Culbin Forest with Tara and Kacey pt 2

I laid up in the overcab bed, snug as a bug, I could hear the couple in the tent chatting away, I think the guy was a little drunk as he seemed incoherant at times, after a while they quitened down, it was black outside, pitch black no noise, I thought I would be terrified but suprisingly I was not. I slept well, a deep sleep, something I havent experienced in years.
I was up at 6 30 washed shaved by 7 dressed just after,I took Tara for a short walk to relieve herself which she did, a funny thing about cleaning up after your dog, there were notices around saying if your dog goes to toilet flick it into the trees with a stick, I carried doggie bags with me and use them all the time, but using a stick, it didnt seem right to me, but I did wonder about it, no wonder the Scots guys make good golfers, i can see where they get their practice in. They had a good selection of sticks from a nine stick to a putting stick hmmmm makes you wonder does is not.
We arrived back to where Kacey wwas parked. fixed breakfast and washed up put fresh water in Taras bowl, got the map out and decided to go for a two hour walk, to look at a veiwing tower where you can look over the forest to the Moray firth and thecoast.
I packed a day sack with a few odds and ends like a sweater in case it got cold, I had waterproof trousers in there in case it rains and a light waterproof jacket too.
Also I had a walkers Sat Nav an etreck I have had for a few years now and after I learnt to use it I did rely on it too much at times. I find it usefull, you put a waypoint in by setting up the Sat Nav to the waypoint menu and every time you came to a change in the route or a cross roads you pressed a button and it marked a waypoint with a number into the memory.
Once you have a number of waypoints in the memory you can either set up a route or you can follow the waypoints back in a descending order to find your way back, when you do this a compass needle comes up and points you in the right direction, if you take a wrong turning the compass tell you are heading in the wrong direction. when you reach the next waypoint back it will show you the direction to the next waypoint etc until you get back to the first waypoint you set up
After I have used the Sat Nav I always clear the routes and waypoints when I pack it away so the next time I use it it is always ready for a fresh start.
I got the SatNav out of my rucksack I used last time, I put two spare batteries in my daysack to make sure the satNav does not run out of power. i reached for the bottle that I fill up with water if I am planning a long hike, changed my mind, I was only going for a couple of hours at the most and I had had plenty of liquid already that morning.
8 30am saturday morning dry and warm, daysack on my back Forest map in my lower pocket on my cargo trousers, Sat Nav in my pocket switched on waypoint menu up and running all I had to do was press the button for waypoint 1 in the memory this was my base camp waypoint, off we walked got to the start of my route pressed the button again, and this was the routine every time i reached a cross road or a change in route.
This was good, early morning start, air nice and fresh lots of new smells for Tara to follow, we walked steadly along no rush, in the trees were huge piles of leaves and twigs which were wood ant nests, there were lots of them dotted about, we walked along nice and easy slightly uphill nothing strenous, after an hour i took the map out and followed the rout up to the highest point to where the lookout tower was, after a steady climb we reached the tower, there was a ramp that took you up towards the steps that took you to the top of the tower, we were doing ok until we reached the steps, Tara was not happy, I put her lead on and she was ok until we got halfway up then she stopped dead no she was determinned she was not going another step further.
I looked over the railings had a good veiw over the tops of the trees towards the Moray Firth. We set off back down again, when we reached the bottom I got the map out again and worked out another route back, when we got back we would have completed a circular route.
I marked the waypoint again and set off, the route along the path would lead us to the drogonfly pond, hmmm that might be interesting, we walked on nice and steady, suddenly i came across a sign pointing to the buried house, we headed towards this point of interest, once again marked the waypoint on SatNav. after half hour we reached the buried house, there was a notice there giving a breif history of the Culbin forest.
In the 17th Century this area was known as Culbin Sands it was an area full of shifting sand dunes it covered a very large area, one night a terrible storm blew up and the sands shifted inland burying anything in its path, the place we were standing in was a farm house buried by the sand all that remained was a chimney stack.
After the great storm it was decided to plant trees in the sands to stop the sands moving, thus this was how the forest was established over the years more trees grew naturely.
time to head back to the path we had come of to vist this place.
We walked back came to the path and followed the path to the Dragon fly pond, we reached the pond but could find no path out of it. I took the map out of my pocket looked again no it said there was a path out but we couldnt find it, time to retrace my steps, back we walked and came across another sign post which pointed to the dragon fly pond so off we went again, came back to where we had been before, still no path out, back we went again, found the sign post and decided to head back to the sign post pointing towards the carpark. we followed the route along marking each change of route with a way point.
As we walked along i realised we had been this way before, we arrived back to the buried village.
ok I will get the map out and try another route back.
I reached for the map, it had gone, it must have dropped it somewhere, no problem I would follow the SatNav back. I looked at the Satnav and found I had 50 waypoints on it, noway have I clicked in fifty waypoints thats impossible. I selected Waypoint 1 which was base camp, the compass came up mand said distance to base camp 76 miles, I checked again yes thats what it said, I tried waypoint 3 that told me that was 74 miles away. suddenly it hit me, I had not cleared the waypoints from my last walk, thats ok I will follow each waypoint back, a long and tedious route back. clicked on the last waypoint and followed that back to the deagon fly pond when i reached there I clicked on and back we went to the buried village again, when we got there it took us back to the the Dragonfly pond again, then back to the buried village again, right now I can follow the route back to the watch tower. I held the Satnav in my hand pressed the button, suddenly all the waypoints disapeared. I had deleted the lot in my panic. so now I had no map no Waypoints and I was totaly lost. I was feeling thirsty now, I checked my watch 1230 pm . We set off again, trying to find my way back by memory, Every tree looked the same on we walked, after a whle we were back at the buried farm house again. We had walked in a complete circuit, now I was in Panic mode I was extremely thirsty, feeling dizzy, Tara was good tho she found water to drink in puddles left by the last rain of a few days ago.
We spotted a couple out walking, I asked them for directions to the car park, they said they werent sure but they believed it was back the way they had come. I asked if they had a spare map, no they replied they didnt have one.