Yesterday's shot was taken standing at this point on Jock's Road and is about a third of the way through the walk.
On New Year's Day, 1959, 5 experienced hikers, of Glasgows' Universal Hiking Club, set off from Braemar to walk Jock's Road through to Glen Doll. They never made it. A ferocious winter storm hit them at a the head of Glen Callater, and all 5 were killed. Their bodies were retrieved gradually over the following months - the last one mid-April. Davy Glen, who found two of the bodies, built this emergency shelter in honour of the dead and called it 'Davy's Bourach'. A bourach being a 'crowd, group of cluster' or 'a disorderly heap or mess'. It is maintained and reasonably clean inside where there is enough room to sleep two or three inside (if in dire need ...). There is also a plaque on a boulder further on in memory of the 5 hikers. A sobering thought as you tramp the miles and wonder what was going through their minds as the weather turned on them.
@ludwigsdiana It's part of what I love about living here. I never appreciated it when I was young, but as I grow older, having lived abroad most of my adult life, I am re-appreciating our home area and all the history associated with it.
Gosh Issi, you do take us to extraordinary & wonderful places & your narrative is always so informative.. So sad the 5 were lost & great someone cared enough to build this shelter in the rocks.
How desperately sad Izzy. Their families must hate to think of how they suffered & what a brilliant shelter Davy built! It must make every walker think seriously how the weather might affect them.. that shelter is genius!
I remember reading about them or was it some other group that perished. I think there was a small boy who survived in that group. The English do like to do their hikes!
What a meaningful way to make good come out of such a tragedy. While it does look really small, it would be a welcome place of shelter if in need. Adding your friend in there really helps to show scale. Good shot!
(I am reading a book at present about a flood that occurred in our area in 1955. I am in the section which covers the most intense part of the flood and the deaths that happened and it's really hard to get through. The descriptions of those who saw others perish and the expressions on their faces are gut-wrenching, so I imagine those hikers experienced something very similar.)
What a story! I am sure the five of them would have been very happy to have found a place like this for shelter in a storm like that. It wouldn't have been comfortable all squeezed in together but they would have survived! A very interesting photograph. The red really stands out in the landscape.
@maggiemae I think that's another group you're thinking of Maggie ... the Nov 1971 tragedy in the Cairngorms where a group of 5 schoolchildren died on the hill, along with an instructor. Dad was part of the rescue of that group where only only child, Raymond Leslie, survived. It's referred to as the "Cairngorm Plateau Disaster' or 'The Feith Buidhe Disaster' and is still regarded as Britain's worst mountaineering tragedy. However, the Glen Doll tragedy must be a close second - biggest difference being, of course, that they were grown men making their own decisions. In Nov '79 it was a group of 15 & 16 year old schoolchildren.
Very interesting and sobering story. Even in this era of cell phones, which werenât available in 1959, the remote area and storm could still knock out any communication to potential rescue. I agree with Anne @olivetreeann that the inclusion of Jean in the shot adds perspective. What a meaningful way for Davy to memorialize those hikers.
(I am reading a book at present about a flood that occurred in our area in 1955. I am in the section which covers the most intense part of the flood and the deaths that happened and it's really hard to get through. The descriptions of those who saw others perish and the expressions on their faces are gut-wrenching, so I imagine those hikers experienced something very similar.)