Schiehallion

[Jmarr4]

My friend Alison from Inverness let me know she was coming to Edinburgh and had free time for us to do something. I hadn’t seen her in at least 18 months so I was really looking forward to seeing her. I asked her if she wanted to climb a hill and she said absolutely, but she had to get back to do some studying so we settled on Schiehallion as she’s done it before and said it’s a fairly quick day. We arranged to do it early in the morning, and kept an eye on the forecast in the lead up to the weekend. However, as time got closer she was starting to worry about her exam and asked if we could just go for a local walk and lunch then do some hills another time. No problem with me, I was really looking forward to seeing her no matter what we did. I figured though, that the time she wanted to be back at meant that I could still drive up, do the hill, drive back and be home at not too bad a time. So we went a wander in South Queensferry, made plans for me to go visit her in the Summer and we can do some hills closer to her while I’m up, made a plan for booking a guide for the Cuillins for next year, had lunch then said our goodbyes so she could go study and I hit the road. All in all, a very good day so far!

I arrived at Braes or Foss car park just before 1600 hours, and it was fairly busy but was starting to empty. I chatted briefly to the lady parked next to me and she mentioned it was snowing on the summit when she was up there! Thank goodness I brought my waterproofs! Quick trip to the toilet and paid my £2 parking charge then I changed my footwear (only had shoes at this point, Salomon X Ultra’s) and I started the climb. The path goes in various directions so had to use my first class navigation skills (can you sense my sarcasm?!) to make sure I didn’t do the little circular first! (ie, get my Komoot out and check the map)

It was a fairly busy path, yet I was the only one going up. I kept plodding away waiting for the renowned boulder field, psyching myself up for it. Some people said it was a nightmare, others said it was a breeze, so I didn’t really know what to expect! I guess one persons molehill is another persons mountain. There were a couple of light showers between sunny periods, but not enough to wrap up. Caught some lovely rainbows though!

Rainbow!

Some steps en route

When I got to the boulder field it seemed to go for ages! I took my time as my Salomons don’t have ankle support and I really didn’t want to go over on my ankle with no-one around. I kinda zig-zagged around trying to find the best route but in hindsight I could’ve just kept in one direction. a group of younger adults passed me on their descent with a boom box (do we still call them boom box’s?!), playing dance music very loudly and I had a little chuckle to myself. Living the dream.

Looking rather ominous up there!

Cracking views though!

This seemed to be my view for miles! 😂

I finally reached the summit and it was very, very windy! I kept myself low as I reached the cairn at the end. I took some pictures and had a bite to eat then FaceTimed the current Mr Jen. He was feeling a little under the weather so I wanted to see how he was doing. I took a wee screen shot of our call so he was at the top with me! 🥰 I thought it was funny! He warned me to watch my ankles on the descent so got my poles out and set off after taking a few pano pics (too big to attach to here apparently)

Made it!

Man, I swear that boulder field took me longer to descend than it did ascend! I bumped into a lovely lady and her dog as she was heading up. Had a brief chat with her then got back on my way again. Some sheep and their lambs had made their way to the path and were bleating at me as I got closer, they ran off and finally I could see the car park again. Got back to the car park around 2000 hours which consisted of only my car and the other lady’s. I quickly had some food and started the drive home. Once I made my way through Aberfeldy, I caught the sun and Schiehallion in my rear view mirror. I had to stop and capture it. Up ahead was a picnic area with viewpoint, so I stopped in there and took some pics. Gorgeous!

Sheeeeep!

Absolutely love this. Taken from a picnic view point on the way home after passing through Aberfeldy

Got home at 2200 hours and had a bath and some food then time for bed. An enjoyable day.