TGO Challenge 2012 - My Crossing of Scotland

[Man of Tanith]

Blimey, look how worn the walking poles are

Blast it i was gonna make that gag
nice one guys now bring on the photo's!

[Scots_Charles_River]

Well they have certainly had the weather !

Roasting in the 20s up here the last few days.

[Robbi]

Well done lads, magnificent effort and a great achievement

[drewdunnrespect]

well dunn lads cracking effort now where are the PICCIES

[Col_M]

Well done chaps

[andybysea]

Well done lad's looking forward to a write up and pic's..

[andythecelt]

I finished my crossing on Thursday lunchtime. It was a solo crossing but I walked with various people from time to time, it's one of the things that makes the TGO challenge so rewarding, and I wasn't expecting that. If their crossing was anything like mine they'll have plenty of stories, particularly that first Sunday when a month's rain fell in one day. Very tough walking, and river crossings were extremely risky. Record numbers were forced to drop out this year, in addition to the day of rain we had snow, hail and sunshine. It was my first crossing but I'll almost certainly do another. A remarkable couple of weeks.

[Hetzen]

Well done everyone. I've been logging on daily to see if there's been an update.

[Shewie]

Just got back from a week in the States, life should get back to normal again now so I'll get my pics and report up soon

[Wayland]

Looking forward to it Rich.

[kiltedpict]

Me too!

Just ordered a large map of Scotland so I can start plotting routes in the (remote) hope I get selected for next years!

[Scots_Charles_River]

Me too!

Just ordered a large map of Scotland so I can start plotting routes in the (remote) hope I get selected for next years!

There are free online maps with OS data you can plot routes, data, gradients etc.

[kiltedpict]

Oh aye cheers, I'm no technophobe , but I've always wanted a large map on my wall with route visualised. Once I've decided on a couple of likely ones I'll put them into my satmap active 10 or a.n.other online thing to get a fly-thru of them.

I hate having to scroll in and out, left and right all the time when looking at all the options!


ATB

KP

[Scots_Charles_River]

Cool, I have a Munro Map on the lounge wall, 146 coloured in red. !

[kiltedpict]

Good going! I'm not even in the teens... Not really into bagging them although my aunt completed them last year.

[Scots_Charles_River]

Good going! I'm not even in the teens... Not really into bagging them although my aunt completed them last year.

If you draw a line from Oban across Rannoch Moor to Cairngorm, thos are the ones I have done,with a few exceptions.

I basically gave up as driving 4hours for a 5 hour hillwalk was expensive.

[BareThrills]

Cant wait to see the pics from this one. An epic undertaking. Well done guys

[East Coaster]

Me too!

Just ordered a large map of Scotland so I can start plotting routes in the (remote) hope I get selected for next years!

There's no law which says you have to enter the TGO Challenge to have a walk across Scotland. Plot your route and off you go

Looking forward to the write up Shewie, particularly to how you felt about the lightweight approach and how the gear stood up to the challenge.

Well done to all who completed.

[kiltedpict]

There's no law which says you have to enter the TGO Challenge to have a walk across Scotland. Plot your route and off you go

Looking forward to the write up Shewie, particularly to how you felt about the lightweight approach and how the gear stood up to the challenge.

Well done to all who completed.

So true...

[tartanferret]

Just wondered where about's on the TGO this is ? Looks a cracking spot !

(I'd been Googling the Trailstar tarp with a view to making a DIY version)

TGO-Challenge-2010-035.jpg

[bilmo-p5]

(I'd been Googling the Trailstar tarp with a view to making a DIY version)

Good luck!

[Shewie]

Thursday 10th May - Day Zero

After consuming the best mixed kebab on naan that I’ve ever eaten as well as several lagers with Stuart and Josh the night before I woke up feeling fairly good, and just a little bit giddy about what was to come. We had plenty of time for a brew and some last minute checks of the rucksacks and then Stuart gave us a lift to Queen Street station for our 10:10 to Inverness.
I expected Queen Street to be full of other TGO’ers but I only saw a handful, we grabbed a nasty coffee from one of the kiosks and retired outside to top up the nicotine ahead of the journey. Time was almost up so we headed for our carriage, found our seats and met our first fellow Challengers of the trip, Mike and Marion Parsons, or “We just stopped for an early lunch” as we later referred to them. We had a good chat on the way up, their routed sounded much more adventurous than ours and we were probably 30 years younger than them, “We’re keeping it nice and simple for our first crossing” was our excuse.
The connection at Inverness was fairly painless and we were soon chugging westwards through some pretty baron landscapes along Strathconon Forest, a rip off eight pound odd for a 4 mile ride and we stepped off the bus at Sheil Bridge bus shelter. The camp site was a few hundred yards away so we headed over and got booked in, not the fanciest of camp sites but the basics were there, plus they sold cold beers in the shop.

Tarp setup at Sheil Bridge camp site


After having some grub we took a stroll up the hill behind the campsite, enjoyed a couple of cold ones and discussed the plan for day one.

River at the back of the site




Friday 11th May - Day One

Shiel Bridge to Glen Affric

14.53 miles (planned)
775 metres of ascent (planned)

17.42 miles (actual)
862 metres of ascent (actual)




Friday morning was wet, cold and grey, I’d slept really well though so got up to face the elements and take a stroll over to the shower block. By the time I got back Mick was unzipping his tent and was getting up. I noticed some of the likely looking one man TGO tents had already disappeared, it was only half seven and we had to wait until nine before we could start the Challenge, maybe the others new where we could get a decent breakfast from? Into the rations then for breakfast, golden syrup porridge with granola and milk powder, washed down with a Kenco 3-in-1.

Walking to our sign out at Kintail Lodge Hotel, that’s a Llama I think?


Dipping the toes in the west coast ocean


Me


Mick, steady


Walking under Carn-gorm on our way to the Mountain Rescue Post


Turning SE into Gleann Lichd


Heading to Glenlicht House


Approaching Allt Grannda waterfalls


Heading for Fionngleann


Looking back to the west, Alltbeithe roof reflecting


We’d pushed on for a couple of extra miles on the first day, not for any particular reason other than we were being a bit fussy about campsite selection. Although we were following the river down the valley, the obvious campsites we’d spotted in the planning were either under water or looking very soggy. We made our way down the glen as the landscape started to change again, we could see trees in the distance which meant we were getting close to Loch Affric. A quick check of the map showed a couple of promising spots, the first one being a large crescent shaped beach with flat drained grassland behind it, it was perfect. Tent and tarp were pitched and we relaxed in the last couple of hours of daylight. Another challenger arrived as we were about to retire, Julian was his name, we would refer to him as Wing Commander. We found out later that he was actually in the forces, total fluke that one


Campsite for night one, Loch Affric

[Suffolksteve]

Looks amazing!

I have been keeping an eye out for this ever since I read your pre trip posts and I'm looking forward to the updates.

Thanks for taking the time.

[John Fenna]

Good stuff - keep it coming!

[stuart f]

Looking good Rich, thanks for taking the time to give us the report.

Cheers Stuart.

[andybysea]

Been looking forward to this,great stuff so far,keep em coming!

[rik_uk3]

Great stuff, keep the pics coming please

[Dannytsg]

I've been waiting for the pictures to accompany your write up. Thanks for sharing and keep them coming

[mousey]

Good photos, looks like a good challenge to do.

I was down round Braemar on the 20th May with a local walking group [there were 17 of us], met quite a few people who were doing the TGO - maybe you were one of them! Good to see people out 'n' about having a good time.

[drewdunnrespect]

looking good so far mate keep up the good work in the reports and well dunn once again