In the company of trees

Whilst assessing a Duke of Edinburgh's Award team undertaking a venture through (and over) the Cairngorms I'd thought to camp high on the plateau after meeting the team.  The weather wasn't conducive to a high camp though, the evening brought evening lowering cloud and torrential rain after a bright day.

As the worst of the rain was forecast to pass through, I kept walking late into the evening to postpone the task of setting up camp and cooking in wet and midgy conditions.  Well after 10.30pm I found a good spot to camp in upper Glen Derry, put up the tent, cooked a quick meal and took a cup of hot chocolate inside.  In the half-light of a wet evening the surroundings were incidental, but in the early morning......

...things were quite different.  Woken by the calls of Crossbills and Siskins, I emerged from the tent into a sunny, breezy morning.  It's been a while since I camped in the pine forest here - too long.  I'd pitched on a patch of dry ground below a large Caledonian Pine, surrounded by a carpet of blaeberry.  The morning was filled with birdsong and the sound of the breeze in the tree canopy and the buzz of bees among the blaeberries.

As I'd walked further than intended on the previous evening I had plenty of time to sit with my back against the trunk of a pine and just enjoy a slow morning with several cups of tea. I left in the late morning, utterly refreshed by a wild camp in the company of trees.