Broken Promises on Broad Law
Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 11:36 pm
Having established that we both had Thursday off work Jari and I decided another walk was in order.
He'd asked me where I fancied going and I said I wanted to go to the hills on the other side of Manor Valley because I'd not walked them before. His response to this was " Do you have use of a car?" to which I confirmed that I did indeed but only if Chenoa said I could have use of MY car.
The suggestion was that we drive to Megget Reservoir, a stunning setting that I know well, but only from the comfort of the air-conditioned cabin of MY Mondeo, and walk up Broad Law.
I told Chenoa ( fom a safe distance) that I needed the car on Thursday and arranged to pick up Jari at 6.15am.
Thursday morning came and I awoke with a start at 6.05am!! The alarm hadn't been set properly the previous night and had failed to raise me with it's raucous cry.
" I say Simon, that's dashed inconvenient" was not exactly what I said as I dived out of bed and hopped around trying to get dressed in record time.
A quick text to Jari expalaining that I'd be late and I finally picked him up at 6.45. It's a pleasent 45min drive round to Megget and we parked the car at a layby between Megget and Talla reservoirs.
During the drive to the start the weather and cloud formations were stunning. There were snow capped peaks all around, beatuifully framed against a brightening sky as the sun started it's daily journey over the hills. Jari was almost beside himself at the promise of some fantastic views and great photo opportunities.
Worryingly as we started the walk the clouds seemed to be gathering and hanging around the higher ground.
We started to climb immediately on setting out and I was soon huffing and puffing at the ascent. I normally like to get in at least a few hundred metres of flat work to get warmed up before starting any real gradient.
Jari tried to comfort me with the information that the gradient would become less and then it would be a steady climb to Broad Law.
As we gained height on Fans Law and Cairn Law it became very clear that we would be lucky to get any views from the summits today. We were rapidly approaching the cloud level and so snatched a couple of pictures whilst we could.
A few metres higher and the earlier promises were well and truly broken.
It's an easy navigation excercise on many of these hills even in poor visibility. Just follow the fenceline or wall to the summit. Broad Law is no exception and well before the trig point we were walking on frozen ground and snow.
It's remarkable that the view from the summit of Broad Law is exactly the same as the view from Ben Vane and from Ben Nevis.
The metalwork of the radar equipment and masts could be just seen in the mists so we made a brief visit to them and headed off towards Cramalt Craig.
The low ground between Broad Law and Cramalt Craig was just about at the same level as the cloudbase so we got a couple of tantalising glimpses of Megget and the hills on it's south side before we climbed back into the clag.
By now the sun was trying to burn away some of the cloud and as we reached the top of Cramalt Craig it felt as though all we had to do was put our hands up and they would be poking out above the clouds and into bright sunshine; teasing indeed.
The more ground that we covered up here the more it became apparent to me that this is country for winter walking. The ground was firm and supportive but it was obvious that after a heavy thaw it would be wet and thick mud. Very unpleasent in fact, especially as you cross the ground between the summits.
One more pull, up to Dun Law , and it was time to head down. We easily picked up the track that leads down alongside Cramalt Burn and once below the clouds we were able to finally get a few photos of the little stream as it heads to join the waters of Megget Reservoir.
The slopes of Green Cleuch were rising above us as we followed the track downwards. Air rising from the slopes was providing lift for a handsome Peregrine soaring about and occaisionally stooping as it spotted potential prey.
This walk down took us quite a while because we both kept stopping to take pictures but eventually we hit the road running along the lochside.
From here it was a simple matter of trudging along the road back to the car. The drudgery of it was tempered somewhat by the views across the loch to the Talla ranges.
By the time we made it to the car it was raining properly just to put the final nail in the coffin of the broken promises that had been made to us as we drove out earlier in the day.
He'd asked me where I fancied going and I said I wanted to go to the hills on the other side of Manor Valley because I'd not walked them before. His response to this was " Do you have use of a car?" to which I confirmed that I did indeed but only if Chenoa said I could have use of MY car.
The suggestion was that we drive to Megget Reservoir, a stunning setting that I know well, but only from the comfort of the air-conditioned cabin of MY Mondeo, and walk up Broad Law.
I told Chenoa ( fom a safe distance) that I needed the car on Thursday and arranged to pick up Jari at 6.15am.
Thursday morning came and I awoke with a start at 6.05am!! The alarm hadn't been set properly the previous night and had failed to raise me with it's raucous cry.
" I say Simon, that's dashed inconvenient" was not exactly what I said as I dived out of bed and hopped around trying to get dressed in record time.
A quick text to Jari expalaining that I'd be late and I finally picked him up at 6.45. It's a pleasent 45min drive round to Megget and we parked the car at a layby between Megget and Talla reservoirs.
During the drive to the start the weather and cloud formations were stunning. There were snow capped peaks all around, beatuifully framed against a brightening sky as the sun started it's daily journey over the hills. Jari was almost beside himself at the promise of some fantastic views and great photo opportunities.
Worryingly as we started the walk the clouds seemed to be gathering and hanging around the higher ground.
We started to climb immediately on setting out and I was soon huffing and puffing at the ascent. I normally like to get in at least a few hundred metres of flat work to get warmed up before starting any real gradient.
Jari tried to comfort me with the information that the gradient would become less and then it would be a steady climb to Broad Law.
As we gained height on Fans Law and Cairn Law it became very clear that we would be lucky to get any views from the summits today. We were rapidly approaching the cloud level and so snatched a couple of pictures whilst we could.
A few metres higher and the earlier promises were well and truly broken.
It's an easy navigation excercise on many of these hills even in poor visibility. Just follow the fenceline or wall to the summit. Broad Law is no exception and well before the trig point we were walking on frozen ground and snow.
It's remarkable that the view from the summit of Broad Law is exactly the same as the view from Ben Vane and from Ben Nevis.
The metalwork of the radar equipment and masts could be just seen in the mists so we made a brief visit to them and headed off towards Cramalt Craig.
The low ground between Broad Law and Cramalt Craig was just about at the same level as the cloudbase so we got a couple of tantalising glimpses of Megget and the hills on it's south side before we climbed back into the clag.
By now the sun was trying to burn away some of the cloud and as we reached the top of Cramalt Craig it felt as though all we had to do was put our hands up and they would be poking out above the clouds and into bright sunshine; teasing indeed.
The more ground that we covered up here the more it became apparent to me that this is country for winter walking. The ground was firm and supportive but it was obvious that after a heavy thaw it would be wet and thick mud. Very unpleasent in fact, especially as you cross the ground between the summits.
One more pull, up to Dun Law , and it was time to head down. We easily picked up the track that leads down alongside Cramalt Burn and once below the clouds we were able to finally get a few photos of the little stream as it heads to join the waters of Megget Reservoir.
The slopes of Green Cleuch were rising above us as we followed the track downwards. Air rising from the slopes was providing lift for a handsome Peregrine soaring about and occaisionally stooping as it spotted potential prey.
This walk down took us quite a while because we both kept stopping to take pictures but eventually we hit the road running along the lochside.
From here it was a simple matter of trudging along the road back to the car. The drudgery of it was tempered somewhat by the views across the loch to the Talla ranges.
By the time we made it to the car it was raining properly just to put the final nail in the coffin of the broken promises that had been made to us as we drove out earlier in the day.