More of autumn 2015...17 10 24 (19) 25 1 21

And now I am beginning to leave more and more pics away because the memorable moments began to pile up as if happy moments beget happy moments and then at last there is insufficient time and space to set them all down before a new transition kicks in to return one's self to normality, the steady state when not so much of a special mention happens in one's life: as if there were some kind of transition operating perhaps for a person when one appears more interesting than perhaps one really is..?

But to summarise I moved back to Braemar for a couple of nights where I met more very interesting people: returning to the same hostel to rest up a couple of days, buying a new waterproof jacket down from £110 to £55 when the £ was strong against the US$ at £1=$1,5 in the light-weight Patagonian range of outdoor clothing, then headed off for the second bothy, Bob Scott's bothy filled to over-flowing with people on my 2nd night there; this next pic the inside as I arrived 15 9 22:

from where I would climb the Derry Cairngorm and go on to re-climb Scotland's 2nd highest peak Ben Macdui, now that I was armed with a GPS navigator system to complement my less than perfect map and compass navigational skills which had sufficed thus far but in recent years with the loss of some peaks owing to a deterioration in these once better skills...

I started out then 15 9 23 in clear weather from my bothy (above pic with Derry Cairngorm the background peak) and by 10:15 attained its summit where I met the guy in my next pic after ascending the path with a clear view of the Derry Cairngorm directly ahead and Ben Macdui still further ahead, a last clear view until late afternoon...

He told me the weather was supposed to pick up and clear by the afternoon which persuaded me to try to get a view of the hills all around from this vantage point...

In the event we walked in mist from the summit of the Derry Cairngorm to Ben Macdui and if nothing else it was not raining and what do you think my GPS took me there without any bother...

I had found the summit in mist of Ben MacDui first with my brother J when we walked 17 miles that day 2006 7 10 from the youth hostel long since closed situated near the Linn of Dee and in the intervening years began to doubt whether in fact we had stood atop its apex an hour's walking on the compass the whole time from Sron Riach its southern top which this day I would pay my forth visit to almost each time shrouded in mist or under cloud, hahaha

Exceptionally when I returned to the bothy in addition to the 2 guys from the previous evening there were 3 new guys who were officials in the Mountain Bothies Association who were meeting there before visiting 3 more bothies in the Central Cairngorms where they each had maintenance duties…Then another couple of people man and wife, pictured above, who decided they would continue their journey into the Linn of Dee then drive into Braemar to seek more spacious  accommodation though in principle they had the right to remain to find a corner somewhere to put down their sleeping bags for themselves, such is the cardinal rule of the Association: not to turn anyone away…

Well I would return to Braemar next day to the youth hostel where I had arranged a meeting with my trusty nephew-in-law Dave for another climb with him the following day, and thereafter a return to this same bothy from where I would climb my last new hill of the holiday away… and then return to Braemar not to the youth hostel because I found it fully booked but instead one of its bunk houses, its most popular where perhaps I got a bunk because of a late cancellation..? In each of these three places I can tell you I met lots of interesting people so, exceptionally, again I shall have to write a third part to conclude this so far most varied of autumn breaks which, judging from the feedback you my public have been giving me I do not need to feel you are all becoming bored or disappointed..? Have a good day everyone, as I leave you with a pic of one of these new people I even got to have tea with during this autumn break of 2015: