Spent this afternoon unpacking the gear I had previously put together for this year’s TGO Challenge, finding some warmer stuff, and packing it all again. Even with the warmer, and inevitably heavier gear, I’ve managed to keep the weight down to 13k, and that includes five day’s food for two. My dear wife is carrying the lunch bag… Her pack weighs just over 10k.

Even as I packed it was snowing here in Newtonmore - hard to believe we’re well into May. The problem is that the weather could change again tomorrow, and probably will. We were on the hills above Shiel Bridge on Saturday - on the Corbett Sgurr Mhic Bharraich, and the weather forecasters had been warning of very cold NE winds and low temperatures. It turned out to be a roaster of a day and we walked to summit in base layers. We only needed a fleece when we sat by the summit cairn. In the late afternoon the temperature in Glen Shiel was 19C.

Anyway, my thinking is that it’s probably better to be safe than sorry and I’d rather be in a warmer sleeping at night as opposed to a lighter, cooler one. I’m a little worried about the space inside the new VauDe Power Lizard tent, which we’ll be sharing, but at a tad over 1k it’s too much of a temptation. I’m using a TNF One Kilo sleeping bag but I’ve also packed a silk liner, just in case it turns chilly again. I’ve packed the MSR Windpro stove - I prefer this kind of stove to those you screw into the top of a canister - and I’ll be using the new Gregory Z55 pack. It’s much heavier than the old ZPack, which has been my pack of choice over the past few years, but since I’m carrying a heavier load than usual it might offset the extra weight a bit.

To balance things up a bit the bad news about the weather was offset by some good news about the Inn at Dalwhinnie. Apparently the new restaurant opens today and as we’ll be camping in the grounds next week we’ll take the opportunity of visiting the new eaterie! The bad news is that they don’t have their alcohol licence yet. Ho-hum - maybe we’ll buy a bottle of wine en route. I had thought of having an alcohol-free couple of weeks but then I reminded myself this was the TGO Challenge. I remember John Manning used to tell me he was going to keep off the booze only to get into the company of certain individuals who doubtlessly led him astray…

So, come Thursday afternoon we’ll make our way to Mallaig - me, Gina and my sister’s hubby Raymond. I’ve no doubt, with a bit of luck, we might even be led astray on our very first night.

From the jagged peaks of the Skye Cuillin to the high level Arctic plateaux of the Cairngorms walkers in Scotland have a wealth of landscape to enjoy. I love the vertiginous slopes of our western mountains and the adrenaline rush of climbing them but there’s something about the spaciousness and the rolling heights of the Eastern highlands that I find deeply satisfying, especially when those high-plateaux plunge dramatically into high glaciated corries. A series of well defined corries above Glen Clova in the Angus Glens are a good example.

As you approach Clova from Kirriemuir the hills of the Mounth, the vast plateau that runs south and east of Lochnagar, suddenly appear on the horizon, big frowning hills that drop steeply into Glen Clova. A trio of massive corries catch your attention. A tour of these corries, with the bonus of an ascent of Ben Tirran, a Corbett, makes a good day out.

I parked the car at the Glen Clova Hotel, a walker-friendly establishment and conveniently based at the foot of the right of way that climbs up the hill behind the hotel to Loch Brandy, a glacial loch whose waters fill one of the great scooped hollows of Clova.

This right of way from Clova to Glen Esk is well familiar to those incorrigible backpackers who take part in the TGO Challenge, the annual coast-to-coast backpacking event that’s sponsored by TGO Magazine. Indeed, I’ll be heading over this way again in a few days time on my own Challenge sortie. Like many other Challengers I’ll be heading ultimately to Montrose on the east coast, funneling down Glen Doll to Clova en route, the crossing of the high ground towards Glen Esk the last real challenge of the route. The legendary hospitality to Challengers at Tarfside in Glen Esk is the reward at the end of a long day. The 31^st annual Challenge starts later this week and I’ve no doubt Loch Brandy will see the usual plethora of backpackers pass once again above it’s wind-clipped waters!

The wind was certainly stirring the dark waters as I made my way above the loch, up the Snub, the narrow nose that separates the dramatic Corrie of Clova from the great hollow that holds the gull-infested Loch Brandy. Above the loch the strong, gusting wind made me wary of going too close to the cliff edge. A massive landslip has occurred here and the cliff edge has collapsed away like a broken cornice. Parts of the cliff edge still looked crumbly, so I stayed well clear.

A shooters’ track runs round the top of the Brandy corrie to Green Hill, and from there another cairned track runs across to the Craigs of Loch Wharral but I left it about halfway along to skirt the Craigs on their north side. These waymarked paths often take you where you don’t want to go and I wanted to climb the gentle, grassy slopes of Ben Tirran.

A good windbreak shelters the trig point on this Corbett and I made full use of it to have some lunch with a view to make your mouth water – from Lochnagar in the west to Mount Keen, recognisable by the dreadful scar of the track that runs up to its summit from the Queen’s Well in Glen Mark. That other eastern mount, Mount Battack was also clear and so was its lower companion Clachnaben above Glen Dye.

Skylarks kept me company as I made my way down into the hollow that cradles Loch Wharral where a rough path drops down into Glen Clova, a couple of miles east of the Glen Clova Hotel. Always keen to avoid tarmac bashing I followed another path that led over the brow of Rough Craig where the map indicated another path wriggling its way down to Inchdowrie House. On the ground it wasn’t much of a path so I simply traversed the grassy slopes westwards towards Clova and a welcome pint in the pub.