A couple of questions.
1. I can't find Slack Den on any maps, or Google. Where is the wild camp site?
2. Right now it looks like I'm walking down the Water of Dye to the B974 at NO 647 844. Where would be the best place to enter the forest? (I know of the 'trudge over peaty grouse moor', just wondering if there's a better way).
3. Does anybody know of a good wild camp site still in the forest, but close to Stonehaven?

Hi Ulla
Slack Den is a feature at roughly NO 668 792 on the OS 1:50,000 map, just NE of Clatterin' Brig.
I went through the Fetteresso in 2016 and there were several of us passed a very pleasant last wildcamp at roughly NO 764 873 before heading into Stonehaven or Dunnottar Castle the next day.

Hi Louise, and thank you!
Slack Den is too far south of my route then. Too bad, it sounded like a nice, social spot! The other camp site looks nice, and there seems to be water close by as well =) If I can't find anything further east, that's a great place!

The area around the bridge over the Cowie as suggested by Louise is a frequently used site by TGO challengers, mostly on the north side of the Cowie to the east of the Bridge where there is a wide grassy area. Alternatively, if you don't mind carrying your water a couple of hundred metres there is a grassy clearing under a big old beech tree in front of an abandoned building at NO 76443 87177. This is legend has it, an old inn that was on the Cryne Corse Drovers route. Unfortunately the supply of beer is now somewhat restricted. The number of camping opportunities are restricted further east towards Stoney, in my route notes I was looking for potential camping areas in that direction. There is an old sand quarry at NO 76420 86547 which has good pitching but no running freshwater. There is a flat grassy area near the Quithel car park at NO 77357 85680 but again you would have to carry water in.

The only other place that I can suggest if you really want to get within sight of Stoney is to collect water at NO 80283 86193 and then go a few hundred metres to a clearing for a gas pipeline at NO 80567 86212 which has a flat grassy area. I reasoned that anyone getting that close within the scent of the pubs and fleshpots of Stonehaven wouldn't be able to resist the last few miles.

NB AN IMPORTANT SAFETY ISSUE....I think a lot of TGO challengers are tempted to leave the forest using the track along the Cowie, past Stonehouse and through Mergie Stables. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the route, it is a pleasant track that I walk the dog along regularly, the issue is that once you get to the road at Mergie you are faced with walking along the narrow, windy single track road towards Swanley and Stonehaven. I seriously do not recommend anyone walk along that road, I have had a few near misses with oncoming vehicles travelling too fast and cyclists, horses and walkers suddenly appearing round a blind bend. If you want to see what I mean drive along it using Google Streetview. I recommend that you stay in the forest until the eastern end or if you really do want to get out of the forest early head to the south side of the forest and the Stonehaven to Auchenblae road. It is a busier two lane road but much safer to walk along as, apart from one exception near Tewel, there are no blind bends and good visibility between you and drivers.

If anyone needs a copy of my route notes pleas email me.

There is a big area of really good potential camping in Slack Den. As mentioned above it is further south than most challengers travel at the moment but it could easily become a social point if people are aware of it, especially as the Clatterin' Brig café is so close.

I've finally found a way of sharing the route....
http://www.keepandshare.com/doc9/view.php?id=19252&da=y

Howdi Brian
You got a logon for that baby?

Rats. I thought that it would be public access. Didn't realise that there was a tiny little box to tick. Please try again

Great work Brian, sir. Appreciate that, thank-you

An update...the council have done some work clearing the forest of broom and gorse along the road from Mergie towards Stonehaven in order to improve visibility. Although it is an improvement, giving walkers somewhere to jump if a car flies round a bend, the road remains highly unsuitable for walkers as it is still a narrow single track road with tight blind bends and summits.

I've been warned about chemicals in the water due to the forestry work. I have a katadyn water filter, but this doesn't remove chemicals as far as I know. I will be in the forest too long to carry all the water I need. How do challengers usually treat their water in the forest?

Ulla,
The forestry work can make the water supply quite peaty in places, it isn't synthetic chemicals but rather the stuff that is used to make whisky so wonderful. Having said that it can be very overpowering in your coffee. A water filter should remove most of the peat. I wouldn't recommend using any water that was really cloudy though as even if your filter removes the solids, the peaty taste remains.

Something to consider though, and I guess this is relevant to all wild camping, is a controversy regarding the contamination of public drinking water supplies south of Glasgow as a result of construction of the giant Whitelee windfarm. Large amounts of organic material caused by peat disturbance ended up in the reservoir. The main issue was that the routine treatment of the water with chlorine resulted in nasty (carcinogenic) by-products caused by the reaction of chlorine and organic material including trihalomethanes. http://www.windsofjustice.org.uk/2014/08/169/

The obvious question to be asked is "does this also happen when peaty water is treated with chlorine based water sterilising tablets?"

Specifically, regarding your question, the major streams like the Bervie and Cowie tend to be fairly clear, but can be affected if there has been a lot of rainfall and peat disturbance. I was walking up the Bervie from Corsebald the other day and it was crystal clear.

Whereabouts are you thinking of camping?

If you plan on camping at the frequently used site at Cowie Bridge NO 76453 87384 take note that you are close to the confluence of the Cowie Water and the Finglennie Burn NO 76415 87293 which has a smaller and different catchment area to the Cowie. If the Cowie is peaty the smaller burn might be running clearer. As far as I know there isn't any logging work going on near the Finglennie. There was some going on but it finished last year. There is also a small local burn, Queel Burn entering the Cowie from the Southeast at NO 76513 87392, again with a totally different and smaller catchment area.

I'm not to up to date with the North side of the forest but I do know that there has been an awful lot of logging work going on around Burn of Sheeoch for a good while now. See my comments on this thread on 25th Feb. I recommend that anyone planning on going that way contact the landowners and check that access is open. It was still closed the last time I was in those parts.

I bow to your superior knowledge Brian, but I have to say Laura and I walked that route two years ago and and had no problems, a very pleasant stroll in fact :thinking_face:

Yea me too, Louise. I must've gone through the Fetteresso some dozen times with multiple variants. Never a problem with water or navigation. It's a lovely easy finish with only a couple of km track/minor road walk to the coast at the very end. Followed by ice-cream yum yum. No sweat.

Louise,
the logging around Burn of Sheeoch has been going on since last summer. Prior to that they were clearing the area closer to the Cryne Corse Road up to the TV mast.

I mention the peaty water because last May I met Darren Long who stopped for a brew on his way past. He told me that the water in the Cowie was cloudy. I know that it can be.

Logging is always a pain in forestry, but I meant to refer to the walk on exiting from Mergie and the road walk via Snob Cottage? We rather enjoyed the easy stroll, no traffic to speak of.

Well everyone on the TGOC is over 18 and able to make their own decisions Louise, but I wouldn't be happy walking along that road myself. I have neighbours round here who refuse point blank to drive along it, preferring to drive into Stonehaven and out along the Slug Road to get to Banchory etc.
The recent work on the thick wall of gorse and broom that lined both sides has improved things a bit, giving pedestrians somewhere to dive to when a car comes flying road a blind bend, but in my opinion it still isn't a good choice, especially since safe alternatives exist staying in the forest. If anyone really doesn't want to stay in the forest, I really recommend coming out onto the road on the South Side which despite being a busier road, is much safer for pedestrians and cyclists. They can also drop in on my place for a cuppa on the way past as well.

I wouldn't like to think of someone getting hurt walking along the Swanley to Mergie Road when I had not made them aware of the risk.

Which way are you going to dive?





Images from Google Streetview

Not doubting your superior local knowledge at all Brian.