Trip Report Impromptu Scottish Overnight

[Van-Wild]

Part 1

Being North of the wall again, I knew I would be able to squeeze in a bit of walking, a bit of shore fishing. The terrain in these parts sees remote windswept hills with many rivers, burns and isolated lochs. There's forest as well. Trekking through such wildness requires you to be properly equipped for at this time of the year with the change of the season, it can turn close before you know it so I did pack my rucksack with enough gear to survive overnight in an emergency.

With no work over the weekend I had an hours lay in, before a slow breakfast. Fed, watered and ready I filled my waterbottles and tustled together a lunch. Throwing my bag in the van I headed towards my map chosen carpark. I had picked this spot off Google maps. It was a half hours drive from anywhere down a single track road that ended in the carpark. From then on, it was forest tracks and the hillside only. I parked up, secured the van key and shouldering my rucksack off I went.

While my pack contained everything should I be benighted, I wasn't dressed in the usual hill walking gear. I wore a baseball cap, a flannel shirt over a cotton tshirt, a pair of canvas outdoors trousers and had my trusty Blundstone boots on my feet. Pockets were filled with my phone, a pocket knife, a hank of paracord and a windproof lighter.

Observing the terrain and looking at my OS map app on my phone, I had chosen to do a 26km circular route as recommended by a forestry sign at the carpark. A good distance for the day, on easy tracks and taking in some lochs, rivers and forest. Having also brought my lightweight rod and lure box maybe a trout or two to play my line would be nice as well.

After a few kilometers I came to the first Loch and what a beauty. A sandy beach was at my feet and the water stretched for a few hundred meters to form a sheltered Loch fed by a river. On the far side I spotted a small cottage but without binoculars I couldn't make out if it was occupied or abandoned. Not being still very long, I carried on.

Some more distance under my feet brought me to the edge of the forest. A sign asked for no overnight parking, and I could see the beauty of the spot being reason enough to do so. The abandoned car wheel in the verge gave reason for the landowner not being so happy about it!. A map check showed another Loch in two kilometers walking, so I swigged some water and headed for that with the aim of flicking a lure for that illusive trout.

The walk through the forest to get to the Loch was warm and sheltered and I had begun to sweat a little. But standing at the edge of the hidden Loch, the wind was circulating and chilled me despite the bright sun. With the water choppy I wasn't holding out for a fish and after a half hour of flicking and wandering the bank without so much as a touch I packed up and moved on.

Back into the trees I went. I had walked some hours from the carpark and the only sounds were the wind in the tree tops and the crunch of my footsteps on the gravelly track. Even my breathing sounded loud. I hadn't seen a soul and it was bliss. I allowed my mind to wander, to explore and investigate such things as the plants around me and ask myself questions like 'I wander what it was like to live here a hundred years ago....'. I also asked myself 'imagine if I were stuck out here, how would it be?'......

It was at this point that I decided to turn my day walk into an overnight camp. For sure, I had everything in my pack for doing so. But I only had my lunch, a coffee bag, a tea bag and an oat bar for food. After some doubtful questions to myself like 'will the van be OK where it is?' And 'What if someone breaks in to it?' And 'should I, shouldn't I?' I simply thought that if I didn't it was a missed opportunity and I should just get on with it!. Decision made, I text my wife to let her know my change of plan and promised her I would let her know the GR of my camp site once I found it.

A short map study showed a Loch deeper in the forest with a river a few hundred meters south of it that looked like a good spot for a camp, so with a spring in my step I headed that way. Still in the forest on tracks, after a left turn, it turned from the gravel I had gotten used to, to sandy mud. There was deer sign crossing the tracks fairly regularly and I mused about seeing one in the evening. Every kilometre I checked my phone for reception because my stay or return criteria rested upon being able to communicate to my wife. If my planned campsite had no reception, it was an evening/nighttime walk out for me.

As the track went deeper into the forest it became rougher and it was evident that no human had been this way for a long time. No vehicle tracks, no footprints, no litter. It was then that I spied mushrooms. And lots of them! Are these chanterelle? I'm not sure.....

But I am sure about these! Bolete mushroom, or penny bun and they were huge! I picked a couple for dinner. There was so many it was like I hit the jackpot but I was careful not to be greedy and only took a few of the smaller ones, but even those were bigger than most I have seen in the UK. I must of been in the right place at the right time....

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[Toddy]

Lovely An excellent jaunt

The chanterelles look like False Chanterells to me. I find them to be more common up here though have often found the two growing very close by.
The gills are different, there's a different shading to the cap centres, the edges are softer, and they smell different. Chanterelles are almost fruity smelling, but the false ones are very mushroomy. They are edible, I quite like them, but they really don't agree with everyone, so I think you were quite wise not to eat them. Maybe take a couple home and try somewhere comfortably safe though ?

There's a very clear youtube video that compares the two and gives lots of really good ways to check which is which.

 

[Van-Wild]

Part 2

With a handful of mushrooms in my pack I continued down the track. There were mushrooms everywhere. I could of filled a basket full. The main types were bolete, the chanterelle (if they are chanterelle), fly agaric and puff balls. This fly agaric was so traditionally children's book style I had to take a picture!

(You can just imagine a gnome sitting on that can't you!?)

Eventually the track ran out and I found myself completely alone. I mean, I had been alone all day but the stillness of the forest and total silence was all around me and I knew I was alone. It felt quite exciting knowing that I was nearly a full day's walk from anywhere and the only person who knew where I was was me. I checked my phone for reception. None. I was in the trees so that may be the cause, so knowing that river was just a few hundred meters through the trees I followed a deer track to it. A perfect trout river, what a beauty! I checked my phone again. One bar and no 4G. Intermittent comms! No worries, it was only coming on to 4pm so I wasn't too concerned. Time to flick my rod in that river for Mr Trout!. I threw in the lures and quietly fished all the likely pools. I changed lures and changed my retrievel many times all to no avail. The only time it got exciting was a small shad lure in bright white got thumped by a trout and in the excitement I yanked far too quickly causing him to jump out of the water, so he dropped off the hook and got away. Lesson learned, and having been stalking the river for nearly an hour, I wished the fish good luck and packed up. Next time I'm bringing spinners!

The hidden Loch was 200m to my north back into the forest. Knowing a bit about how telecoms works, I was hoping that the water of the Loch would reflect the radio waves and get me reception. It was a big hope but I really would be disappointed if I couldn't get reception and had to walk out....

A push through the trees and now an almost sweaty mess thanks to my flannel shirt, I got to the Loch...

It was more beautiful than I could of imagined. Totally silent. The feeling of being alone came on once more and I was content. The shore of the Loch was swampy peat and my feet slowly sunk into the blancmange like moss and grass tuffs around the edge of the water. I needed to find a campsite. The forest was too dense and would of been a haven for midges. I wanted to fish as well, so somewhere near the Loch edge would be nice. Obsevering the shore for some time, I saw a higher bank about a third of the way round the Loch and headed for that. When I got there, I selected the best spot of a possible three and decided it was perfect.

Spot chosen, I checked for reception. Yes! 2 bars and intermittent 4G! I messaged my wife my 10fig GR, and waving my phone about managed to send her a picture.

Then I sat down at the waters edge and got a brew on. I hadn't eaten all day and looking at my lunch knew I had to be careful not to eat it all in one go!

I chose a cup of tea and one of my wraps. 1 bacon slice, 1 sausage, 1 egg and some cheese in each wrap. That'll do. I slurped my tea and ate my wrap by the waters edge, sat on a foam sit pad. I watched the water for signs of fish but the wind was whipping up little waves so it was impossible to tell. After a slow and easy meal I set to putting the tent up. The Alpkit Soloist is my LW tent of choice and this is its second outing. Up in minutes and really easy to set up, my cosy home was ready.

I got the rod out again and went for a fish. With the evening now drawing in, I was hoping for the fish to rise and start feeding. With only a light travel rod, I couldn't cast very far and the waters edge was very shallow. It was so clear I could see my lure in the water out to about 40ft from the bank. After an hours casting and moving, changing lures I had no luck. But it was a good way to spend my time. I was now even more convinced that I should have brought spinners.....

The midges were making a show. With it being cooler now I had hoped that would not be about but some were braving it and making an attack on my neck and head. I decided to find some suitable dry standing and get a fire going to keep them off. The ground where I was camped was soaking, so there was no fear of starting a forest fire if I kept my fire small. I found a dead pine windblown and caught in the trees, so I used the saw on my pocket knife (Victorinox Rangergrip79) to process logs. I was asking a lot of the saw but with patience I made it work, collecting enough wood to do the job. I made a twig bundle to get it going and made a few feather sticks to start it.

I had to lay down four arm thick logs as a base due to the wetness of the ground and got my feather sticks and twig bundle set on top. I lit the feather sticks with my lighter and had a fire going in just a few minutes. Once it was self sustaining I made a second use of that one tea bag and got another brew on.

It was here that I stayed for evening. By the fire I was warm. The midges didn't bother me. I read a little on my Kindle app, listened to the wind in the trees, watched the water. As the evening wore on, the wind dropped and the Loch was like a mirror.

I kept being drawn back to the fire. Closing down my Kindle app I watched the flames lick the logs and laid on my roll mat beside it totally content.

Eventually darkness came and there was nothing but the glow of the fire. I stayed by its side until tiredness made me doze, so sorting out the fire and ensuring it was safe, I tucked myself in for the night.

Rain came around midnight and woke me briefly. I listened to it for a little while before going back to sleep and rising just after 7am.

A breakfast of coffee and that second wrap got me going so packing up and clearing away the fire site I was moving back round the Loch just after 8am.

I'm so glad I didn't talk myself out of staying out the night. It was a great experience and one that I'll definitely repeat if I'm up this way again.

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[Wildgoose]

Awesome report mate.
Being prepared certainly paid off.

 

[bigbear]

Good effort Sir ! An excellent read.

 

[crosslandkelly]

I could almost smell the coffee.

 

[Madriverrob]

Perfect .... a wee dram would have gone down well ...

 

[Malta Convoy]

Beautiful country, looks like a great time. Thanks for the report!

 

[Mesquite]

Really enjoyed reading that, thank you for sharing your trip with us