Over The Hill

A very leisurely six weeks away from the hills has it’s drawbacks; namely lack of fitness on my return. So, rather than join the main group of walkers for the full Glen Striddle Horseshoe I decided to climb Beinn Dubh directly from Luss with the intention of meeting the group on the summit and returning to Luss with them. That way I would avoid the walk along the tarmac road through Glen Luss to Glenmollochan, the one section of the horseshoe I do not enjoy, but still get a good hill walk on my favourite “go to” hill.

A very slow, but steady pace saw me rising above Luss and into the low mist that was hanging around the upper levels of Beinn Dubh, misty, but at least dry and quite mild for the time of year, and great to be back on the hills again. I had a short rest around the 400m height to have a snack and a drink while gazing down over a very misty Loch Lomond before completing the final section through Creag an t-Seilich and onto the summit cairn, by which time visibility in the mist was extremely poor, poor enough that I was almost on the cairn before I saw it. Atop a hill once again was a fine feeling, even although I felt it had been hard going. However, I settled down to a lunch and coffee in the mist and to await the arrival of the main group from Mid Hill.

Fifteen minutes later and suddenly the mist began lifting and the sun broke through, wonderful. I waited a further fifteen minutes without any signs of the group, and was just about to set off on my return when they all appeared en-masse heading for the cairn. Greetings exchanged and it transpired that they had not had their lunch break yet, and so I settled back down for a furth thirty minutes to just enjoy the company and the increasing sun and clear skies as the mist finally cleared. Lunch over, and we all set off downhill for an easy stroll and return to Luss.

A very enjoyable day, back in the hills. Brilliant.