second breakfast" territory. There do seem to be a couple of other restaurant/bar options on this road now north of Chalet Pedro, one between joining and leaving it, the other visible a bit further north than where the trail comes in from the east. Neither looked open when I passed by.

I climbed up into the cloud and - rather than the more roundabout guidebook route via Plateau d'Okabe - took the obvious shortcut directly over Okabe; there was a faint path up, but on the west side it was quite steep and pathless (so far as I could tell) so going around it is probably more appealing going west-to-east I think. I got down to Col Curutche in greatly worsening conditions (wind, rain, visibility) and decided the only sensible thing to do was to divert onto something better waymarked (ie the GR12) rather than attempt the next fairly wild HRP section, especially as I'm going backwards vs. the guidebook and the now heavy rain made me reluctant to get any electronics out or even to take my flimsy paper map out of its case to refold it to the next section needed.

There started to be occasional pauses in the rain and even the odd burst of sun as I plodded along the GR12 without much navigation difficulty. Extremely slippery mud was the main challenge in places! I eventually got to the cavernous but rather austere Refuge d'Azpegi. It did at least have a couple of comfy armchairs but would be greatly improved with a table and benches.

One other hiker was in already: an HRP "fastpacker" who'd got here from Hendaye in two days. But the next morning they announced they were giving up and going home and "done with long distance". This was their second HRP attempt: on their previous one they got to Parzan in ten days before throwing in the towel... "mindgame" issues apparently.

Day 37: Refuge d'Azpegi to Refugio Izandorre

It was raining outside Refuge d'Azpegi in the morning. It rained and rained varying only in degree until after midday, when brief bursts of sun started to feature between heavy showers. By now the steady stream of curious motorists poking their heads in was starting to grate, and I figured it was time to move on somewhere - anywhere - else.

It was easy enough to follow the red-and-white markers along the ridge, mostly in the cloud but with occasional glimpses of green valleys below. It was quite blustery. I didn't go that far, just to tiny little Refugio Izandorre. It seemed unlikely I'd have any chance of getting the tent up on the high ground west of the Col de Roncesvalles, so it seemed a sensible place to stop.

The Camino de Santiago crosses the Pyrenees (and the HRP) here and there were a few pilgrims about, although apparently there were a lot more of them further north waiting for better weather before attempting a crossing. There was a bit of a drama in the Refugio with a girl wearing flip-flops and carrying her "no good" boots in a polythene bag telling other pilgrims she couldn't possibly do another hour down to Roncesvalles. The other pilgrims called the emergency services on 112, but as soon as the girl realized a likely to be expensive for her rescue was being organized - and not simply a taxi ride - she suddenly found the strength to carry on. They all left together.

There was a useful water point 400m back (for me) east along the pilgrim way: a big green water trough and a gushing pipe below it; someone had left a bottle of shampoo or shower-gel by the pipe! I thought the last poncho-clad pilgrim had gone past around half-past-seven, but at nine one towing a sort of rucksack-on-wheels appeared and stayed. He was on day sixty-something of his trek, started in Brussels. And a bit later a west-to-east HRPer turned up too.

Day 38: Refugio Izandorre to above Arizkun

The wind and rain seemed to have abated, although the clag was still present.

I followed the GR12 a bit too far past the Col de Lindux, due to getting too distracted by the epic mud to be paying due attention to turn-offs. But I managed to rejoin the HRP route at Col de Burdincurutcheta.

Soon afterwards, I acquired a collie dog escort from a walker going the other way. I thought it was their dog, gave it a pat and a behind-the-ears scratch and that was it... it followed me as far as Errola. Presumably from one of the farms along that stretch, but I'd been getting worried it was going to follow me into Aldudes and I was going to have to try and hand it over to someone as a stray (there was no collar/tag on it). Perhaps it makes a habit of accompanying HRPers through its patch?

I managed to restrain myself in the Aldudes shop. The main things I wanted was some bread and another Camembert (if your tent smells of Camembert... then you can't smell your damp socks!) I also decided that this close to the end I'd earned myself another bottom-shelf red decanted into a Platypus bottle.

From there I hauled on up over the cols. I didn't worry too much about the exact route - I followed GRT5 for a short while - and over Burga. North of the summit it was pretty horribly overgrown; better to stay in the open forest as much as possible rather than get into thick bracken and brambles and gorse.

I wasn't too sure where I was going to end up but the increasingly apparent rain across the Arizkun valley and a handy overflowing waterspout on a concrete reservoir just above "Day 3's" "1.50 col" convinced me to camp on the lump on the other side of the Col. I'd also camped here for the second night of my 2018 west-to-east. I got the tent up just as the rain got properly started.

I'd met quite a few HRPers today, including a couple of them who recognized me from the Facebook group. I was able to help out a chap with a stove who'd lost his lighter (I had 2 mini-sized spares and thought I was pretty safe to give one away now).

There were wafts of music coming up from Arizkun... some folks coming the other way mentioned there was some sort of festival going on down there. It continued all night with a final blowout surge in volume around 6 in the morning. If I'd been any nearer I doubt I'd have got much sleep.

Day 39: above Arizkun to Abri Kondendiagako Lepoa (below La Rhune)

Down into Arizkun, which did indeed show evidence of a party last night although with a surprisingly small stage considering the amount of sound being put out. Then a long haul up to Col Bagacheta in occasional drizzle. From there, following the GR11 made the reverse-to-guidebook routefinding a bit simpler, but then it was back on the HRP at Col de Nabarlatz.

Col de Lizarrieta seems to now have several busy establishments... it was tempting to stop, but I wanted to press on with the end so close now. There were a few tents up at Col de Lizuniaga, another possible stop... but a couple of eastbound folks had mentioned the old "wooden/barn cabin for hunters" under La Rhune had been refurbished and that part of the building was now an open refuge, and in any case I remembered the area around it as looking like a good bivouac spot (back in 2018 the hut was closed, and in a pretty tatty state I think).

I arrived to find the improved building includes a very nice tidy bright 4-place refuge (bunks, 2 up 2 down), with a big porch area protected from animals by a picket fence. A Dutch couple were also there, but with this being their first night on the trail they were trying out their shiny new Durston tent. A big pot-filling final couscous and chorizo and half an onion meal was washed down with the last of the Aldudes red. A mouse cooly strolled past like it owned the place; all remaining food was hung up!

Day 40: Abri Kondendiagako Lepoa (below La Rhune) to Hendaye

Made a swift ascent of the remaining 600m to the La Rhune summit. A clear view of the west coast, finally!

I went to the summit complex this time - I'd bypassed it in 2018 - it was mobbed! I hadn't actually realized there was a train running up here! For an east-to-west HRPer, it's basically the much the same OMG! impact as west-to-east folks get to experience in Le Perthus. Had a brief stop amongst the crowds for a refuge-priced coke & Basque cake, then onwards to Col d'Ibardin for lunch.

There, I went to the same place I did in 2018... "Chez Suzette", the first canopy-covered place on the left as you approach from the west. Had an excellent steak and chips, and a superb frangipane pancake.

And then the march into Hendaye, into a blizzard of GR10ers coming the other way. There was a brief final departure from the GR10 for the traverse "on the slopes of the Choldokogagna" (there's certainly a path, but horrendously overgrown with bracken and brambles) and then back on the GR10 into Hendaye.

When I'd left on my west-to-east HRP early one morning in 2018, it was grey and drizzly and the beach was deserted. Now... a sunny afternoon in peak holiday season... so many people!

I let some Atlantic waves wash over my dusty boots and slurped an Aperol Spritz (2018's completion drink too) in the Bar de la Plage. And then fled over the border to the accommodation I'd arranged in Irun.

And so concludes a fantastic 39 nights and 40 days on the HRP. 28 nights in the tent, 8 in an unmanned refuge, 2 in a gite/pension, 1 in a cave.

See my HRP page for more general information and links to the write-ups of other stages.

It was about eleven o'clock before I got out of town, after faffing around posting crampons and done-with paper maps into the post-Brexit nightmare of France-UK customs forms and shipping, finding the Gavarnie cash-machine (Google maps is completely wrong about where it is) and buying some bread and cheese. But then I made swift progress up to and then along the undulating path running along the side of the Ossoue valley. Stopped for lunch at the Barrage d'Ossoue as it started to cloud over.

Then the waterproofs went on for only the third time this trip as intermittent light drizzle started up. I had no real plan for where I was likely to end up today... worst case scenario might have been heading all the way over to Refuge des Oulettes de Gaube and its approved bivouac zones, but I was hopeful "something will turn up!" before then... and indeed started wondering if the "Grottes Bellevue" might be a possibility! As it turned out, there is little to appeal in the way of tent pitches for much of the climb (unless you like slopes, rocks and thistles) but around 50m below the Russell caves there was some promising looking flat grassy ground with bivouac stone circles (I didn't investigate whether the ground was peg-friendly though).

However the left-hand (facing them) Bellevue cave - next to the "sundial" - was so appealing with its little single-mat sized platform and dry interior that just had to be the place, and a very comfortable night was spent there (sleeping bag was used in its warmest "-5C" mode though!)

Any fears I had that the caves would turn out to have been used as toilets seemed to be unfounded... there's an information plaque and enough plastic sheeting on the floor, some old sleeping bags and even a broom to make it clear this is more "emergency shelter" territory than somewhere to have a covert dump. It's the little platform which really makes it work though (and it's only big enough for one); I think I'd have preferred to be outside in my tent than on the lumpy rocky stony floors of any of the caves.

Day 28: "Grottes Bellevue" to Grand Lac de Cambales

I startled a few early morning ascenders with a "Bonjour!" from the cave entrance. The Refuge de Bayssellance wasn't very far above so I didn't stop there and got to Refuge des Oulettes de Gaube about eleven. No omelettes were on offer until after midday, so I made do with coffee and cake.

Then over the next couple of cols (Col des Mulets - reached via the zigzag path in the above gallery - and then Col d'Arratile).

Stopped for lunch near the outflow of Lac d'Arratille (at the same spot where I'd camped on 2018's west-to-east) and then continued on down through all the nice granite slabs and water and pines country to the enormous Refuge Wallon... where I found (around four-ish) I was too late for omelettes! Made do with a beer and scored 0.5l of vin rouge in a Platypus bottle for later.

Then it was onwards and upwards towards Col de Cambales. I had a vague memory there are some nice pitches besides the river... and there were, but they were under firm control of the cows so I kept going up to Grand Lac de Cambales and found a bit of flat ground near its outflow. There were a few other campers around.

Day 29: Grand Lac de Cambales to Lacs de Batcrabere

Broke camp and headed up to Col de Cambales. On the approach, a chap a little way behind me had to turn tail and run as a salvo of rocks rattled down towards him. There was the sound of sheep bells above.

From the Col, it was a long descent to the Pla de Doumblas and then up to Refuge de Larribet.

Arrived at Refuge de Larribet about 15:45. Unsurprisingly it was too late for an omelette, only cold "assiettes" were available but I reckoned I was carrying more than enough supplies so just had a second lunch from those instead.

Carried on up to the Lacs de Batcrabere to camp. Decent pitches were in short supply amongst all the bouldery moraines so I had little choice but to plonk myself next to a French couple occupying the prime real estate who were clearly pretty miffed that someone had dared to intrude on their romantic idyll. They gathered up all their stuff and fled behind some rocks. Or maybe I just looked and smelled like such a scary vagabond. It was all moot as within minutes of me getting the tent up a massive thunderstorm broke and and thunder, wind and rain (and occasionally chunky hailstones) continued for the next 4 hours or so. Water levels of some little nearby streams started to rise alarmingly; the nearest one grew into a puddle lapping up against the back of the tent, but got no higher fortunately. But by the morning the wind had dried everything out and you wouldn't have known anything had happened.

Day 30: Lacs de Batcrabere to Lac de Pombie

Over Port du Lavedan (not as easy in this direction) and Col du Palas.

As expected the Refuge d'Arremoulit was a fenced-off building site. Which was a shame... I passed by just after midday and it would have been prime omelette time if it had been open! I was pleasantly surprised to bump into another east-to-west HRPer I'd met way back near Canigou. I'd thought they were going a lot faster and lighter than me, but my satisfaction at having kept up with them was somewhat deflated when they listed all the extra peaks they'd done along the way! A quick traverse of the over-hyped Passage d'Orteig followed.

From there it was a long descent to the D934 (hot, but with some cooling beech forest sections) and a climb to Refuge de Pombie. I'd originally intended to camp somewhere below the refuge, but the valley is in such a mess from animals (cows, sheep and horses all here in number) I just let the idea of a cold beer carry me on up. There were quite a few folks camped around Lac de Pombie.

Day 31: Lac de Pombie to Ibon de Astanes

From the Lac de Pombie it was up over Col de Peyreget and down past Lac de Peyreget. I'd camped by Lac de Peyreget in 2018 - great views of Pic du Midi d'Ossau's best side in the sunset light - but this time the lake looked so shrunken I didn't actually realize that was it... I thought it must be further on and didn't stop to take a photo. Stopped for lunch beside Lac Casterau (mobbed, as was Ibon del Escalar).

Then it was down to the weird grounded alien mothership of Astun. Had a quick ice-cream and coke, then marched down the tarmac to Candanchu.

The Candanchu "El Bozo" supermarket is small but very good! I stopped for a burger at the nearby "Bar Nevada" and had just sent a comment to someone that out of season ski resorts feel a bit like UK out of season seaside resorts, but with better weather... when thick fog rolled in. I headed on with no real idea when or where I was going to stop, but unsurprisingly ended up besides the Ibon de Astanes. This was all in very thick fog, which was a shame as I remember it having an impressive backdrop. I also remember this lake being full when I camped beside it in 2018, but now its level seemed much reduced.

Day 32: Ibon de Astanes to Punta O Risté

The fog persisted, but occasional hints of blue sky and sun. There was one brief clearance on the way to Refuge d'Arlet, revealing the great sweep from Pic du Midi d'Ossau to whatever all the stuff behind Candanchu is. I bumped into another member of Tom Martens' HRP Facebook group, eastbound, and finally got the second hut omelette of the trip at Refuge d'Arlet.

Visibility finally improved in the afternoon - along the "Le Chemin de la Liberté" section - with the French side of the ridge being a sea of cloud and the Spanish side clear.

There was no way I was missing a chance to camp high above that, so approaching Pic de Burcq some water was filtered from a pretty manky looking pool and a reasonably flat and un-thistly pitch was located... on top of Punta O Risté adjacent to (and slightly higher than) Pic de Burcq (which was inspected, but too rocky). A fine sunset was enjoyed.

Day 33a: Punta O Risté to Lescun

Woke to find that while I was still above cloud over France, it had retreated from the ridge and Lescun was clear.

Whizzed down to Lescun because I knew the shop was closed for a chunk of time from middayish and I didn't want to hang around. A sign at Col de Pau said it was 2hr30min to the car park... I was there in 80 mins, it was easy to go fast downhill on the dirt track. I got to Lescun in plenty of time for a bit of shopping (the muesli still had chocolate in it, went crazy and bought a Camembert) and a long lunch at the epicerie too.

The final stage to Hendaye is described here.

The guidebook seems to suggest simply marching along the road between Salardu and Banhs de Tredos. DON'T DO IT! Not all of it anyway. There's a much nicer "ancient way" vibes path/track connecting Banhs de Tredos to the top end of the reservoir, which saves a good chunk of tarmac bashing on what can be a busy road. Eastbound bound folks will find the turn-off opposite where the hotel driveway joins the road.

Anyway, from there it was up over some windy cols and through the stunning Aiguestortes landscape. It was grey and drizzly here on my 2018 W2E crossing and I didn't really appreciate the area then. Very busy, but then it was a Saturday (another reason to avoid the road: lots of day-trippers driving up).

Then down to camp at the indeed lovely Lac deth Cap deth Port, as suggested in the guidebook. Quite blustery, even down here below the cols; a bit of a tent tester... several hours of thunderstorms and associated deluges in the night too.

Day 18: Lac deth Cap deth Port to Barranc de Molières

Headed own to Refugi de la Restanca for a second breakfast (chorizo bocadillo; the only hot food on offer was pasta+tomato sauce).

Then on up past the lakes. A windy cloudy day, but the first two lakes were well sheltered from the SW wind. Not so Lac de Ruis which was like a wind tunnel!

I could have camped somewhere down by Hospital de Vielha - there were some very nice grassy spots along the the Barranc de Molières river to the west - but it was still early and I wanted to knock a few hundred metres more off the next day's big climb.

A bit of a mistake though: I ended up in the guidebook's "very rough valley". There were rocks and thistles everywhere and not an inch of flat ground. I didn't fancy going up further as it was getting windier and it seemed not impossible the hut would be full given that several further east had apparently been mobbed. I did eventually find a tiny ledge of flat grass up near the headwall which at was just big enough for my mat if not so much the rest of the tent.

Day 19: Barranc de Molières to Ivons de l'Escaleta

Started with low cloud and still quite windy. Met an eastbound HRPer coming down who'd been over the Col de Mulleres in the clag (and skipped the summit), but it cleared up nicely as I climbed. There was no need to go anywhere near any snow!

The final climb to the Col was a bit of a scramble, but nowhere near as serious as it had been with full snow cover in 2018. From there the summit - ~3010m, and the only time the normal HRP route touches 3000m+ - was easily reached.

Spent almost a couple of hours on the Tuc de Molieres summit (in sheltered spots) with views across to Aneto.

I'd heard a Vielha-Molieres race had been through a few days before, and there was still a bit of evidence around in the form of the odd trail-marking flag that had been missed for removal and some big "helicopter bags" full of detritus waiting to be taken off (collection probably prevented by the strong winds). Those included some boxes of fruit which it seemed would probably go off if not consumed soon, so I did what I could to help avoid it going to waste.

But eventually it was finally time to leave and descend through all the amazing slabby terrain for a camp at the Ivons de l'Escaleta.

This was a much nicer site than the previous night! In 2018 I'd camped a bit further west just above the Plan d'Aigualluts and that had been overrun by cows and flies, but this was just perfect.

Day 20: Ivons de l'Escaleta to Barranco de Remune

Down to the La Besurta snack stop for refreshments (but alas no ice-creams to be had, just cold drinks) and then - once a huge herd of cows on the move and causing mayhem on the path had been outmanoeuvred - on to Hospital de Benasque for a nice lunch.

Lots of tourists about (and a fair few eastbound HRPers). Time for lunch! It was here in 2018 that someone put the idea in my head of coming back in 5 years to do the route in the other direction.

Then a brisk steak-powered haul up to the Circo de Remune.

There, I made a nice camp by the river at ~2400m on grass a bit upstream of where the path leaves the river to start up to Portal de Remune. This time, I wasn't going to make the same mistake as a couple of days ago and get greedy for more altitude at the cost of a nice pitch. But it was another "tent tester" of a night: thunderstorms with strong gusts, and then more wind and rain early in the morning.

Day 21: Barranco de Remune to Lac du Millieu

First goal of the day was climbing and traversing some rocky terrain to get to and then over the Col Inferieur de Literole. There was wind and light rain; this was only the second time on the trip I had put the waterproof jacket on, and the first time I'd felt the need to wear gloves.

Descended from the col - with the weather improving - to arrive at the Refuge du Portillon for a nice plump cheese-and-ham omelette for lunch.

It was far too early to stop, so then it was on and up the Tusse de Montarqué behind the refuge and along to the Col des Gourgs-Blancs in wind and sun in the afternoon.

Snow protection hardware (ice-axe and crampons) remained stowed throughout today. I did meet a couple of eastbound HRPers descending from Col Inferieur de Literole who were insistent that crampons were needed on the west side, but in practice it seemed to me that what snow and ice there was there that was useful to step onto was so covered in grit and stones it just wasn't an issue. I did find one useful bit of snow to walk on: descending from Col du Pluviometre there was a useful "snow road" ramp that avoided a bit of rockhopping on rough stony ground.

From the Col, I finally headed down from the seemingly endless rocks to more welcoming terrain.

At Lac du Millieu (2510m) I found a nice tent pitch with a colossal (tent height) stone windbreak. After all the battering the tent had been taking from overnight winds recently, that clearly had to be the place to stop.

A quiet night was had; not sure if because of the windbreak or because the winds had eased off anyway or because I was completely knackered.

Day 22: Lac du Millieu to Cabana d'Anescruzes

Continued down past the other lakes and then along the interesting high-level route through the old mining works.

Stopped for lunch at the (unmanned) Cabane de Prat-Cazeneuve. I sat outside, there were more flies in than out.

Then over the Port d'Aygues Tortes, the south side just as nasty as I remember it being from last time.

It was blowing a gale on the Spanish side so I decided on an early stop to make use of the tiny and basic Cabana d'Anescruzes rather than head down and find myself in the relatively developed (bivouac-unfriendly) country around Viados in the evening.

Day 23: Cabana d'Anescruzes to Refugio de Barrosa

Down to Refugio de Viados for second breakfast. They were expecting the first runners in the Posets-Aneto race - there were guide flags in place on the GR11 around here - to be passing by about one-ish.

Then it was time for the long plod over Paso de los Caballos. I remember this as being one of the dullest days on 2018's west-to-east, but it's actually a little better in this direction I think; the climb is not without interest, then you can fly down the tedious boring dirt road bit on the west side.

There is now an excellent bar/restaurant (La Pleta Bar de Montaña) at the junction with the A-138!

I was running a little low on lunch/snack supplies so decided to take a look at what Parzan had to offer (Google maps reckoned 10 minutes walk to the first supermarket but I think it's more like 15). Worthwhile... I got some peaches, bread, cheese, chorizo, snacks etc and port sold by volume for 3.55 euros/litre had to be taken advantage of. They were happy to let me fill a Platypus bottle with a 1l line marked on it after some consultation with an authority; I think you're normally supposed to buy & use the containers they sell.

Of course that little excursion meant a bit more tedious tarmac bashing up the A-138 before the turn-off to the Barossa valley. There were a few possible tent pitches in the woods but cows had been through recently and it was quite messy, so I just ploughed on up to the Refugio de Barrosa and found I had it to myself. This probably shouldn't have been surprising: if the weather's any good - and it had been - any eastbound HRPers would surely prefer to bivouac up at the Lacs de Barroude.

There were a flock of isards outside... bergers had put salt-lick on the rocks in the area. When the isards fled, cows moved in.

A thunderstorm and rain later.

Day 24: Refugio de Barrosa to Lacs de Barroude

Opened the Refugio de Barrosa's metal door in the morning to see surprised isards bolting in all directions.

A slow start; no need to rush when I was just intending a short day up to the Lacs de Barroude.

The climb is very well graded with long wide zig-zags... much better for this direction than as a descent, I think.

Had a leisurely lunch with all the fresh booty from Parzan, then did some laundry. Quite a lot of daytrippers and fisherfolk around, but then it was a Saturday. It was breezy around the lake but an InReach forecast claimed it would be easing off (which it did). Found myself a tent pitch between the "wall" and the lake behind a mound creating natural windbreak, and enough flat slabby rocks to build a bit of a seat. An afternoon off!

Day 25: Lacs de Barroude to Vallee d'Estaube

Broke camp and made the traverse under "the wall" and over the two "hourquette" passes.

Overshot the Hourquette de Heas junction... the sign there is damaged and doesn't make it clear it's a junction and I went wandering on towards what I eventually realized was the Port de Campbieil instead. Ooops... that mistake probably cost me the best part of an hour and quite a bit of re-ascent. Pondered taking the guidebook's "variant 3" here, but I didn't like the wind and cloud seemed to be building, so I took the regular route down.

Then time for some dull and hot road-walking between Heas and Lac des Gloriettes, and being a Sunday it was quite busy with daytripper traffic. I stopped for refreshment and a crepe at the "buvette" by the dam, then headed up the Vallee d'Estaube in search of a pitch for the night.

Unfortunately this was one of those "valley of the cows" places and it was hard to find a gap between the cow-pats that was big enough for a tent. I took a look in at the Cabane d'Estaube, but it was dark, austere and uninviting so I kept hunting for a tent site and eventually found something acceptable near the river opposite the Cabane.

Day 26: Vallee d'Estaube to Gavarnie

Short day over the Hourquette d'Alans and down to Gavarnie, with a brief stop at Refuge des Espuguettes for coffee and cake.

Ended up in a room at the "Oxygene" gite which seemed to be the cheapest option in town (€55 cash, including breakfast) for a single without being in a dorm or camping: basically they charge €50 for a 5-bunk en-suite room so could be very cheap for a group. Gite standard: bring your own towel and a bag liner. Good lunch at "Claire Montagne" and dinner at "Le Mourgat".

A good resupply at the shop; milk powder was available here. Had to buy 100g of instant coffee though (Salardu's shop had 75g packets and 50g jars). More couscous and dried sausage and peaches too of course.

Bought another can of gas (Coleman "C300 performance" 9€ at "Les rochers blancs", the other more obvious place opposite the tourist info had some other brand for €9.5). I'd bought three of these (Coleman C300) in the Toulouse Decathlon; I finished one just before Salardu (didn't use the stove so much in the far east... too hot!) and finished another one just before Gavarnie... figured the two I have now should last me to the coast (and they did, with plenty to spare).

The next stage to Lescun is described here.

After a very good lunch in the l'Hospitalet shop (see previous stage) I headed up and - after some slow going on the boulderfields around the lakes, a reminder of things to come! - camped at ~2450m just west of the Col de L'Albe. It was rather windy but water was readily available from some small pools.

Day 10: Col de L'Albe to Cabana de la Serrera

Stopped at Juclar for "second breakfast" of eggs and bacon. Unlike French and Spanish refuges, the Andorran ones don't seem to follow a "no cooked food until mid-day" dogma.

Compared with how I remember it in 2018, Cabana Sorda was looking very nicely done up with a wooden-boarded interior, a WC and solar panel powered lighting. And the usual metal benches, tables and bunks as all the Andorran shelters seem to have.

Cabana Coms de Jan seemed less attractive: the water point was broken and the front area was covered in cow dung and flies.

I finally stopped at the tiny Cabana de la Serrera on the way down to El Serrat. I'd also used this on my 2018 crossing, and thought I was also going to have it to myself again... but later two Czech guys out on a two-dayer turned up.

Day 11: Cabana de la Serrera to Port de Boet

In 2018, Joosten's guide took me south from Serrat to Llorts and into Spain over the Portella de Baiau. But Martens' version of the route heads straight up from Serrat through a ski area and over the Port de Rat into France and then over the Port de Boet into Spain; the routes rejoin at Pla de Boet. I'd decided to take a look at the new route.

As it was I got so fixated on following the signs to Port de Rat that I completely missed the detour to the Tristaina lakes, which Martens seems to rate quite highly. But it was Sunday and the whole area was mobbed with day trippers - and their dogs; Andorrans seem to love dogs - and I felt out of place with my big pack. I did get an excellent and huge mixed grill for lunch from the ski-area restaurant.

Going down into France from Port de Rat I spotted a way of avoiding going quite all the way to the valley floor: I took the other path to Port de Boet which can be reached by cutting across from from the dirt road zigzags. That misses the Etang de la Soucarrane and instead goes up near the Etang de Medecourbe. That lake isn't "camp friendly" - it's hemmed in by steep and bouldery sides - but there's a nice flat grassy area a little below it by its outflow stream which was in use by some campers.

I continued on a bit further (steep!) and camped higher up nearer Port de Boet. There was plenty of water to be found from small streams. I could have got a bit higher but I could hear a lot of cow and sheep noises and bergers shouting up at the col and thought it best not to get under their feet.

Day 12: Port de Boet to "the tricky bit below Certascan"

A big day, beginning with the final haul up to the Port de Boet, including another steep section this one with a cable handrail.

Then a big descent to the Pla de Boet. I took the short detour to Refugi Valferrera but at 10ish the staff were in cleaning mode and the kitchen was closed.

More climbing followed, with a break for lunch at the unmanned Refugi Baborte (also known as Refugi del Cinquantenari), then over the Coll de Sellente and a big descent to Pont de Boavi.

I'd found the "tricky section below Certascan" - the lower section in the woods and the crags, anyway - a bit of a route-finding nightmare descending it in 2018. But ascending from Pont de Boavi it seemed easy to follow a cairned path most of the way to the river crossing. There was still some improvisation required after the path just seemed to disappear into a scree field. I decided to show this bit of the trail who was boss by camping on a tiny bit of flat ground a little above the river crossing, and getting in the water stark naked for a wash. It was cold! Subsequently heard from someone who'd camped up at the Estany de Romedo de Baix that the mosquitos up there were diabolical.

Day 13: "The tricky bit below Certascan" to below Enric Pujol

Continued up "the tricky bit below Certascan" easily enough - above the river crossing there's no route-finding issues following the Riu de Romedo - crossed the dam at the Estany de Romedo de Baix - and arrived at Refugi Certascan to find some chicken curry was just about ready to be consumed.

Then it was off over the Coll de Certascan and down to Noarre, which was an airless inferno. I took a leaf out of the locals' book and sat around in the shade for a couple of hours in mid-afternoon before completing the descent to it.

Finally, up again to the last bit of flat ground before the climb to Enric Pujol. There, some some already camped eastbound HRPers told me that the refuge was full (it was; confirmed the next day) and that there was nowhere to camp up there because "it's all rocks" (which is nonsense). But it was getting late and I probably wasn't going to get much higher (to the lakes) before sunset so I stopped here.

Day 14: Below Enric Pujol to Estanyola del clot de Moredo

Climbed up through all the fabulous slabby rocks and water terrain above the Enric Pujol refuge, which did indeed seem to have been mobbed the night before.

Beyond that it was over the series of three cols. The last and trickiest was Coll de la Cornella which was just as unpleasant this way round as it was west-to-east in 2018. That was followed by a long long plod down to Alos. I sat out the afternoon heat on a bench in the shady square outside the church, and drank a litre of unfiltered water from the spout there with no subsequent ill effects.

Once it had cooled down a bit, I did the long haul up to the "tiny tarn called La Basseta" which is a super spot to camp, although the sun disappears behind the headwall rather early.

Day 15: Estanyola del clot de Moredo to Estanys de Dalt de Baciver

Folks on the Col del Clot de Moredo confirmed the Airoto refuge had been full the previous night. I'd stopped in it in 2018 just because it's such an iconic building, although somewhat damp, mouse infested and plagued by the worst mosquitoes I'd had on that trip.

After that, the defining feature of the day: THAT BOULDERFIELD. If you know, you know!

Finally got clear of the seemingly endless rocks (and the gigantic pits between them) and up to Coll d'Airoto. Rather than just taking the direct line from there to the Lac Gelat de Rosari I went along the ridge (worthwhile for the views). Then it was up to Marimanya and down to camp by the westernmost Estanys Rosari de Baciver. Actually quite a short day (so, laundry!) as I didn't want to arrive in Salardu in the evening.

Day 16: Estanys de Dalt de Baciver to Salardu

An easy stroll down into Salardu: I just took the path for Salardu signposted from "Parking Orri" which was direct but not as interesting as the guidebook's Bagergue route.

Arrived in town in for a very fine three-course lunch at the "seg'IN".

Checked in at "Pension Casat" which has a cheap single rate and resupplied at the shop. Later, had a good dinner at "La Estrellita", a pizza place.

The biggest disappointments in the shop: no powdered milk or any doesn't-need-refrigeration varieties of dried sausage. I had to make do with a tube of condensed milk (well it does have a picture of a tent and a backpack on it) which seemed to be more sugar than milk, but hey this is Spain; even the only variety of muesli on offer had chocolate chips in it. I had a sausage from the fridge anyway, (somewhere I've got an idea that if you buy the most expensive one it'll last the longest). 500g boxes of couscous were available (although in the Superbolquere supermarket I'd been spoiled by a box of 5x100g pre-portioned packets). I also got some delicious ready-to-eat peaches, amongst other things.

The next stage to Gavarnie is described here.

Flew into Toulouse late and stayed at a cheap and basic hotel near the airport.

The next day I walked into the train station in town, going via the Decathlon shop to buy some stove gas and a newsagents to buy some lighters. And then a midday train to Banyuls with one change at Narbonne.

I stayed at the Hotel Les Pecheurs which is conveniently located near the beach and town centre. Did some food shopping and sorted my backpack out.

Day 1: Banyuls to (just above) Le Perthus

It was still pitch black when I dipped my boots in the Mediterranean and left Banyuls' stony beach at 5:30am in an attempt to beat the heat. There had been a heatwave, and although the temperature had dropped a little over the last couple of days it was still ridiculously warm. There was a bit of a breeze as I climbed... but it was about as cooling as a hair-drier. I took three litres of water with me and I was glad I had: I'd pretty much drunk it all by the Tanyareda water point!

Reached Col de l'Ullat at about 2:30pm. Considered stopping there but what I remember (from my previous 2018 crossing) as a decent flat grassy area for camping seemed to have been turned into an expanded car-park, and with what's left you'd either be on a slope in the picnic area or right next to cars likely to be coming and going all evening to eat at the gite. Underwhelming.

Anyway, pushed on a bit towards Le Perthus... it wasn't easy to find a pitch in the sloping woods but eventually a bit of old overgrown disused side-track sufficed. Got into the tent just as a late afternoon thunderstorm broke.

Day 2: Le Perthus to Ermita de las Salinas

Cooler than yesterday and with a nicer breeze and gentler climbs. Descended through the cork forest and under the motorway into Le Perthus for brunch.

The place didn't have the "OMG WTF!?" impact it did last time I came through here in 2018... I'd not been out in the wilds long enough yet.

Then onwards for refreshments in Las Illas and up the hill to Ermita de las Salinas. Poked my head into the refuge bit of it, but it was so dark and smelly (smoke and sweat) that I preferred my tent out on the lawns (as did some other arrivals).

Day 3: Ermita de las Salinas to beyond Arles

Lovely cool walking in the beech forests around Roc de France in the morning. Took a shortcut down from Col Cerda - not recommended! - and it cost me some backtracking as the GR10 now crosses the river further south than it did in 2018 and I missed the turnoff to the new crossing (it used to be nearer the gite; it looks like the "ruined house" mentioned in the guidebook has been done up and is someone's private property; some painted-over GR10 signage could be seen).

It started to get hot climbing over to Arles... which was an inferno. There was not a breath of wind and I was dripping sweat. Everything in Arles was closed, except the supermarket.

Climbed out of town and camped at the "Ancienne Station des Vigourats" (some old mine buildings). There was useful water in the stream crossed a bit below it.

Day 4: Arles to Refuge des Cortalets

Slogged up to Refuge des Cortalets. Plentiful water available coming down the many streams crossed as the path traverses the flanks of Canigou's massive bulk. Above 1600m the temperature actually became pleasantly cool!

I could have probably made it over Canigou but the cloud was down, so I camped by the nearby Lac des Cortalets (2164m) in the hope an early start would bring better conditions.

Day 5: Refuge des Cortalets to Pla Guillem

Got over Canigou with clear blue skies above and clouds below.

The descent of the "chimney" was negotiated easily enough despite the big pack. Arrived at Refuge Mariailles in time for lunch.

Thunderstorms were forecast for the afternoon and did indeed arrive, for an extended period. I hauled three litres of water up to Pla Guillem and got there just as the rain started and with thunder in the distance.

It cleared up nicely later, but it was too late to consider making a run for Porteille de Rotja.

Met 7 other HRPers today (one pair who recognized my Aarn pack from photos I'd posted to Tom Marten's HRP facebook group, and 3 in the Refuge de Pla Guillem).

Day 6: Pla Guillem to just below Col de Tirapitz

A super morning cruising along the ridge (nice and cool with a gentle breeze), past the Refugio de la Porteille de Rotja and then down through the ski area and up to the Refugi Ulldeter.

Storms were forecast for the afternoon from noon and arrived bang on schedule so I sheltered in the refuge for a while. But skies were blue a couple of hours later so I took a chance and headed up as high as I could without going on the ridge.

I camped on the last bit of flat enough ground at ~2650m, then took a wander up to look at the Tirapitz shelter a little higher... you'd have to be desperate to stay in that!

Thunderstorms did resume in the evening after I'd got the tent up. Mostly just downpours then sunshine but I must have been right under one: epic marble sized hail and strong tent-testing gusts one of which ripped a guyline out of the ground and flung the peg around ten metres away; it took quite a bit of searching to find it.

Later on after sunset, a couple of headtorch-wearing westbound HRPers went past heading for the shelter. One of them was wearing flip-flops after suffering a "boot failure" but hoping to get a bus from Eyne to somewhere they could get replacements.

Day 7: Col de Tirapitz to Etang Long

Despite a deteriorating weather forecast, from my high start under Col de Tirapitz I was able to get along the ridge to the Col d'Eyne in mostly clear but murky conditions. It didn't become "typical Scottish" (clag and drizzle) until Pic d'Eina.

Then a big descent to Eyne and a long plod to Bolquere.

The little "on route" shop was closed in the afternoon until 4pm so I went up to the big supermarket in Superbolquere... which was well worth the slight detour! There was a very nice patisserie next door, and a stall selling all sorts of dried sausage out in front. Then it was back onto the GR10 for a bit until the turn off to the lakes.

Camped next to Etang Long as suggested in the guidebook. The weather forecast for the next day was looking the worst yet so it looked like I might be taking the GR10 "bad weather variant" rather than going over Pic Carlit.

Day 8: Etang Long to above l'Hospitalet

Rain and overcast and looking a bit grim in the morning (as forecast) so I headed along the GR10 Pic Carlit bypass (a variant in the guidebook).

Of course the weather then cleared up nicely (not forecast!) and by eleven the waterproofs were off and the solar panel was out. Carlit would probably have been fine. The variant route is certainly very pretty though.

There didn't seem to be much point arriving in l'Hospitalet in the evening so I stopped early at about 2150m, I think on the "small plateau" mentioned in the guidebook. Did some much-needed laundry! (Exped drybag used as a washing bowl. No soap in the river!)

Day 9a: Into L'Hospitalet

A sign on the path leading into l'Hospitalet seemed to imply I'd just been in bear country!

The selection available in l'Hospitalet's small shop was as bizarrely random as it was in 2018. If you're headed east... well Superbolquere's huge supermarket isn't too far off. But if you're headed west heaven help you if you were counting on this place to load up for the wilderness to come. Fortunately I'd bought a lot back at the supermarket.

The shop is also a restaurant. I waited around until noon when the "Plat du Jour" - today, a massive plate of steak, chips and salad - was available.

The rest of day 9 and the second stage to Salardu is described here.

So I've done this twice now. First in 2018 west-to-east and then again in 2023 east-to-west. Both times I went end-June/early-July to early-August.

HRP 2018 west-to-east

This took 38 nights and 39 days on the trail. 19 nights were in the tent, 9 in an unmanned refuge/cabane (I used these more than I'd expected), 4 nights in staffed refuges, 3 in gites and 3 in hotels/pensions.

The idea of returning to do the HRP in the other direction in 2023 originated with a chat with an east-to-west HRPer in 2018 in the Hospital de Benasque restaurant. They'd done the trip west-to-east in 2013 and were now back again to do it in the other direction. And over the next five years that seed of an idea grew...

HRP 2023 east-to-west

This took 39 nights and 40 days on the trail. 28 nights were in the tent, 8 in an unmanned refuge, 2 in a gite/pension and 1 in a cave. It's been written up in 5 stages, the same as the guidebook divides it into:

• Stage 1: Banyuls to l'Hospitalet
• Stage 2: l'Hospitalet to Salardu
• Stage 3: Salardu to Gavarnie
• Stage 4: Gavarnie to Lescun
• Stage 5: Lescun to Hendaye

Why slower than 2018 when the updated guidebook's route actually takes around a day less than the previous edition? I had worse weather (in the west) than in 2018 and also did some shorter days where there were wild-camp spots on my must-do hit-list which I'd not stopped at in 2018 and didn't want to miss this time (specifically, Lacs de Barroude and Source de Marmitou).

West-to-East vs. East-to-West

Snow conditions were very different between the two trips. 2018 was a "big snow" year and ice-axe and spiky footwear were absolutely essential on the big cols even in late July. But in 2023 there was virtually none left by then; my ice axe and crampons went unused throughout the trip. Weather was better overall in 2018 and I only really lost half a day when I had to delay continuing over the Col de Cambales. In 2023 several days of very wet and windy weather in the last stage slowed me down.

As to which direction is "better", there seem to be proponents of both. Things which I did notice myself:

• The steepest "crux" sections of the "Big Three" cols are steeper on the east side than on the west side, and I reckon are easier when approached and climbed from the east. Although for Gourgs Blancs that perhaps only applies when it's under snow; with no snow it's not so steep that either side is an issue.
• Conversely, the chimney on Canigou and Port du Lavedan seemed worse going westwards. Although thankfully the tricky downclimbed sections are very short.
• The stretch from the A-138 to Refugio de Viados seemed quite tedious going eastbound in 2018. But going westbound the climb to the col is not without interest and then you can fly down the long boring miles on the dirt track (and there's now a great bar/restaurant when you reach the road).
• Going west-to-east, the first stage through Basque country feels like a good warm-up introduction. But as the last stage of an east-to-west crossing it all just seems a bit of an anticlimax.
• It's hot in the east, and starting there is quite a shock. Ending there, you do at least get to acclimatize a bit on the approach. And Banyuls has a more laid-back feel than frenetic Hendaye, at least in peak holiday season.
• Going westbound, having the sun behind you in the morning is actually nicer than having it glaring in your face first thing. Then by the afternoon you're more used to it and it's often clouded over a bit.
• Unsurprisingly, the guidebook describing the route west-to-east was fairly unhelpful for resolving fine-detail navigation issues and I'd generally turn to the electronic mapping instead. However, I found I was quite pleased by just how much of the route I did remember and I needed to consult mapping or guidebook a lot less than I'd expected. I'm certainly glad I didn't do my first trip in the opposite direction to the guidebook though.

Was it worth doing twice? Definitely!

Resources

Books

• I used the Cicerone guidebook both times, but different editions (Joosten in 2018, Martens in 2023).
• French readers may find "Le trek des Pyrénées: De la Méditerranée à l'Atlantique" by Céline & Sébastien Dupont of interest. It describes a route east-to-west, with some differences from the Cicerone route especially around Salardu and in the west. I also met an HRPer using a copy of "Transpyr - Hautre route pyrénéenne" by Jérôme Bonneaux which seemed - from my brief glance at it - to be of interest for describing many possible variant routes... but like Georges Véron's original guide copies do not seem to be available for less than silly money these days.

Online

• Tom Martens - the current Cicerone guide author - runs a helpful PyreneanHauteRoute Facebook group. Probably best not to ask "will I need crampons?" as your first post there though; use the page's search facility to find previous posts on that much debated topic! I "live-blogged" my way through my 2023 trip there, posting every few days when connectivity permitted, and the text on this site is largely drawn from those posts. The photos here have been re-selected from the original haul and in some cases cropped/rotated (no "cooking" though).
• I found Peter Forest's notes, email list and GPS data (see http://www.hrpguide.org/ ) particularly useful in 2018 as a complement to the Cicerone guide (Joosten edition, then) and getting up-to-date trail information.

Google will easily find you a wealth of information and numerous other bloggers' accounts. Worth a particular mention:

• "Only my footprints"' writes up a fast-and-light 2023 west-to-east HRP in 5 posts (I met them coming the other way near Refuge d'Arlet): stage 1, stage 2, stage 3, stage 4, stage 5.
• UKH's HRP page.
• A few of blogs I had bookmarked prior to my 2018 trip:

About the HRP - Atlantic to Mediterranean

This collection of pages gives a few hints and tips and reviews from our expedition on the Pyrenees HRP in 2011. It is not and cannot be a guidebook – there are publications that do that specifically. However, coupled with my journal, the photographs and other blog articles, it might serve to help a…

Atlantic to MediterraneanName *

Pyrenean Haute Route

In 2010 we hiked the Pyrenean Haute Route, which follows the Pyrenees mountain chain along the border between France and Spain, from the Atlantic in the west to the Mediterranean in the east. The r…

A bit of a walk

• An account of a 40-day crossing: https://touchingthelight.co.uk/atom2011/about-the-hrp/hrp-route-notes-resourcing/
• Some other more recent blogs:

The Pyrenean Haute Route (HRP) | Florian Neukirchen

Florian Neukirchen |Florian Neukirchen

• Notes from Alex Roddie (an outdoor-writing pro e.g regularly has articles in TGO):

Haute Route Pyrenees

An 800km crossing of the Pyrenees from Atlantic to Mediterranean.

Alex RoddieAlex Roddie

Haute Route Pyrenees and GR11 | Alex Roddie

Three long-distance trails traverse the Pyrenees: the GR10, HRP and GR11. Currently, I have experience of the latter two, having hiked a section incorporating parts of these routes.

Alex RoddieAlex Roddie

• A leisurely-paced crossing:

HRP - 47 days in the Pyrenees (no sugarcoating)

The adventure is over, it’s time to summarize. Today we will tell you how much of a hard time the almost 800 km long Haute Randonnée Pyrénéenne gave us. Lest there be any doubts - it will also be about the fact that it was worth it. But don’t worry - we’ll also talk about why it was worth it.

Maciej GilskiMaciej Gilski

• A fast 23-day crossing:

HRP – 23 days on the Pyrenean Haute Route – my tour summary, resupply points and gear list – Do What Make Good by Florian Astor

logoPaul Atkinson

• A detailed account of two weeks (on the "middle section") in 2022:

Haute Route Pyrenees 2022 – MovingMountains

Posts about Haute Route Pyrenees 2022 written by MovingMountains

MovingMountains

• Information on the HRP and many other routes: https://caminaireinenglish.wordpress.com/grande-traversee-of-france/pyrenees-hrp/
• And UKC has an extraordinary account from a runner.

Refuge Information

It's almost inevitable that at some point HRP walkers will find themselves using the websites cataloguing the many refuges.

• The Pyrenees-specific site:

Pyrenees-refuges.com

Pyrenees-refuges.com

• A broader site, but often useful for a second opinion:

Carte et informations sur les refuges, cabanes et abris de montagne

My gear

I took almost exactly the same equipment on both trips. I thought what I took the first time worked pretty well for me and wasn't going to mess around too much with a successful formula for the second trip.

"Base weight" (excluding water, gas and food) in 2018 was 10.5kg but I had no snow protection except some awful Grivel "spider" microspikes and my walking poles until Gavarnie, where I heeded warnings from folks coming the other way that this was a "big snow" year and bought myself an ice-axe and the chunkiest microspikes I could find (none of the shops in town had "proper" crampons in stock). In 2023 I took better crampons (Petzl Leopards, actually lighter than the microspikes I'd got in Gavarnie in 2018) and an ultralight axe from the start. Besides that, a bigger power bank and a solar panel was the other main change for 2023.

• Pack
  • Aarn Featherlite Freedom + Expedition Pockets. This is anything but "ultralight" but it works great for me; see https://youtu.be/AYFXzfVN8Kw for an introduction to what Aarn are all about.
• Shelter
  • TerraNova Laser Competition tent. One of the original 2004 models, when it was launched as the "world's first sub-1kg tent". Used "as is" in 2018, but for 2023 I improved the rigging, upgrading from one to two guylines at each end to "lock down" the otherwise wobbly inner strut and adding "gear-grips" to the flysheet to allow walking pole supported guylines to stabilize the otherwise prone to flapping roof.
• Sleeping
  • PHDesigns Triobag (15,5,-5C) in drybag. An experimental product by PHD in 2018 and not offered again since, so far as I know. Zipless - which saves weight - and depending on which bit of it you sleep in it has 3 modes: 15C, 5C & -5C. I thought it worked very well on the HRP where you have to deal with a wide range of temperatures
  • 2018
    • Thermarest ProLite mat.
  • 2023
    • Exped Ultra 3R M Mummy mat with pump bag and repair kit.
• Hydration
  • MSR Trailshot filter in ziploc bag.
  • 4 x 1l Platypus bottles with closure caps.
• Cooking
  • Stove (MSR pocket-rocket)
  • Cookset (Ti pot, cup & cutlery. Pot cosy. Plastic bowl etc).
  • Penknife.
  • CampinGaz Easy-Clic to EN-417 converter. 2023 only; in 2018 it had seemed to me that EN-417 cans were hard to find and CampinGaz was easier to obtain. But in the end this wasn't needed.
  • Pan-scrub in ziploc bag.
• Moving
  • Scarpa SL Activ boots. In 2018 the pair I took were rather old by the final stage they had virtually no tread left, and the forward section of sole finally started flapping loose on the last day. In 2023 I took a much newer pair which survived just fine.
  • BlackDiamond Alpine Carbon Cork trekking poles.
• Snow protection
  • 2018
    • I'd started off thinking my walking poles and some Grivel "spider" microspikes (awful!) would be good enough. But by the time I'd reached Gavarnie (which has a couple of gear shops) I'd been persuaded - by folks coming the other way - that the cols were snowy enough that better equipment was needed. So I acquired a rather heavy Camp ice-axe and chunky microspikes in Gavarnie's "Les rochers blancs" shop... and was subsequently very glad I had, going over the Big Three cols.
  • 2023 Neither crampons nor axe were actually required; cols were snow-free by the time I reached them. But fortunately the gear I did take is very lightweight and I'd didn't mind carrying it for peace of mind.
    • Petzl Leopard Crampons (with anti-balling plates) in the bag provided with them.
    • Suluk-46 Tica Ice Tool.
• Clothing
  • Rab softshell - original Phantom jacket, Polartec Windpro material.
  • Waterproofs in stuff sack - Rab Spark Jacket and waterproof trousers (2023: Montane Dynamo / 2018: something from Berghaus).
  • Rab insulating vest (synthetic fill) in drybag (2023: Xenair / 2018: Generator Vest).
  • 3 long-sleeved tops - 2 x Patagonia, 1 x Rab.
  • Trousers - Mountain Hardwear Canyon Pant.
  • Socks: 3 pairs Teko Hike 3.0 L, 2 pairs Teko Expedition 5.0 L .
  • 3 pairs underwear.
  • Gloves - 2023: Rab VapourRise, 2018: something from Trekmates.
  • Sun hat.
  • Sunglasses in soft case.
  • Drybag/pillow.
• Navigation
  • Maps+guidebook. Maps were cut down to the relevant part, but the full set is still pretty weighty.
  • Compass.
  • Transparent ziploc bag “map-case”.
• Electronics (just 2023's load described)
  • Garmin InReach.
  • Head torch (Petzl Actik + Petzl Core battery + spare).
  • Camera (Canon SX600) + case + 3 spare batteries & USB battery charger.
  • Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8" (with UK SIM) in Exped Crush Drybag.
  • Misc. bits (Euro-plug USB charger/adapter, 2 USB cables, headphones) in ziplock drybag.
  • 20000mAh powerbank - Alpkit.
  • Solar panel - Alpkit.
• Living
  • Loo-roll, hand sanitizer, "Deuce #2" shovel, toiletries, suncream, travel soap, mini travel towel etc
• Misc
  • 2 x carabiners for securing sandals to pack and for walking-pole tent rigging
  • Repair kit (gaffer tape, tent-pole tube, spare cord, 2023: spare walking pole tip)
  • First aid kit (including tick remover)
• Luxuries
  • Multimat foam sit-mat
  • “Croc”-alike sandals
  • “Gorilla pod” mini camera tripod

On both trips, I posted home finished-with maps from Gavarnie post office, and in 2018 my microspikes (replaced by better ones in Gavarnie) and in 2023 my crampons (but not axe). I would have also used l'Hospitalet post-office to send more maps home, but it wasn't open either time I passed through and I wasn't going to wait around.

I did hear of one HRPer having a Post Office (not sure which one) refuse to accept their ice axe for shipping on "offensive weapon" grounds. The crampons they were fine with.

Gear failures

• One of my walking pole tips (the metal bit at then end) broke off on both trips (replacements are readily available from Black Diamond). In 2018 (eastbound) somewhere in Andorra (I think after being a bit rough forcing it into the ground for a washing-line support). I didn't have a spare with me then but managed the last week or so with the remaining plastic stub skittering around on rocks. In 2023 I took a replacement spare with me, but while I did have a pole tip fail again it was only a couple of days from the end I didn't bother fitting the spare until I got home. (Fitting a new tip involves dipping the old one in boiling water to loosen the thermo-sensitive glue; in theory it could be done on a camping stove but it's a lot easier on a kitchen hob.)
• The tent took more of hammering in 2023 than I remember it taking in 2018; it survived, but the arch pole definitely isn't as straight as it used to be, whereas it was fine after 2018. Probably because I set out to camp higher and got hit by some much stronger gusts under storms. The extra rigging added to the tent certainly helped quite a bit. Some "spiky grass" campsites have also left some fine pinholes in the groundsheet, but I'd always make an effort to flatten such grass before putting the tent up and my sleeping mat remained un-punctured both trips.

With hindsight...

During the 2023 trip, I made some notes on things I wish I'd done:

• Taken a gravity-fed water filter instead of the MSR Trailshot. The Trailshot needs a lot of tedious pumping to get a litre, and I got quite envious of folks who could just hang a bladder on their walking poles and get on with other things. I was told you need the "full size" filters for this to really work, the "mini" versions of the filters don't have a high enough flow rate.
• Updated some of my paper maps. Some of the IGN editions I'd got hold of in 2018 (from a well-known UK supplier of foreign maps) already seemed quite old then - especially the coastal sections - and were missing a lot of newer GR info (e.g the GR12) and were pretty hopelessly inaccurate for some of the bits over the border in Spain. I should have investigated whether some of them were worth updating to newer versions.
• Loaded more GPS routes on my gadget than just the HRP. It might have been useful to have the GR10, GR11, GR12 and various other GRT/GRP things in the area. Going west-to-east in 2018 I was pretty much focussed on the guidebook's route description, but that's a lot less useful when you're going west-to-east against the guidebook and you find yourself wanting to be a lot more aware of what the useful waymarked routes are and where and when you're on them.
• Taken a small pot of Scarpa HS12 or G-Wax to re-wax my leather boots partway through the trip. I'd given them a good slathering before I headed off, but going east-to-west they could have really used a top-up before I hit the wetter conditions in the west.
• Taken a few more big zip-loc freezer bags for organizing food bought along the way in boxes, jars and flimsy plastic packaging.

Coda

Thanks for reading this far! If you aspire to do the HRP, I hope this has provided some encouragement to go and do it! And if you've already done it one way... maybe this'll plant the seed of an idea of going back and doing it the other way too.