Thanks so much Mike & Colin, great & helpful replies. Really looking forward to this section of our walk now, so will have everything crossed that the weather's kind to us this year! We'll take your advice on FWA , thank you. We've got alternatives for most days but if the weather is bad for days on end as it can be an alternative & more straightforward low level would make life underfoot much better!

I agree following the high level route all the way to Edzell would be great, and we'll definitely give it a go at some point in the future. Unfortunately our need to re-supply will mean we'll probably only do it to Braemar this year (& the pull of the Fife!! )

Thanks again for your responses - much appreciated.

Vicky
you will have to drop down to Gaick or there about then stay high most of the way

Thanks Keith, planning to pick up the path at the end of NN723 822 to the Allt Loch an Dun and using the Allt Gharbh Ghaig to once again to get back up high on the boundary. Hoping to find a nice pitch in the Gaick. Have you walked it?

Vicky, much of this was the original politically gerrymandered national park boundary, now corrected. As in much of the Grampians the higher the better, sparser vegetation making for easier going. It's one of the wildest places in Scotland; and there are FWAs along the Tarf and Feshie-Geldie. I was once so entranced in perfect weather there that I got completely los..; errr sorry, was temporarily unsure of my exact location.

Thanks John, I wasn't aware that was the original park boundary. We were similarly entranced last year up on the brothers ridge in Glen Shiel for about 100m of descent before realising we were following a path down the wrong shoulder!