Glen Callater

Sunday 25 August 2024

The vision was an evening camp, high up on a warm and still summers’ night listening to the moorland birds. Then storm Lilian roared in, reality set in and the outing was downgraded to a modest day walk by Loch Callater. Four of us met in bright sunshine in Banchory early on Sunday morning; we picked up Gordon in overcast Aboyne and Gillie in gloomy Dinnet. The rain was coming, and we donned full waterproofs at the Auchallater car park.

As we walked along the track towards Loch Callater it was perhaps ominous that we only met people walking out! We were heading into a stiff breeze and rain was clearly on the way. We had a tea stop in the bothy (disturbing a man who wisely was still in his sleeping bag) and decided to head along the east side of the loch rather than take the hill path and then take stock as we climbed Jocks Road.

By the time we reached the southern end of the loch and started the initial climb up Jocks Road the rivers were clearly high and the wind was steadily increasing in strength. We found a sheltered spot for lunch looking onto the waterfalls coming down from Loch Kander and decided to go a little further to find a safe crossing point and then return by the west side of Loch Callater. Chris and Gordon chose more daring crossing points while the rest of us were happier to splash through a wider and shallower stretch.

We had a bit of heather bashing and bog trotting to get through (and more burn crossings) before we reached the land-rover road back to the bothy – the wise bothier was still in his sleeping bag! The rain eased up on the return and the tail wind started to dry off our waterproofs.

So, no hills were climbed but legs got stretched and good company enjoyed.