6. Day 7 - Bamff to Blairgowrie (21.83 km) Our final day!

The sun was streaming into the cabin early, so we were up and off by 7 o’clock in the morning - still can’t believe how lucky we’ve been with the weather! Sad to be leaving, but excited for the next, and last, leg of our journey.

Passing by one of the cottages on the outskirts of the estate we noticed an interesting poster. Stopping to read it, the owner appeared (back from her early morning run!), and took us to look at 2 more inside her garden. We so totally loved the sentiments, and had a good laugh at the “daily routine “. She kindly offered us a place to rest in her garden, and water to fill up our bottles, but as we’d only been going @10 minutes we thought we’d better crack on! Buoyed up by such a positive and kind experience we left the Estate, saying goodbye to the ponies on the way.

Inspiring sign outside the cottage

Totally agree! 

Loved this routine 🤣

Saying goodbye to the horses 

Everywhere was quiet and calm as we made our way the 7 miles to the Bridge of Cally, from where we would retrace our steps back to Blairgowrie - another 6 miles. Again, the walking was straightforward, along small lanes, old tracks and through ancient woods. By 9 o’clock it was already extremely hot (just like being abroad), and coming into Bridge of Cally a woman in her garden called out to offer us water - another heartwarming random act of kindness 😃

Wasn’t aware that some sheep might have road sense 🤣

The hillside between Bridge of Cally and Blairgowrie 

Arriving back in Blairgowrie 

Three quarters of the way in I could bear it no longer - I needed to ditch my walking boots! The pain, caused by a long term foot condition (which I though was in remission 😢) was unbearable, so the only option was changing to my crocs 😃 What a relief - the pain disappeared instantly, and that is how I finished the walk 🤣 A trip to the podiatrist is on my list for when we get home! Dave’s feet were just about holding up, but he too was glad to get his boots off in the end 😃

How funny is that! 

We both looked like wilted plants at the end - it was definitely the hottest day we’d had all week. Interestingly as we were arriving in Blairgowrie we met a walker just setting out on the trail (only the second one we’d seen all week) - a local man from Blairgowrie actually, who only 2 weeks ago had finished walking the Camino route from Porto to Santiago - his mantra was “You just need to keep going” 😃

Making good time, we stopped off in Blairgowrie for a cuppa and a cake, then headed to the Meikleour Arms a few miles away, where we had booked to spend our last night. Arriving, we flopped on the bed, and Dave promptly fell asleep. Although the walking itself wasn’t that tough, the days were quite long, and we did cover quite a few miles, in the intense heat every day - with our fully laden packs on our backs 😃

Spent a lovely late afternoon chilling out, and think we scrubbed up quite well for dinner later on 😃 The place was ok - a little disappointing to be honest, but then we’d stayed at some wonderful small and authentic places along the way - hard to beat! Still, it was lovely to get cleaned up, again, and relax with a drink and some food. 

Hotel for the night 

Lovely to relax in the sunshine 

All scrubbed up and relaxed

Spent much of the evening reflecting on our experience over the past week. The area was new to us, and to be fair didn’t have the wow factor of the ruggest west coast that we are used to. But that didn’t spoil our experience at all - the peace and tranquility was second to none. Having the trails mostly to ourselves for the past week, with only the curlews and cuckoos to keep us company felt very special. Meeting people along the way, and hearing their stories was inspiring too - either making journeys of their own to formerly known places, often after retirement, or upping sticks and relocating for a different, more positive, life experience. Felt like everyone we spoke to were trying to live their best lives - so inspiring ❤️

We were so lucky with the weather - who would have predicted such a heatwave when we conceived this idea last December! Our new lightweight Rab raincoats never got to see the light of day 🤣 And the wildlife was a real treat. Back home we see very little wildlife these days, and certainly less than we did 19 years ago when we moved to Stoney Middleton. Tallying up what we’d seen - and in no particular order: Nesting swans, frogs & tadpoles, a pair of red kites, a buzzard, a nesting hawk, a Great Heron, loads of graceful deer - in packs and alone, curlews, oyster catchers, nesting swallows, cuckoos, beautiful butterflies and dragonflies, hares, and of course the wild ponies, pigs and beavers. Sadly we didn’t get to see a golden eagle - on this occasion 🤣 All was fantastic, but the highlight had to be the beavers at Bamff - such a privilege ❤️

So was it a pilgrimage? Probably not in the strictest of sense, as no religious angle to our adventure . But from a secular perspective, the journey did have meaning for both of us. Dave was keen to test his physical capacities, walking for consecutive days with a heavy pack, thinking about future trips and adventures. For me it was about the interaction of sustained physical activity and connection with the natural environment. I guess for both of us it was a time for contemplation and reflection, and referring back to the quote in the first blog post, an opportunity to focus more on our surroundings rather than what is going on in our heads. Whatever it was, it’s probably fair to say that despite some aches and pains along the way, we both feel nourished as a result 😃

Feeling very proud of our achievements, it was lovely to arrive home and be greeted by Ruby. We’ve missed her loads, but have known she was being well looked after by Andy and Anna, who having so kindly offered to come and stay with her, made this trip possible - thank you! And thanks so much to all our lovely friends who have sent us messages of support along the way - keeping us going, and allowing us to share our magical experience ❤️

The end 😃