Day 44 – At Braemar
Tuesday 8th June
‘Who is the third that walks beside you? When I count, there are only you and I together.’
TS Eliot – The Wasteland
In these hills, a giant, yeti-like creature, stalks the hillside, often in conditions of mist and snow. He is known as the Big Grey Man of Ben Macdui.
I was keen to meet him, but restricted with the ankle problem I had to make do with a bike ride to the south of the massif, along the River Dee, and up Gethie Burn to Gethie Lodge.
My interest in the Big Grey Man had piqued after reading about him, and listening to a story on the BBC (link below).
In 1925, Professor J. Norman Collie, a man of science, addressed the Cairngorm Club, which is the oldest surviving climbing club (formed in 1887).
“Every few steps I heard a crunch, then another crunch as if someone was walking after me but taking steps three or four times the length of my own. I said to myself ‘this is all nonsense’. I listened and heard it again but could see nothing in the mist. As I walked on and the eerie crunch, crunch sounded behind me I was seized with terror and took to my heels, staggering blindly among the boulders for four or five miles nearly down to Rothiemurchus Forest. Whatever you make of it I do not know, but there is something very queer about the top of Ben Macdui and I will not go back there again by myself I know.”
I took a campsite for a night to get a shower that I could wash a few clothes in, fill up with water, and get rid of my used stuff. It was a reminder as to why being off sites is so much preferable. During these difficult times for many in the pandemic, just a few are in their element. Making rules, writing signs, and enforcing them are what such people thrive on – and the staff at Braemar Campsite are firmly in that category. To an extent, society has had to do what it has been told during the last year and a bit, though many, and I include myself, really don’t like it, but realise that for just a short while, it is to everyone’s benefit. I had always feared that certain organisations would go over the top; those police in Derbyshire who fined two walkers for carrying coffee, telling them it constituted a picnic, and the ridiculous rules at this site.
Those tents or vans without their own showers and toilets are the only ones who can use the bathroom facilities. Vans are inspected (..searched..) on arrival. Many campers aren’t happy. These are not the Council’s guidelines, just the site. There is a code for the doors in the bathrooms, and the rule has led to blackmarket trading and exchange of the code between campers. Their Facebook page shows the many complaints and cancellations.
Around the site everyone must walk to the left. One warning if you don’t, then you’re asked to leave. Children must play only in a special sealed-off area. Standing and talking is only permitted on your pitch. Vans must be parallel to the grass verge on the far right of their pitch. Security patrols to correct errant vans parked askew. There are many other pointless regulations. I’ve personally traded the bathroom code for a cycling map of Linn of Dee.
Back to the Big Grey Man.. if you like a hybrid of genres in your stories, I can recommend this available of the BBC. It blends the supernatural of the Grey guy with a bit of science fiction, and is very well done..
Safe Return Doubtful 
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