A long walk uphill. We wanted to put some miles behind us, to make up for the lost time on Tuesday. It's a beautiful valley, leading to a pass between Ben Alder and Geal-charn.

The peaks were snow-capped, but the lower reaches were mainly wet heather. Occasionally, we encountered a small patch of hardened, ablated snow in a sheltered hollow.

The Uisge Labhair lessened its spate as we ascended, until we were able to wade across to pick up a well-maintained path that would take us over the col.

The wind freshened (to say the least) as we approached the col. Luckily, it was behind us, but it was extremely difficult to remain upright. So we were unable to linger and examine the wreckage of what looked like an old aeroplane.

The path down Bealach Dubh was well maintained, and a pleasure to walk. We made good time, stopping only occasionally to admire the views appearing and disappearing in the mists.

Throughout the journey, we had occasional glimpses of deer, usually at some distance, but occasionally from fairly close. They moved in some quite large herds.

At a surprisingly early hour, we came upon Culra Bothy. We were pleasantly surprised to find such a well-maintained bothy, and are extremely grateful to the Mountain Bothies Association for its upkeep. We reckoned that although it might be possible to get as far as Dalwhinnie that night, it made good sense to bed down here for the night. The bothy guestbook showed that it had been used earlier in the week, but we had it to ourselves. We chose the smallest room as the easiest to keep warm - but by gum it was draughty! A very comfortable, dry night, despite the attentions of a small rodent trying to gnaw through our custom draughtproofing.