Hi Brian,
I went through the area today and as you say, I was on the road without seeing any signs. Have to say, the road surfaces all seem to have deteriorated since last year. Seem to be much more rocky from water damage.
Think a change of route is called for in future.
Regards, Scott

You must be well ahead of the pack Scott, don't normally expect to see challengers this way until the Tuesday/Wednesday.

Yes, unfortunately I had to get back to work as we are going on a family holiday this Friday. Due to my daughter starting an internship on the 10th June, we had to pull it forward a week which meant I only had 10 days for the crossing.
Feet and knees are tender today after all the rocky paths yesterday!

Talking to challengers who dropped in for a cuppa or who I met out and about it seems that despite my best efforts folks got caught out by "No unauthorised access" signs in the Fetteresso. From what I can gather not only was there the closure on the south side of the forest that I knew about but also a closure on the north side that Forestry & Land Scotland didn't tell me about. At least one person on the social hiking map took a big detour because of the closures. There were obviously more.
Could anyone who came across closed routes in the Fetteresso please give me the details?

Well, thanks to you Brian (and comments from others) I gave it a miss.

Greatly appreciated your input on this. Thank you.

Oh that's a shame Ed! I walked straight through more or less as planned with no hinderance at all from forestry works. I entered south of Bridge of Dye and exited at Mergie, then walked to Stonehaven rather than camping purely due to not wanting to deal with my wet tent and finished a day early. Saw noone but half a dozen other Challengers and a horse rider!

Dammit :upside_down_face:

I was surprised to learn that very few challengers had heard about my guide, routes & other info. Obviously the message had not been passed on.
At least one group were caught out by the "Footbridge" at Heatheryhaugh which is a locked cage and wire contraption. Another showed me a plot of where they had been in the forest and it was like a fly caught in a jam jar.

There's always the next time, Ed! This year I walked straight through the forest from the north - coming from Strachan - with no troubles whastoever, as did a couple of other folk that Monday evening/Tuesday morning. Simples!