What to eat on a TGO Challenge is basically a trade-off between weight , availability and cooking facilities.

As a solo walker, with a bad back, I will be trying to keep my pack weight down to 12 Kilos including 3 days food. As a pair obviously your weights limits will differ.

As I found last year starting from Mallaig, the availability of purchasing new supplies en route were very limited (almost nil) until I reached Fort Augustus. So what you carry will depend upon the cooking facilities you have with you. In my case I had just a simple stove and one pot to boil water to add to coffee, tea, packet soups / porridge and freeze dried or dehydrated packaged meals. I also had chocy bars and home made nut trail mix ( which did cost me 1 tooth but thats another story).

The Hotel at Invergarry does good meals and was a welcome break from my own cooking but I did not see anywhere to buy additional food ( as always I stand to be corrected ).

Fort Augustus had a good selection of normal foods but I did not see any freeze dried or dehydrated packaged meals. Lunches were not a problem as I was able to buy fresh rolls, cheese, tomatoes, more coffee etc. But luckily I did have some extra freeze dried meals for dinners so it was OK.

My next town was Braemar but due to my experience in Fort Augustus I had arranged for my wife to post up some more Freeze dried main meals. Again breakfast/lunch type foods were no problem.

My route after Braemar did not take me near any other towns until the coast.

At Tarfside again I saw no shops but you can get a meal at St Drostans or The Museum will deliver cooked meals to the campsite ( I know it sounds strange but you will see when you get there ) also The Museum does a great breakfast.

I bypassed Edzell and North Water Bridge so I can't comment but maybe someone else can advise.

Obviously as you pass through bigger towns pub meals, restaurants etc are great.

So therefore unless you are carrying a refrigerator and cooking range, breakfast and lunch won't be a problem but evening meals need planning.

However it's the 2 / 3 day gaps in between, West coast and Fort Augustus and Braemar or Ballater etc that need careful consideration.

A possible option would be to contact Outdoors Grub or Fuizion and get them to send up some meals to you c/o "Post Restante"at a major town you pass through (so long as its not a Sunday) then you collect it from the Post Office.

Well that was my experience last year as a first timer and I hope it helps.

Just take what you need.
Getting supplies is as much to do with WHEN you get there as what they have there.

Depending upon what time you get to Mallaig, you will be able to get supplies there.

Probably best to take enough for 4 days to get across to
Fort Augustus (assuming you are there when everything is open)
I use ready made eat in the bag meals from Outdoors Grub
Plus supplements such as Nuts, Raisins, Chocolate etc that I need for lunch.
Always worth having Cheese Gromit IMO.



Bread rolls squash down if you want something with substance.
And things like packet soups.

That is pretty much it Plus Whisky ... Must Have that for socialising

Some people dehydrate their own, but for me that is too big a Faff.

Further afield for Local supplies

Kingussie will have supplies and usually open late

Aviemore (not on your list) has HEAPS

Braemar is quite well stocked but basic stuff.
It is a hub, so a lot sells out quite quickly.

Tarfside has no shops, but you can eat at St Drostan's where they do meals every year.
But keep running out of BACON Grrrrr!
Beer at the Masons Arms later on.
You can also get food from The Retreat who do take out meals and deliver to the camp site. I suspect that may be Ray's Museum.

Edzell has several shops as you pass through and an especially good Pie shop, plus pubs, plus small Spa shop, plus great coffee shop for late breakfast/lunch.
You need to stock up here for Northwater Bridge if you are staying at the campsite because there is nothing there and nothing in between.

Andy

You're correct it is called The Retreat

But in defence of my addled memory it does have a Folk Museum attached which is what stuck in one of the two brain cells I have left.

Plus the fact I was too lazy to get the map out.

The other brain cell stored the information it served a cracking breakfast which was most welcome after too many dehydrated meals.

I usually carry enough dehydrated food for 3 or 4 days - and recently discovered this Lancashire-based company http://www.mountaintrails.org.uk/ who's food adds a bit of variety to the popular outdoorsgrub/fusion/adventure foods ranges and tends to be a bit cheaper than many others.
I think its a good idea to take one MRE boil-in-the bag meal just in case something disastrous happens to my stove, cos dehydrated food can be a bit crunchy when uncooked...
And, if there's a shop, don't forget that if you're only carrying stuff for an afternoon, there's good reasons to buy fresh food - cos its better, see...? So, Sausage mash and beans, a nice lump of steak with some bread... or whatever you fancy, really.
And a coffee and a bacon and tattie scone for elevenses by a bubbling burn of red water with the larks singing socks steaming gently in the brief burst of warm and golden sunlight.... ooer......
If you can't get pasta and noodles and the usual sauces and cheese etc, I've been know to take a tin of curry and one of those Colonel Bogey (or whatever his name is) fried rice/posh rice (sorry to be technical here..) It doesn't actually weigh all that much, really.

Mike

I did notice on a Bla Band dehydrated meal that it can be made with COLD water (leave for 30 mins) but how desperate would you have to be to eat it !

On a minor digression I do remember many many years ago when I first started wandering the hills of Scotland looking for Nirvana ( and I don't mean Kurt Cobains gang either ).

I arrived at a camping spot in a Monsoon , drenched to the skin, ran out gas (luckily, as I was trying to cook inside the tent ) and all I had to eat was a tin of potatoes and a tin of Tikka Masala. Worst meal I have ever eaten. Never touched the stuff since.

Mike, you are a genius! (That's likely the first and last time you'll ever be told that..) I stumbled across this website a while ago, made a mental note of it (rather than writing it down...) and couldn't fine my way back. Thank you!! Wwah!

Waaargh! Way to go, Pieman! I usually carry made-up bags of muesli and dried goats milk (I know, I know, dried goats can be curiously attractive after a few daze rufty-tufty. We take our pleasures where we can) - but I do like my porridge. And cleaning out the pot after a morning's scoff is cruel and unusual. I tried the Dutch porridge from Outdoors Grub. But it was a little, ah, Dutch . . . so will give these Mountain Trails dudes a go.

Normally I carry freeze-dried material for the evening meal - this year I've a relatively remote route, so will have around ten portions. But I do like getting fresh scran wherever possible. Keeps the scurvy at bay, me hearties. Fruit, a couple of decent steaks (butcher in Braemar is the biz), and you can't beat Tesco's dry-cured smoked bacon - none of that grisly white gloop that comes out when frying up the usual stuff with (*#harrumphs*) added water. Add in a potato farl in and yr in heaven.

For coffee I carry my famous and patented Greek Blend. Wizz up some coffee, icing sugar and cardamom into a fine dust. Then simply boil up the minimum quantity of water, bring back to the boil three times. Pure rocket fuel. For tea-drinkers I understand that Assam gives an equal hit.

But it's a big tent, and we all have different tastes. Some of which may not amuse the Daily Mail. I do like to take in a cafe, bar or restaurant when they present. And I do try to favour local enterprises. I can understand those amongst us who choose to mail re-supplies ahead - each to their own. I live in the Scottish Borders where we cherish our local stores, and do our best to support them.

Let the Guzzling begin!

Thank you all for such marvelous responses and keep them coming. It makes me chuckle to read and be reminded that we are two countries separated by a common language...

If Scotland was a cake it would be anicecake.Or a Fairycake.

Craig and Vicky -

There's lots of excellent advice here. I can't really add very much, because I have a whole stack of dietary intolerances which mean as a rule I have to rely on resupply parcels (wish I didn't; but that's the long and the short of it).

However, a couple of hints from my own experience:

1. Bear in mind that whilst dehydrated food is LIGHT, it is also only any use to you if you have a source of water and an ability to light a stove. I have had dry camps; and I have had camps where I didn't dare light the stove for fear I would set the mountain alight. Try to factor in something to eat on such occasions.

2. Also, sometimes, you end up pitching your tent in the howling wind and rain, and it never lets up all evening. No way would I ever take the risk of cooking in, or anywhere near my tent (not being too keen on having either carbon monoxide poisoning, or my tent burned to a frazzle half way across) so on such evenings, I can't cook my evening meal (unless I'm prepared to get wet). Having something that you can eat and enjoy without having to break out the stove is important. Back in 2004 (before my intolerances were discovered) I carried a couple of Wayfarer self-heating meal packs as an experiment. After a really hard day at high altitude, I just couldn't summon th eenergy to do anything more than collapse into my tent. Being able to set one of those meal packs to heat itself up, and have a nice hot meal ten minutes later, was absolute bliss!

3. Finally, do not underestimate the morale-boosting value of whatever your favourite gooey calorie-laden indulgence happens to be; and make sure you're carrying some of it. When the "path" on the map turns out to be a figment of the cartographer's imagination; your blistered feet are screaming at you with every step; the lactic acid build-up in your calf muscles makes every uphill step a pennance and you still have to lift yourself another 250 metres before you get to the downhill bit; the wind's in your face and the rain has found a way to drip down your neck; and you've just trodden on something which looked like land but turned out to be knee-deep water; you will REALLY need to just dump your pack, sit down for 5 minutes, and eat something really REALLY indulgent. On the Challenge, we call this "having fun" ...


Edited to add: do plan how you're going to pay for your purchases, too. People have been caught out in the past by thinking "I'll withdraw some money from the cash machine at Braemar", only to find that a whole load of other Challengers have beaten them to it and it has run out of cash to dispense ...

Spot on, Jeremy, specially the "having fun" bit. I think you could make that point 3 into a poem ....