{"id":3527,"date":"2019-05-26T23:10:08","date_gmt":"2019-05-26T23:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aweewalk.com\/?p=3527"},"modified":"2019-06-17T04:35:08","modified_gmt":"2019-06-17T04:35:08","slug":"last-days-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aweewalk.com\/?p=3527","title":{"rendered":"Last days, part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The next day was more of the same, so I\u2019ll try not to repeat myself or show too many more pictures of trails in the heather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last night of the Challenge I camped on the grounds of Gardyne Castle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Castles and other ancient structures are labeled in Gothic script on the Ordnance Survey map. Sometimes they\u2019re denoted \u201cruin,\u201d but sometimes not even when they are. So it\u2019s difficult to tell whether a castle is an occupied house until you get up close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gardyne Castle is occupied, although nobody was around when I got there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Gardyne Castle, built in 1568<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I looked through a wrought-iron gate and saw an formal garden. Somebody is definitely putting money into this place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There was lawn nearby, but I didn\u2019t want to pitch my tent there and find the lord and lady arriving for a long weekend at 10 o\u2019clock at night. So I followed a recently mowed swath through an orchard and field, looking for a wide spot where I could put the tent and not be in the way in case the hired man decided to cut the path again very early in the morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn\u2019t find a \u201cturning place,\u201d but I did eventually get to a large mowed circle with a flagless golf pin surrounded by three well-buried arrows. The site of a pan-athletic pagan ritual? Possibly. It seemed strange, but beggers (and squatters) can\u2019t be choosers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In truth, it was a beautiful spot, next to a stand of oaks and within view of a newly planted field. Here it is at 4 a.m., as it was starting to get light. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the morning, a tractor with spray booms crossed the field, but I don\u2019t think the driver saw me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It was hot in the tent by the time I took it down, and it was going to be a sunny day. So I unwisely zipped off the lower legs of my trousers. Poor situational awareness that, as I then walked an hour through high vegetation that had lots of some sort of thistly plant with invisible spines. My legs itched and burned for the rest of the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Beware the new growth of thistles<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At one point, in a patch of woods, I came across this. You don\u2019t see a lot of standing stones with Christian iconography on them on walks in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As I passed through the village of Friockheim I saw a lot of people walking from a parking lot to an elementary school carrying camp chairs in bags. I stopped and asked one couple what was going on. They were Hazel and Andy Brown, on their way to watch their seven-year-old grandson, Owen, compete in the school\u2019s spring day of games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a wee boy, not so fleet,\u201d Hazel admitted, preparing herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The couple has been married for 42 years. They live in the house that Andy grew up in and that has been in his family for 136 years. In previous generations, the family farmed 33 acres. Andy, however, is a car mechanic, not a farmer, still working at 68. The couple has two children, a boy who is also a mechanic, and a girl who\u2019s an administrator at the Glasgow School of Art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We talked for a while, and the subject of America inevitably came up. I asked if they\u2019d ever been there. They hadn\u2019t. In fact, Hazel has never been in an airplane. Andy has once, in a plane whose engine he worked on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Hazel and Andy Brown<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I trudged on and came to Braikie Castle. This was more like it\u2014a ruin, with birds flying in and out of high open windows. It was built in 1581 and had a roof into the 1950s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Braikie Castle, built in 1581<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I looked around for an easy way to get over the fences around it. I sorely wanted to go up the tower and look out; it would have been like stepping into a Thomas Cole painting. But that would have taken time and effort, and there was a good chance all the doors would be barred. So I left it for another day. Or life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I walked away down a farm road I stepped aside to make way for a front-end loader heading in the opposite direction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The machine stopped. Its driver was Stewart Nicol, the 55-year-old foreman of the farm. He\u2019d grown up in the hills above Glamis, but had been here for 29 years. The farm grows barley, wheat, oilseed rape (\u201cyou call it canola\u201d), and potatoes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019d been in Braikie Castle years ago, and up in the tower, too, which even then was missing some landings in the spiral staircase. \u201cQuite dangerous, although of course you don\u2019t think of that as a young man,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three huge estates\u2014Panmure, South Esk, and Usan\u2014each running more than 10 miles in different directions, came together very close to the castle. The other two had their own castles, but they\u2019ve collapsed. Not this one. He said: \u201cThose walls are as straight as when it was built.\u201d I asked him to write down the names of the estates, and he did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Stewart Nicol<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I walked on. It was sunny and beautiful, but it was road walking, which is hard on the feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early in the afternoon I stepped off the road onto a dirt track to urinate. I looked up and saw in the distance a hazy, three-shade horizon, not unlike distant views I\u2019d had over the preceding two weeks. This one, however, was flat, and I realized it was the North Sea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I descended on small roads, following signs for Lunan Bay, which is possibly Scotland\u2019s most beautiful beach. It\u2019s miles long, with cliffs at one end, and the ruins of the Red Castle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just beyond a small parking lot was a snack shop with a verandah, and picnic tables in a gravel yard in front. I heaved off my pack at a picnic table. On the verandah were a half-dozen people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou on the Challenge?\u201d one of them asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were the first Challengers I\u2019d seen since leaving Ardrishaig 14 days earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were three of them, with friends and husband, in one case. The man who\u2019d spoken to me\u2014alas, I forget his name\u2014had started in Mallaig, far north of where I\u2019d started, and walked a 274-mile diagonal to this spot. (That\u2019s more than 30 miles longer than I walked, which was a longer-than-average route). Why? To maximize time in the empty Highlands, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wasn\u2019t looking forward to trudging back up the hill to the bus stop, and so was grateful when one couple, Barbara and Peter, invited me to ride to Montrose with them in their van. Peter has stopped doing the Challenge; Barbara, about my age, had just finished her 16th. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGo dip your feet,\u201d one of them said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I did. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Lunan Bay beach<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So that was the end, at least unofficially. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I still had to go to Montrose, sign in, collect my bling, and have dinner with the Friday-finishing Challengers. They\u2019re a smaller\u2014and more select in their own way\u2014group than the Thursday-finishing crowd, which was already on its way home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I signed in at Challenge Control, the room at the Park Hotel where people have been quietly worrying about 379 walkers for two weeks. (For the record, 38 of them chose to \u201cretire\u201d\u2014the gentle term for quit\u2014this year). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Challenge Control<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The two people I wanted to see at the dinner both finished on Thursday and had left. I didn\u2019t know anyone, so I sat at a table with strangers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On one side of me was Graham, a civil engineer who helped create the stage setting for Pink Floyd\u2019s famous concert in Berlin, at the site of the Berlin Wall. Construction uncovered a tunnel for the Nazi leadership that still had food and wine in it, he told me. The Berlin police immediately filled it with concrete so it wouldn\u2019t become a destination for neo-Nazis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Graham<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On the other side was Michan, a Dutch journalist and Challenge first-timer. He\u2019d been an exchange student in Green River, Wyoming, for two years in high school. He\u2019d picked the place because of snowboarding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Michan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sue Oxley and Ali Ogden, the patient and indefatigable coordinators of the event, were there, of course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Sue Oxley, left, and Ali Ogden<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So that was it\u2014almost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I spent the next day and night in Montrose, although to quote Bob, \u201cAnyone with any sense had already left town.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I walked down the high street I passed a Salvation Army thrift store. I stepped in and asked the man at the counter whether it accepted footwear. He said yes, but the store was closing in half an hour and wouldn\u2019t reopen for two days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hustled back to the hotel and got my hiking boots. They were old friends. I loved them. But we’d grown apart. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019ll have to be cleaned up a bit, but they\u2019re still in pretty good shape,\u201d I told the man, showing him the soles. \u201cDo you think you can sell these?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh, we can sell those for sure. Brilliant!\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It made me happy to think they might one day see the hills again. As for me, it’s an open question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So that is<\/em> it for my report on The Great Outdoors Challenge of 2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll be putting up two more posts in the next few days. They\u2019re about World War I, peripherally related to the walk. You might be interested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, thanks for reading this. It means a lot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The next day was more of the same, so I\u2019ll try not to repeat myself or show too many more pictures of trails in the heather. The last night of the Challenge I camped on the grounds of Gardyne Castle. Castles and other ancient structures are labeled in Gothic script on the Ordnance Survey map. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-scotland4","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweewalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweewalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweewalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweewalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweewalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3527"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/aweewalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3657,"href":"https:\/\/aweewalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3527\/revisions\/3657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweewalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweewalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweewalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}