Restoring Spirits in Glen Feshie

Some places are special, guaranteed to raise my spirits and remind me that there are good things in this world. Glen Feshie in the Cairngorms is one of those places and a visit always raises my spirits. With a seeming torrent of bad news recently, both local, national and international, - the slaughter of raptors and mountain hares, the increase in bulldozed roads in the hills, the debacle of Brexit, onrushing climate change – I felt a need to seek solace in the forest and spend a night listening to the sounds of the wind in the trees and the river hurrying over its stony bed. 

The weather was not conducive to venturing high in the hills. Thick clouds covering the tops and a roaring wind made staying in the glen seem both attractive and wise. Brief glimpses of the hills were all I had as I walked through the woods and beside the silvery river. The water was low. It’s been a dry year. The side streams pouring into the Feshie could all be crossed with no danger of my feet getting wet. They were more stones than water.

I camped amongst ancient pines and junipers below ragged craggy hillsides that vanished into the clouds. A splendid spot. The wind in the trees surged and boomed. The night was black. No stars, no moon, just dense nothingness, impenetrable and empty. The wind woke me a couple of times, then rain just before dawn. I was warm, comfortable and relaxed though. The hours of darkness passed surprisingly quickly – preparing food, writing my journal, reading, staring at the wind-shaken silhouettes of the trees, sleeping. 

Soon after dawn the rain ceased. I wandered down to look at the river and admire the many young trees appearing everywhere. Glen Feshie is beautiful but this returning forest makes it especially magical. This is what wild Scotland should be like.

The wind was increasing in strength and the clouds dropping down the mountainsides so after making a couple of very short videos, which you can see in my last two posts, I walked back down the glen, refreshed and content. A short trip, but very worthwhile. Yet again the natural world had restored my equilibrium.