I've got the opportunity to solo wild camp on Friday night, just don't know where to go. I'm working on Friday so I'll have at most one hour of daylight from leaving car to set up camp. Concerned that this doesn't give me much time to scout around. Don't need to be back to car until around midday on Saturday. Which gives me time for a walk on Saturday morning.

I was looking at Glen Doll, heading up Jock's Road with the view of catching some tops on Saturday morning if the weather is clear. Concerned about levels of water draining into natural bowl at the head of Glen Doll. Could push further up and out of the glen, but would be concerned about snow levels. Never camped in the snow and don't really want to make this my first experience of camping in the snow.

Does anybody have any suggestions for a destination in East Scotland (weather is looking better in the east)?
It could be somewhere down the borders? The last time I drove the A701 the hills were looking void of snow.

Thanks,
Mark

Walk into Derry Lodge from Linn of Dee and camp in the woods? Should be snow free now I would think. Or walk past Loch Muick and camp by the Allt an Dubh Loch. I camped here on snow last month - again the snow has probably gone now. It wasn't deep.

How about a quick climb up beside the Grey Mare's Tail from Moffatdale and a camp amongst the morraines by Loch Skeen? I was there last weekend, not much snow other than on the summit of White Coomb.

Thanks Chris,

I've been planning a 2 night trip for a friend and I in the summer. I had identified the area to the East of Loch Muick as a potential for high-level camping with a walk in the night before. Might be an opportunity to scope it out for this planned trip. I'd prefer to take him to an area that I have some familiarity with as I think this will make the experience less stressful for myself and in turn more enjoyable for my friend.

I've been in the area of Linn of Dee many, many years ago when we used to go walking and camping for the whole weekend. The days before wives and children.

Thanks again for the suggestions.
Mark

Thanks for the suggestion Cameron. I drive down to Blackburn on a fairly regular basis. Although the A701 is not the quickest route, the extra 10 to 15 minutes is always worth it. I love the scenery down there, particularly around dawn. Don't know the hills in this area very well at all, but thought that they felt more remote and less walked than many of the popular routes in the Highlands.

Did you leave your car on the A708 at the foot of the path up the Grey Mare's Tail?

MArk

Yes, the National Trust for Scotland have a car park there. I think they ask for a donation of £2 to park. It's a great hillwalking area and once up on the broad ridges you can stay high for a long time. It's well worthwhile doing a high level circuit of Loch Skeen.

If you are looking at the Glen Doll area, another option is Glen Prosen. Quicker to get to, and much quieter. There is plenty of flat ground by the ruin near the foot of the Kilbo path to pitch a tent. Leave your car at the road end, and it's about an hours walk along a good track to the ruin. No navigational problems, or searching for a camp spot, if you run out of daylight.
The next morning you could nip over Mayar and Driesh and back to the car.

Thanks for all the input guys. Cameron just read your piece in TGO this morning on walking around Moffatdale. Now your comments make sense. Mike, had a look at the map and Glen Proven looks a good option, thanks for that. Chris, I took your suggestion in the end. It was an area I had in mind, though I had been looking at Chest of Dee, approximately 5 Km WSW from Linn of Dee car park. I choose Glen Derry in the end because I had recollections of route marching the 5km out after a long weekend in the area with a friend many years ago. (Just checked one of my journals, spent the night with another good friend in Glen Derry on the 10th of July 1994! My comments read great area for camping, suspect it's very popular as ony an hour walk from Linn of Dee.)

Well it obviously wasn't my first visit to the area, but it was my first solo wild camp. It was a good exercise as I was trying to travel light and it was only the second time I pitched the tent. Left Linn of Deee and 16:30 and got to Derry Lodge at 17:20. Spent 20 minutes finding a site, which was okay. After scouting the immediate area in the morning I realise I could have found a better location if I’d had more time. The pressure of wanting to pitch before dark caused me to compromise on pitch. (Lesson 1 – If possible try to give yourself ample time to find a good location.)

I pitched the tent relatively easily, after swatting up on the pitching instructions at home before I left. Having secured guys and main end points with decent sized alloy tent pegs I decided that the remainder of the tent could be staked out with fallen sticks. I managed to loose one the Ti pegs in the garden the week before, so decided they’re not the best thing to use in long grass. Lesson 2.

My gear was duly unpacked and sorted, only to realize that I had miss-judged the wind direction and was now getting a cross breeze on the tent. Emptied and re-pitched tent, glad it wasn’t raining. Lesson 3 – pay more attention to the wind direction and try to pitch the tent right first time. Also worked out that while the tent is symmetrical, there is definitely a better end to point windward to stop the tent ballooning with wind.

Settled down for evening meal which I cooked on homemade stove and cone. Fuel and stove are best warmed underarm before trying to light with a fire striker. For this reason it’s good to keep the fuel in a small 50ml bottle rather than a 500ml bottle, lesson 4. I tried to get smart with my breakfast and soaked the porridge and raisins in cold water overnight to reduce cooking time (fuel consumption) in the morning. Used less fuel but burnt porridge, which tastes foul and is a bugger to clean of the bottom of your treasured Ti kettle, lesson 5. I did work out that 125ml of meths will do for evening meal, breakfast and about five hot drinks. However, I would expect the fuel to go further in warmer weather, lesson 6. Lesson 7 was an important one – try not to use cone and burner directly on forest floor, it will set fire to pine needles.

Discovered that an iPood shovel is pretty useless at digging a hole in the tightly vegetated forest floor. Recalled from a Ray Mears program that a pointy stick makes an excellent digging tool – which I’m glad to say it does. Lesson 8 is another important one. Being the responsible camper I wanted to ensure that excrement and any slops from cleaning out cooking pots were well buried. Also, didn’t want to leave toilet paper behind so opted to burn paper in hole and then cover up. Duly did this and returned to the tent to brew up. Looked around to see smoke emanating from filled in hole. Despite wet ground cover something had managed to catch fire. Extinguished fire with “water” and use of size 10. Now faced with truth that carrying out used paper, while unpleasant, maybe the best course of action. Imagine the consequences of invariantly starting a peat fire.

Tried to travel light, but my pack without food was still 11 Kg. Could have ditched the iPod, Camera, Book and GPS and shaved off a 1 Kg. But to get down to sub 9 Kg I’ll need a lighter pack (mine was 2.1 Kg) and lighter sleeping bag (currently 1.45 Kg). However, I’m glad I didn’t cut back on clothing. I took an old SnugPac Softie 9, rated down to -5 and silk liner. Also used a 4 season expedition foam mat to save weight and increase warmth over Thermarest. Despite sleeping in a long-sleeve Marino wool thermal, thermal bottoms, micro fleece and wearing buff on my head as a hat I was bloody freezing! Even had to through my shell and belay jacket over bag as extra warmth in the small hours. Now decided that when I’m looking for a new down bag, I want something rated down closer to -10.

I didn’t really have time to go walking in the morning as I had an appointment on Saturday afternoon. So I had a lazy morning enjoying the peace and quiet and drinking coffee in the morning sun. There was something unsettling the previous evening - being alone in the middle of nowhere, not able to see your hand in front of your face. However, zipped up snug in the tent, or lying half out of the tent trying to see the starts you soon start to relax. Despite a very, very dark and cold evening there was something relaxing about the whole experience. I defiantly felt calm in the morning. I’ve decided I want to travel light with a tarp this year – though I’ll defiantly be waiting for warmer weather. Glad I didn’t take the children with me as I think it would have been too cold for them. I can’t wait to get out there and wild camp again.

Mark

Sounds like you enjoyed yourself Mark. I enjoyed your report. Here's my solutions to some of the issues you had, and they work for me.
I've painted my thin Ti stakes with a bright colour so i don't lose them.
A MSR Blizzard Stake makes a good toilet trowel.
I carry my porridge in a ziplock Tesco freezer bag. Simply pour the boiling water in, and wrap in a cozy to keep warm. The porridge cooks itself. No dirty pot to wash.
Carry a square of tinfoil for under the stove to stop burning the ground, and reflect the heat back up into the cone.
Synthetic bags are notoriously over-rated temp wise.

Nice trip report Mark. It made me chuckle, but also reminded me that just because you haven't time for a long walk doesn't mean you can't enjoy a wild camp. Thinking about that I couldn't see myself turning up at a campsite simply to camp, which just goes to show to all those folks out there who haven't camped wild how much more it has to offer on an occasion such as you describe.

I've camped at Derry Lodge a couple of times. One of them similar to your experience of arriving at dusk. It was actually the last remnants of an overcast day when I camped there the last time. There were lots of other campers there, and I wanted to be alone so had to compromise on my pitch. Despite being far from the river I was immediately set upon by the thickest clouds of midges I'd ever encountered. Each time I stooped to place a peg in the low light my face would descend through masses of them. All in all it was a case of pitching fast, and hiding away in the inner. I don't think I cooked. The following evening I moved the tent, but it was just as bad. Strangely I don't remember any midges on the first occasion, which would have been summer too.