Walking in the dark or early morning

[tanoid]

Next week I have a week off from work and i'm heading up to hometown of Elgin, however I will be occupied for most parts of the day and therefore not have a lot of opportunity to go out walking in the light. I will have some time in the morning before 9 or10 and was thinking about doing some really early walks - possibly starting before sunrise. In particular an early walk up Ben Rinnes where i'd reach the summit as the sun is coiming up is very tempting. The route is an easy one along a maintained path for the most part, so I don't anticipate too many problems navigation wise, particularly as it will be gradually getting lighter as i ascend.

Does anyone have any advice or tips for walking in the dark or in low level light?

[scoob999]

My advice would be take your time and dont PANIC
To be honest i really enjoy getting the head torch on now, and when you get into walking with it, it adds to the adventure
Take care and enjoy

[Slogger]

Ive done lots of night walking, out of neccesity when doing daily high mileage trips.
Always be sure the batteries in your light source are fully charged and carry spares.
Be sure of your route beforehand and make a special note of path junctions etc where you could go wrong.
You need to be more alert than during daytime, but otherwise it's just walking with less visiblity and nowhere near as spooky as walking in a whiteout.
Dave.

[Louise]

An early morning trip up Ben Rinnes would be well worth it if you get the weather - usually very quiet mid week especially if you nip up early morning.

Enjoy

[Kevin29035]

I think that the range of a headtorch in the dark is similar to the visibility you get in mist, so kind of like walking in mist all the time. But what an experience. Recommended. I felt it important for myself to keep escape routes open at first, like have a bearing you can always take to get back to the road by, kind of thing. It comforting if nothing else. And if the stars are out (it's one great glowing hemisphere from the hill tops) then you'll get a reliable compass through the North Star. Not to mention the satellites and meteors, and then there's the moon, sunrises, city glow (you might be surprised) ....... some experience, very surreal and beautiful. I'm never bothered by high winds on hills, but there's something about dark winds in the night that get me. Anyone else or just me??

[Graeme D]

Walking in the dark, either before first light or after nightfall, is one of the real pleasures of hill walking, although you have to be a bit more careful with route choice. I wouldn't want to be up on any exposed ridges in these conditions, but otherwise I love it. It really adds to the feeling of freedom. One of my walking highlights of 2011 was little Dumyat which I descended in the dark after watching nightfall from the summit. A 2010 highlight was ascending the Graham Creag a' Mhadaidh from Duinish bothy in the dark of a predawn Sunday morning in November. In fact, I have a wee night walk in the Ochils scheduled for one night next week. Cannae wait!

[Boulderdash]

Love walking at night but not too keen on those warewolves that continually circle me just on the periphery of my headtorch! Spooooky!

[scoob999]

Love walking at night but not too keen on those warewolves that continually circle me just on the periphery of my headtorch! Spooooky!

I thought the Bears had ate all the wolves
Looks like i'm gonna have to rethink night walks!

[tanoid]

cheers for the tips. spare batteries are a good shout. getting really excited about this now, all i need is for the weather to be kind enough next week. I'll be sure to keep a watchful eye out look out for all the bears, but i had heard the wild cats had eaten all of them too...

[Border Reiver]

In terrain I wasn't familiar with, I'd need a headtorch if it was dark, but when I lived in the country I used to walk my dog around the fields in the dark and it's amazing how much you can actually see if you give your eyes time to adjust. On moonlight nights, it's almost as good as daylight. I nearly came undone one really dark night....I'd walked for about a mile and was nearly back home when I suddenly stopped dead, sensing there was something there. I crouched down and looked up towards the sky and saw the outline of a huge black cow, just a few metres ahead of me. Walking in total darkness on home ground doesn't bother me, but once I took my cousin from Liverpool with me on a dark night when I walked the dog and he was totally freaked out after a few hundred yards - he was imagining all kinds of ferocious animals hiding behind every bush, waiting to pounce on him.

[basscadet]

I'm never bothered by high winds on hills, but there's something about dark winds in the night that get me. Anyone else or just me??

Me in all

I can never decide if its better to use a headtorch or not.. Some nights can be really bright once your night vision kicks in (takes about 1/2 hour) but any white light will kill your night vision, and you are back to square 1.. A red torch doesn't affect your night vision (although is never quite as bright), so I have altered one of my torches to red using a quality street strawberry cream wrapper The trouble with red light though, is when you come to read your map, you cant see any of the contour lines so for this I use a white light, but shut one eye when I am using it, then most of your night vision is maintained..
I've got another dark walk planned to a bothy on friday night, so here's hoping for cloudless skies. Hope you enjoy Ben Rinnes, it really is a gem

[tanoid]

my head torch can switch to red, so perhaps i'll give that a go. looks like it will be 3/4 to 1/2 moon next week, so i might get a bit of help from the moon.

[jester]

Some headtorches can be quite fiddly when it comes to changing batteries. I just carry a spare headtorch. They weigh little anyway, it's easier than trying to change batteries in the dark.

[xpfloyd]

Me and my mate (gman27 on here) done Beinn Dorain a few weeks back and headed off from the car at 5:30am in pitch blackness with headtorches. By the time we were 2/3 of the way up it was light enough to switch the torches off (although still darkish). It was our first time doing this and it was really enjoyable. It brought a whole new dynamic to it. Would definately do it again.

PS - We had already been up the path previously to do the munro beside Dorain so we knew there were no major hazards, cliffs etc

Eddie