TGO Challenge Day 6 Thurs 15th May

Spey Dam to Ruigh-aiteachain Bothy Glen Feshie  41km - 663m ascent - 566m descent
I'd slept merely Ok, disturbed at some point by lights flashing over the tent...probably security from the nearby Balfour Beatty compound? I was up and away before 5am, with a plan to do some serious miles to put myself in a position to climb the Munro's above Feshie in the promised sun of Friday.

On the road (literally in this case) early..an advantage of the early start was that I saw very little traffic on the minor roads during the morning.

The picnic area in Laggan provided a great place for second breakfast. The nearby loo's were also handy.

Looking back up the upper Spey valley, the Silver Birches were beautiful on the stretch of tarmac to Glen Truim.

Seeing this waymarker confirmed my thoughts having studied the map, so I detoured through the forestry for a couple of Km. I probably wouldn't repeat this!

As I walked under the fresh leaved Beeches near Glen truim House I realised that I was making excellent time. The campsite here at Invernahavon was to be my stop for the night, but it was only 10.30am.
I called into Challenge Control, and explained what my plans were over the next couple of days, and pressed on.

I took the "track" to Phones, I presumed this wouldn't  be tarmac. But it was this was a bit of a disappointment. The Surroundings were very attractive though, and more than compensated.

The old military road, made for great walking, this is the bridge over the Milton Burn in excellent condition.

The bridge offered good shelter from the wind, it was a good place for a brew!

Ruthven Barracks...soon be leaving the Spey Valley. It felt like real Eastwards progess was being made.
Shortly after here I met Graham Weaver, and chatted and walked together almost to Balleguish.

The hills above Glen Feshie were starting to look very close, I was tempted to camp just the other side of the footbridge here but decided to press on to Feshie.

Feshie at last! Peter Little (who I'd last seen at the Falls of Glomach) had a great spot for his tent just beside the bridge. The path fof much of the way from here to the bothy has been "improved"

Glen Feshie is a great place to camp. I had a chat with Alistair Pooler who had managed to get an up to date forecast on his smartphone. High winds were on the menu for friday...confirming what I had thought. I posponed my decision on plans for Friday until the morning.
This had been a long day...but the miles, both on tarmac and tracks/paths had passed easily.
Now I was below the mountains again :-)