Travel diary Scotland day 6, 2016: Hiking in the Cairngorms

 **Disclaimer: I write and upload the same day, often after a long and exhausting day. I often don't have the focus to re read and take out the typos, grammatical and vocabulary errors. Beware!**

Halloooooo!!

What a day! Instead of driving for 8hours, I did a 8hour long hike! Yes, you've read that correctly. An entire day of hiking! Bliss. Well, for the most part of it.

It all began this morning at 8am when I had breakfast. In an ideal world, by 8 am, you should start hiking. Not for me. Breakfast is served between 8am and 10am. Earlier is possible, but I just couldn't get it over my heart to ask the lovely landlady to get up earlier for me.

Then, some necessities needed to be attent to. Getting some fuel for my car and getting some fuel for my belly for when I was in the mountains.

I also needed to get a more detailed map of the area to ensure I didn't get lost. Sure, I have a hiking guide, but only the lower level route had detailed maps provided. So I had to pick that up at Glenmore lodge.

And lastely, I had to drive for about 40min to get to the parking where I was about to start my tour. All in all, by 10.30am I was en route with my hiking boots and maps.

Because I started this late, I thought I wouldn't be able to do the tour I wanted to do. Rather than getting completely discouraged, I just decided to try and get to the Cairn Gorm (1245m). You know, the mountain that bares the same name as the park. It's the 6th highest mountain in the UK.

But weather conditions were pretty bleak and by the time I was ascending to the first 'summit' Sron a' Cra-no, I was faced with rain and a lot of wind. I decided to push through just to get one top in today. By the time I reached that top, I thought, let's go to the ski lift and take no unessesary risks. But hey, Cnap Coire na Spreidhe seemed close by and now that I'm up here... Lets just keep an eye on the weather real close and try to assess the situation as I progress to the second top.

Sure enough, I made it. At that point I thought it be safer to proceed with my plan to descent. The periods of wind and rain was freezing and on my entire walk of 4hours I hadn't come across another living soul... Time to head back to the car. But wait, the ski station is just down there, from there it is only a short walk! Lets just push a little bit further.

I ate my lunch inside the ski station and started talking to a guy who worked there. I asked him how long it'd take to get from the station to the top of the Cairn Gorm, as I wasn't sure with the weather, etc. It would only take me 20 to 30 minutes to get to the top and then follow the cairns if you please. The weather has been this and that, but it should be fine... Yupla, at 2.30pm I started my ascent on the 6th highest mountain in the UK. You could tell that the path leading to the top was prepared for tourists. Blue robe guided my way up and offerd support when needed. In the meantime, rain was splashing in my face and putting my hiking trousers to a thorough test.

The view from the top wasn't much to begin with. Clouds everywhere. I started talking to a girl who was hiking on her own as well. She just came from Ben Macdui which stands at a whopping 1309m. She was far from fased by the rainy weather conditions.

When I was climbing to the top of the Cairn Gorm I had in mind to return the same way and start my descent from there. But when I was up there, I thought "now that I'm up here...". Hupla, my descent on the other side of Cairn Gorm began at 3.15pm.

It was so impressive. By this time the fear of not being able to do what I wanted to do was gone. I was freaking making the tour I first intended! By this time I really enjoyed the weather. The rain on my face, yet I was warm and confortable with my gloves, beanie, buff and million layers of clothing. There was no one waiting for me at the bottom of the mountain and there was no one with me to complain about the 'extended' tour

All went well, up until I started my proper descent. Halfway through the path was blocked by a hugh patch of ice. Too steep to walk over so I decided to try and walk past it... Yeah, that didn't work. So I tried to go higher up the mountain to find the path that I had seen from above. Didn't really work either. I just couldn't get higher up the mountain. Fear and ignorance got the better of me.

Luckily there was a couple right behind me. They had the same idea and somehow they did manage to find the path above. They saw me struggling and signed which direction I had to go. I knew which direction, I just didn't know how. Then all of the sudden the guy started walking over to me just like he was walking on flat ground. He kindly gave me his hiking sticks and started talking in English with such a familiar accent so I just asked: "Zijn jullie van Nederland?" "Ja hoor, Belg?". I followed the guy up the steep mountain side and in no time I was standing on the lovely path. I followed them for a bit further, but it was obvious that they were seasoned mountaineers so I soon fell behind. Not to worry though, I was on the right track. Well, I was, until it got covered in snow...

By the time I reached the first car park, it was already 6.45pm. Another 20min walk to the car park where my car was actually parked. As I was about to start my final walk, a jeep with first aid supplies pulled up next to me and the two guys in the car asked me where I needed to be. Sugarbowl car park. It was only when I got in the car I thought that this might not have been the smartest idea. Luckily it turned out to be a very smart idea. Had a nice little chat with the two blokes and I was at my car in less than 5minutes. Hurray for Scottish hospitality!

By 8pm I was in my room with some sushi from Tesco. Mission accomplished! I can't feel my legs though. And tomorrow I've scheduled another hiking day! Maybe I should consider a shorter route, less high? We'll see :)

And that is it for today!

Thanks for reading!
xo - Sara