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<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nOle by this time was recovered enough from his ankle sprain to go on alone. But he stayed with us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We headed off for a place called the Shielin of Mark. \u201cSchielings\u201d is the word (presumably Gaelic) for summer houses for shepherds in the high glens. \u201dShielin\u201d is a variant.<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nBut first there were rivers to cross and trackless stretches of boggy ground to cover, across eroded banks of peat. <\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nUnderfoot is an entire ecosystem built on water. To the naked eye, it’s a vegetable world, except for the occasional ochre frog, black beetle, black slug, and salamander too quick to get a good read on coloration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is also beautiful and abstract. Closeups resemble Jackson Pollock paintings a little.<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nYou\u2019ve heard of Pollock\u2019s \u201dBlue Poles\u201d? This is my take on it.<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nWe passed by a stream called the Burn of Mohamed. I have no idea how it got its name. But unlike the mountain, it appears to have always been here.<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nWe got to the bothy at the Shielin of Mark. It was small but nice, and contrary to reports, had dedicated sleeping places.<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nFrom there it was across another burn and up a field of heather and sphagnum moss toward a track more than a mile away. It\u2019s difficult to describe the effort required to carry a 35-pound pack up such terrain, all the while searching for the step that won\u2019t finally result in full-foot immersion. <\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nIt requires navigation, by line-of-sight and GPS. And rests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The gravel track you finally gain is a mixed blessing\u2014rock-hard, and in places ridiculously steep. <\/p>\n\n\n But everything that goes down eventually flattens out. For us, on this day, it was at the Stables of Lee, which actually are still stables. <\/p>\n\n\n I didn\u2019t see any horses, however.<\/p>\n\n\n We stopped for lunch, which involves not only taking off the packs but also the boots and socks. It\u2019s important to find a place out of the wind, on a slope where one can lie back on a pack and sleep for 15 minutes after eating. Lunch is invariably gorp, cheese, dry sausage, and water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is Ole and Mark.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n