After a decent sleep in the bothy, we had breakfast and gave the bothy a quick sweep. I wondered how many people would frequent this over the next 3 months since we had been the only ones in on the 1st December. Since it's repairs, it really is a wonderful bothy and the hard work to get here makes it even better. We had our first obstacle of the day i.e the 20m wide Tarf river. I opted for bare feet with sock and shoes tied away while Em and Daz marched through with boots. The water was freezing but on the other side, I felt energised. Our trump up the shallow coire eventually saw us at the bealach between the two Munros. Em was struggling a wee bit with blisters but we left the packs and began our ascent on to the Fiddler. A fairly long walk into the cloud was a little disheartening but things would get better with a bum slide down a snow field and some sunshine. I phoned Em then we began our descent. Once back at the packs and with a Compeed applied, things were better and our ascent on to An Sgarsoch was very quick. We topped out just before mid-day. From here, the views over the Cairngorms were stunning. Our high level walk took us round and down towards the Tarf, where we would cross before making our way back via a land rover track.
The MO for both parties was similar to this morning's river efforts - while Em and Daz fared better, I plunged into the depths and got a bit of a soaking. However, our walk on to easier ground meant we were in decent spirits and ready for the 10-mile walk out to the cars. I felt good but about 5 miles out and at 1615, it was head-torches on. Although we made a good pace, it wasn't until 1800 we got back to the cars. Glen Tilt is a beautiful glen and one to return to for solitude but it was a sore last few kilometres for me and Emma. Daz, fresh from his 100km run didn't feel it so. A tremendous weekend with a 62km distance at 1850m ascent and 17 hours walking time. Fabulous.
