This was a short overnight trip tagged onto another with a later train popping me out at Newtonmore for the walk through to Kingussie. The timing turned out to be perfect as the afternoon light was softening and spreading over hills hanging onto the last of their winter snows.
The pull up from Newtonmore soon opened up the view across a landscape of winter fields and bare birch woods to the snow-covered Feshie hills. Coire Gharbhlach drew the eye, a huge bite out of the mountainside. The sun was still in its low winter arc and casting a warm light so that last year's grasses and bracken were with tinged with gold.
The high path headed east, the track ahead rising and falling over the moor with its route picked out in snow. My walk was a slow saunter, sucking in the views and the fading atmosphere of winter. Wondering where the time had gone; the season seems to have flown by too quickly. I already can't wait for the cold and the dark to return later in the year. Spring and autumn I'll enjoy before then but for me, summer is something that has to be endured.
By the time I'd mulled all this over, the path had reached Loch Gynack, narrowed and entered the beautiful birch woods up here. The gnarly old trunks cast shadows across the route and the finer branches gave the place a subtle purple tinge.
I was now on the hunt for a new camping spot. I'd used a few places in this area but none of them ideal. I crossed the Gynack Burn and wandered up through the woods on the other side before emerging again onto open moorland. Following a fainter track downhill on a whim took me to the most perfect tent pitch. A lovely shelf of flat grass had a panoramic view across the Spey Valley to the Feshie hills, their rounded outlines creating huge domes of snow. Dense snow showers moved across the landscape engulfing one hill after the next and the late afternoon sun played on the hillsides with an ephemeral light show. But as the sun sank further, the softness and richness of the dying light was beautiful.
A cold night followed with the temperature dipping below zero. Breakfast was eaten watching the sun's morning light show. It lit up the Feshie hills from behind and looked like a wild fire was rampaging across the top of the snow slopes.
I packed up a frosty tent and walked down into Kingussie. It had been a short trip but it made the best of the fantastic light.
Start: Newtonmore train station
Finish: Kingussie train station
My route: Out of the train station walked up to the main street in Newtonmore and turned right. Almost at the end of the village, took Strone Road up to the left. It climbs then swings left and then left again - here a track leaves it to head north. This is the route through to Kingussie via Loch Gynack and is signed at a few points.
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