P5200112.JPG	Day 10 Sunday - Pete 'Lilo Lil' Varley & Byron take it easy & enjoy the hospitality of Rucksack's Braemar
P5200113.JPG	Pete & I near the Lion's Face on our way to Gelder Shiel
P5200114.JPG	Invercauld Bridge
P5200115.JPG	Ladies on Horses
P5200116.JPG	Pete with David & Margaret Brocklehurst
P5200118.JPG	View back to Balmoral & Eastern Cairngorms
P5200119.JPG	We found a nice shelter to take a break in
P5200121.JPG	Jenny at Gelder Shiel
P5200122.JPG	We had great views of Lochnagar in the evening sun
P5200123.JPG	Gelder Shiel Bothy among the pines
P5200125.JPG	The Queen's Bench?
P5200126.JPG	Dan arrived and ate Nutella pieces on the Queen's Bench
P5200127.JPG	We watched the sun go down and then retired to our tents
and_reunite_with_friends_for_a_great_Challenge_dinner__photo_by_Caburn_Chamberlain_.JPG	and reunite with friends for a great Challenge celebration (photo courtesy of Caburn Chamberlain)
P5160090.JPG	Day 6 - Leaving Culra
P5160091.JPG	A shuggly bridge over the Allt a Chaoil-reidhe
P5160094.JPG	The gatehouse for Ben Alder Lodge!
P5220139.JPG	Lilo's Lazer-something-or-other among the pines in Glen Lee
P5220140.JPG	Day 12 - Is that a Challenger & their tent I can see in the distance?
P5220141.JPG	Inchgrundle Farm, Loch Lee
P5220142.JPG	Invermark Castle (ruinous)
P5220143.JPG	Challenger's will be coming from all directions to Tarfside
P5220144.JPG	Loch Lee Parish Church - still used occasionally
P5220146.JPG	Almost to Tarfside - is that the smell of frying Bacon on the breeze?
P5220147.JPG	I was so eager to get to Tarfside on the Tuesday that I was the first to pitch my tent on the field!
P5220148.JPG	... but the Livingston/Polbeth boys soon arrived and in the end there were about 50 tents!
P5110020.JPG	Day 1 Friday - Sam, Alan & I signed out, dipped our boots in the sea & are ready to go!
P5110021.JPG	The ferry was arriving as we were leaving Oban
P5110022.JPG	I had a pleasant walk through Glen Lonan
P5110025.JPG	and met this friendly beast
P5180102.JPG	Day 8 - Phil & Dan (and his horns) in Glen Feshie and it's stopped raining!
P5180105.JPG	Glorious Glen Feshie
P5180107.JPG	One of many falls in the glen
P5180109.JPG	Butterfly or Moth on Hylocomium Splendens (maybe?)
P5180110.JPG	Dan on the Bridge over the Eidart
P5180111.JPG	Ruigh Ealasaid (Elizabeth's Sheiling) where the Geldie track heads down to White Bridge
P5240164.JPG	Final day of the Challenge - up the Hill of Morphie
P5240165.JPG	Some of us really wanted to finish at Tangleha' ... if we could find it!
P5240166.JPG	Eventually, we did, & celebrated by dipping our boots in the North Sea
P5240171.JPG	The Tangleha' Five stand by the seashore: David, Sue, Kate, Maggie & Tim
P5240172.JPG	Lovely ... and there's boats and everything!
P5240173.JPG	Someone said these flowers were quite rare but now I can't remember what they called them ...
P5240174.JPG	Feeling we hadn't gone quite far enough, we started walking again ...
P5240175.JPG	...back along the cliffs to St. Cyrus, to catch the bus to Montrose and check in at Challenge Control
P5130052.JPG	Boggy, boggy everywhere! Where am I going to pitch my Akto?
P5130054.JPG	Day 3 - First sight of Loch Dochard
P5130055.JPG	'Nearly' an island on Loch Dochard
P5130056.JPG	Hills north of Glen Kinglass
P5130057.JPG	Looking back along the Abhainn Shira on the way to Forest Lodge
P5130059.JPG	Last views of Glen Kinglass
P5130060.JPG	I made a detour to take Sunday lunch at the Inveroran Hotel (and it was worth it!)
P5130061.JPG	I found this witty sign while I was walking along Loch Tulla
P5130062.JPG	'My Sheep Encounter' - the upturned ewe (and its lamb) I managed to right a few miles beyond Achallader farm
P5130063.JPG	Low clouds brooding over the Bridge of Orchy hills
P5150077.JPG	Day 5 - another glorious morning at Ben Alder Bay, Loch Ericht
P5150078.JPG	looking back to Ben Alder Cottage & Bay from the Bealach Cumhann
P5150080.JPG	Loch Ericht and yesterday's hills
P5150082.JPG	Aonach Beag from the Bealach Cumhann
P5150084.JPG	Aircraft remains near the top of Bealach Dubh
P5150085.JPG	View SW down the Uisge Labhair to Loch Ossian
P5150086.JPG	Down the Bealach Dubh to Culra
P5150087.JPG	Who are you looking at?
P5150088.JPG	The Lancet Edge of Sgor Lutharn
P5100002.JPG	Thursday 10 May - I bagan my Challenge by getting the train from Linlithgow
P5210131.JPG	Day 11 - Morning sun on Lochnagar 
P5210132.JPG	and closer
P5100004.JPG	and soon met Challengers old and new at Queen St. Station, Glasgow
P5210134.JPG	Among the trees near Allt-na-giubhsaich
P5100006.JPG	When I arrived in Oban, I put in some pre-Challenge training with Alan, Mike & Sam
P5210135.JPG	Spittal of Glen Muick
P5100007.JPG	Mike, Sam, Alan, Margaret, David & I had huge fish suppers in readiness for the big day tomorrow
P5210136.JPG	On our way to the Shielin of Mark
P5210138.JPG	Heading down into Glen Lee
P5100011.JPG	Then I went for a walk in the evening sunshine
P5100012.JPG	I liked these appropriate coast-to-coast words on this memorial
P5100014.JPG	and enjoyed the sea and sky at Camus Ban
P5100017.JPG	I saw these kayaks as I headed back to Oban Youth Hostel
P5100018.JPG	and passed this lighthouse as the evening drew in
P5170095.JPG	Day 7 - Loch Cuaich bothy - time for a break! 
P5170097.JPG	David & Margaret on Bogha-cloiche
P5170098.JPG	Descending out of the mist to Loch an t'Seilich - our navigation spot on
P5170099.JPG	David & Margaret take a well earned rest at the loch dam
P5170100.JPG	Looking past Loch an t'Seilich to the Gaick
P5230149.JPG	The Penultimate day - Time to take down the tents again ... or watch others do it
P5230150.JPG	Some hung around and chatted
P5230151.JPG	but some were raring to go - Sue, Morpeth & Croydon ready to head down Glen Esk to Edzell
P5230152.JPG	John packing up ... a good night at the Mason's?
P5230153.JPG	Heather seems happy this morning!
P5230154.JPG	Peter & George are ready too
P5120026.JPG	Day 2 - Leaving sunny Taynuilt
P5230155.JPG	There's always time for another brew
P5120027.JPG	Bonawe Furnace
P5230156.JPG	Challengers stretch out along the road as we approach Edzell
P5230157.JPG	A well earned rest and lots of food at the Tuck Inn
P5120029.JPG	I found this woody avenue near Bonawe House
P5230159.JPG	There's time to relax at the campsite ... so Phil did his laundry
P5120030.JPG	Suspension bridge & Inverawe House
P5230160.JPG	Another Rab TGO Challenge tent village at Dovecot Campsite, North Water Bridge
P5120032.JPG	First view of Loch Etive
P5230161.JPG	Is that a Marshwiggle? No, it's our very own Lilo Lil, rescuer of many animals and birds!
P5230162.JPG	'Drinks on the lawn' in the evening sunshine ... before retiring to Phil's tent, which like the Tardis, is bigger on the inside!
P5120035.JPG	I met Mike & Becky Knipe near Glen Noe
P5120037.JPG	Stormy Loch Etive
P5120042.JPG	View South near Inverliver Bay
P5120043.JPG	North up Loch Etive to the start of Glen Kinglass
P5120044.JPG	Mike & Becky in Glen Kinglass after a midgy/ticky brew stop
P5120046.JPG	Falls in Glen Kinglass
P5120047.JPG	Looking down the glen
P5120048.JPG	Deer near Glen Kinglass Lodge
P5120049.JPG	The Lodge
P5120050.JPG	Bridge in upper Glen Kinglass
P5120051.JPG	Bridge and the view down the glen
The_great_Gelder_Shiel_cake___custard_Party__photo__by_Jenny_Wheeler_.jpg	The great Gelder Shiel Cake and Custard Party (Photo courtesy of Jenny Wheeler)
P5140065.JPG	Day 4 - View NE from Gorton on a glorious sunny morning
P5140066.JPG	Gorton Bothy, where I spent the night, all alone
P5140067.JPG	Fine lunch stop by the Abhainn Duibhe, Rannoch Forest
P5140068.JPG	First views of Loch Rannoch
P5140069.JPG	Rannoch Barracks, Bridge of Gour
P5140071.JPG	View SW to Lochan Loin nan Donnlaich & Lochan Sron Smeur and beyond to Glencoe & Blackmount hills
P5140072.JPG	Loch Ericht, Ben Alder & Ben Bheoil
P5140073.JPG	Approaching Ben Alder Cottage at the end of a long day
P5140074.JPG	Ben Alder Cottage - someone's home, the lum's reekin'