…….Another from my Odd Box

One of those Days………Roving up the Ryvoan

Ryvoan Bothy, Cairngorms, Scottish Highlands

A good number of memories came flooding back when the above image dropped out of my Odd Box.  Taken one June day a few years ago I can remember it well.  The day was what one might call typical for the Cairngorms, grey cloud just scudding above the tops of the mountains, at times a little drizzle, midges just starting to be a pest and little promise of sunshine.  We set off from the shores of Loch Morlich at Glen More and headed up the path that leads you up through the Ryvoan Pass.

At times we did wonder if it was all going to be worth while or just end up as a very wet midge bitten experience.

But as we reached our planned lunch stop the clouds broke just a little…. and some blue sky and a touch of sun welcomed us to Ryvoan Bothy*.

 The views towards our destination in the Abernethy Forest would encourage us forward…even though the rain would returned. In a month or so those areas of brown moorland will be a wash with purple heather. Then again add a few more months and they will possibly be white with snow.

The trails we would cross and traverse were once Drovers Roads for the movement primarily of cattle but no doubt other goods (and may be some illicit Spirits along the way).

* For those who have not had the pleasure of a Bothy let me explain. They are old farm dwellings or barns that have been taken over by the Mountain Bothy Association. They are dotted around the Scottish Mountains and offer a safe and moderately dry place to spend the night. Most, like the one above, just have a fire place so you can get dry and warm. Free and open to all they provide the very basic of accommodation in some of the remotest parts of the Highlands. Somewhere to pause overnight but also a place of refuge for anyone caught out in sever weather.

( “THE ODD BOX”. The Odd Box , is especially for Odds and Ends, it is the file where I drop those images, that I have not processed earlier in the year as part of a series or project or simply lacked time at that moment, where they can be safely stored. I can then go back to them at leisure, explore and see what surprises await)

22nd February

(C) David Oakes 2015