Unlike those who chose their bothy on the west coast, Ian, Dom , John and myself had a great rain-free evening/day in the Southern Cairgorms. ......we were even luckily enough to see a young Merlin and a pair of golden eagles - which flew within about 20m of our heads.
We set off late Saturday afternoon and, after much deliberation, decided to go for Bob Scotts bothy. After stupidly forgetting to buy coal on the way up we arrived in Braemar to find that the garage was closed and nowhere else sold coal. Luckily, however, Ian had wasted enough of his childhood drinking in one of the nearby hotels to know the owner - who kindly supplied us with a pile of wood.
Young Merlin at the side of the road driving down to Linn of Dee…
With our ruckacs full of wood and booze John, Ian and I cycled in to the bothy......with Dom following close behind on foot. Surprisingly, we had the bothy to ourselves and had a pleasant evening by the fire...... well almost to ourselves, until we had an unexpected visit from a policeman with a huge torch at about 1am. It seems they were looking for two ladies who were lost on the hills
Sat night in the bothy…
Looking back to the bothy from the path…
Unlike him, Dom left the bothy at 7.30pm on his personal mission to back 3 of the hills to the east of the bothy. The rest of us had a slightly longer lie in before cycling back out to the car, dumping our unwanted gear and cycling down Glen Dee to do Beinn Bhrotain and Monadh Mor.
John cycling down the glen…
John just before he got his feet wet…
After dumping our bikes we walked further up Glen Dee to the Devils point. From there we walked up a very boggy yet beautiful Glen Geussachan…
John and Ian covered in mud at the top of Glen Geussachan…
John and Ian walking off Beinn Bhrotain on the way back down to the bikes...
I'm a bit confused...3 munros east of Bob Scott's 
Graeme, we never did find out what happened to the two girls but did see what looked like a few big groups of walkers in the glen. Possibly mountain rescue?
.