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After a long break of about six months I finally managed to get back to the hills. The weather forecast was perfect across most of the country and I eventually plumped for these two given that it didn’t seem too long or taxing a day.
- One of the locals!
I arrived just before 8 and while it was a bit chilly it was lovely and clear. Seen the hairy locals in the field next to the lay-by and then started our walk past the farm and up the track.
- Start of the walk
The walk up the hydro track was excellent, a good gradient and not too hard. Following this for about an hour or so we reached the turn off to the hill path.
- Happy dogs!
The gradient here is much steeper and it was quite hard going, especially since I was out of practice! The dogs were of course having no problems and were well ahead of me. I took plenty of short breaks and after a tough hour we reached the bealach.
- Looking back down the Glen
The views back down the glen had been improving as we ascended and from the bealach we had excellent views in all directions. The clouds were just clear of the tops in most places.
- North from the Bealach
A short walk along the ridge and final ascent got us to the first summit of the day. Didn’t hang about too long here as it was pretty chilly. Dropped down and had a bite to eat.
Going back along the ridge we could see the down and up to the second summit of the day. Cer Witney looked quite steep!
The path up was pretty good, very rocky but not scree thankfully. I took my time as it was pretty steep in places but soon enough the summit was reached. There was more of a shelter cairn at this summit so we could hunker down and finish our lunch. The dogs wolfed down theirs as usual and then focused on mine
I hadn’t been looking forward to the descent and one runner I met was actually going back down the ascent route to avoid it. I didn’t fancy doing that as it would add a fair bit onto the day so decided to carry on with the descent as shown on the route guide.
It wasn’t particularly pleasant when it became steeper and was tough going for a while. I had Cassie on the lead at this point as she still has a curiosity for sheep. If I didn’t have to have her on the lead the descent would have been a bit easier but it’s still tough going with a lot of loose stone and soft ground. Reaching the track was a relief. As the guy behind me said “Thank **** that’s over!” I shared his sentiments
A good stroll back down the track to the car with no problems. Great to be back in the hills!
