Last Adventure with Bloxham School
When reflecting on my life so far, I see these transition points where one chapter closes and another begins. The summer of 1997 captured that feeling perfectly for me. One chapter was ending, and another was about to start. Fresh from A-level exams, I joined a group from Bloxham School on a trip to the Cairngorms, Scotland’s high plateau wilderness. This would be my final school trip, a turning point before stepping into the next stage of life. Before that, there were plenty of summits to conquer, dinners to cook, and some midges to endure.
Sunday, July 6: Black Tie to Braemar
Summer is sometimes about extremes. In my case, that meant attending a black-tie event at a friend’s house, Iain’s, one night and then both walking over to school the next morning with a rucksack in tow. We piled into a minibus, shared with another group from Radley School, and spent the entire day traveling north to the Braemar Scottish Youth Hostels Association (SYHA) hostel. By the time we arrived, evening had set in although that did not stop Hedley, Iain, and me from grabbing a takeaway and heading to the local pub for a quick pint. The late-night map session back at the hostel was more relaxed than frantic. With a blocking high promised, we eagerly anticipated sunshine and minimal rain.
Monday, July 7: Into the Heart of the Cairngorms
The next morning, I woke up in my sleeping bag feeling like I had been teleported to a sauna. The sun was already beating down on the dorm windows. Our Bloxham group hopped on the bus to the end of the road, ready to begin a proper multi-day journey into the Cairngorms.
By midday, we had reached the MBA bothy of Corrour, located in the Lairig Ghru, an ancient right of way between Deeside and Speyside. The Mountain Bothies Association (MBA) shelter nestled in a remote corrie. Inside, we spotted a couple of daypacks from Glenmore Lodge, belonging to a pair of female mountaineers descending from higher up. Hedley and I ran up to scout a possible campsite, found it perfect, and soon enough, tents were pitched, brews boiled, and the day’s sweat was replaced with contented relaxation.
Some of us scrambled up the backside of the corrie to Devil’s Point, then descended via a rocky route to rejoin the group for dinner. On the menu was risotto, with a bottle of white wine “strictly” for cooking purposes, though the rest did not exactly go to waste. We turned in early.
Tuesday, July 8: Snow in July and the Ben Macdui Bonus
I had heard rumors about pockets of July snow in the Cairngorms, but nothing compared to seeing it for myself. We set off at seven in the morning under yet another blazing sun, daypacks loaded for a big outing.
Cairn Toul to Angel’s Peak to Braeriach
This ridgeline walk linked some of the Cairngorms’ highest peaks, including Cairn Toul, Angel’s Peak, also known as Sgòr an Lochain Uaine, and Braeriach. The weather remained crystal clear. The group paused for a photo on a small patch of lingering snow. It is hard to imagine now, given how the climate has shifted over the years, but back then, we stood marveling at a mini winter scene in the middle of summer.
Ben Macdui Detour
Upon descending to a path below the mountain, a small subgroup consisting of Georg, Hedley, Polly, and me decided to scramble up Ben Macdui, Scotland’s second-highest peak, via an unconventional and unmarked route. We gained around two thousand feet of steep ascent, then jogged across the plateau to reach the summit an hour after leaving the valley path. By the time we rejoined the main group in our corrie camp, we were thoroughly spent and ready for a well-earned evening meal.
Wednesday, July 9: Another Go at Ben Macdui and Derry Cairngorm
We had been joined at our little wild camping spot by a couple in a micro tent. We broke camp around nine-forty in the morning, descending the valley we soon arrived back at Corrour Bothy, continued past the bothy and up Ben Macdui for the second day in a row, this time via the standard footpath.
Most people wisely ditched their backpacks for the final fifty meters of ascent. Hedley and I, in a burst of questionable bravado, insisted on carrying ours to the very top. We soon learned the definition of pointless extra effort, but bragging rights are bragging rights.
After lunch, we aimed for a new campsite near a high mountain lake. Sheltering our tents from the punishing sun, we brewed tea before a small group, including Hedley, Polly, myself and our teachers Georg, Steve and Chris Fletcher Campbell, trudged up Derry Cairngorm and returned in time for dinner. Cooking pasta with dried vegetables on a single small pan taught us an important lesson. Next time, we would bring bigger cookware or some plates. The evening ended with us soaking our feet in the lake, watching RAF helicopters thunder overhead.
Thursday, July 10: Shelter Stone and Crowds on Cairngorm
Day four dawned and we hiked light to the Shelter Stone, a famous rock outcrop near the lake that functions as a bothy. Its cavernous interior is accessible only through a relatively small entrance.
Crossing the plateau, we made for Cairngorm itself, where the summit was buzzing with day-trippers. A short detour took us to the top of the ski lift for a glorious can of cold Coke. It was a surreal but welcome modern convenience in this otherwise remote landscape. From there, we angled back over Cairn Lochan and down past Ben Macdui again, returning to our campsite for a final brew.
We struck camp and descended to Derry Lodge, a lower-altitude spot near trees and, inevitably, swarms of midges. That evening, we discovered that a million tiny insects can unravel even the best-laid plans for a leisurely dinner.
Friday, July 11: Escape and Reflection
By Friday, our motivation to leave camp early had reached an all-time high thanks to the midges. We marched down the track to meet the minibus, midges swirling in our wake. Back at Braemar SYHA, we indulged in a much-needed shower and hearty meal while CFC retrieved the Radley group. Then it was the long journey south to Bloxham School, with a pit stop at Iain’s house for one last feast before Dad picked me up.
Reflections and the Next Chapter
Looking back at my diary from this trip, I could not shake the feeling that this was an inflection point. It marked the transition between leaving school and stepping into a wider world. This was my last big outing under the Bloxham School banner, but it also provided a glimpse of what lay ahead. Slow, long adventures across rugged terrain, a budding passion for fell running, originally sparked by cross-country training to dodge team sports, and the foundation of fitness that would later shape multi-day trips across Knoydart, Jura, and beyond.
Standing on these summits, including Ben Macdui, Cairn Toul, Braeriach, and Derry Cairngorm, I felt the mountains whispering their age-old invitation to keep going, keep exploring, and keep pushing. This summer was not over yet, and neither was my hunger for new adventures. A Mountain Leader course loomed on the horizon, followed by a trip to Jura with an old school friend. In the autumn I would join Warwick University Mountaineering Club to learn the ropes of rock climbing.
Sometimes, the best adventures are the ones that mark life’s transitions. Here’s to the Cairngorms of July 1997, scorching days, pockets of snow in summer, and the promise of new directions just around the corner.