We set of from the car park at 6.15pm and headed up the icy path, the full moon was out and there was no need for head torches. once out the forest the views were superb, the moon was lighting up everything and it was an unusuall experience heading up for a climb at this time. we split with Peter and Jim just after the dam, wished them luck and we headed up past the narnain boulders. ive not really got the words to describe the beauty of the views all around, all i can say is that what was to come ahead was one of my best times out on the hills. i wish i had a nice camera to capture what i was experiencing, but i didnt, i got a few shots from loads that i took but most where just blurred images.
- view to ben lomond from narnain boulders
once past the boulders we cut of left up the climbers path, before the last little rise we traverssed right toward the start of chalkstone gully.
- traversing over to the gully
snow was quite soft and the turf wasnt as frozen as i thought it would be, be we were soon in the gully and heading upwards.
- Billy and Fraser in the gully
we were soon at the chalkstone,
- aproaching chalkstone
there was some good neve when needed at the step up and onto the wall above the chalkstone. the 3 of us were enjoying this strange but absorbing night. once over the little wall we were out of the gully.
- wall above chalkstone
once out of the gully we walked round and up towards great gully. much the same as before with only one little move we were soon at the top of the gully and at the north summit.
- Fraser in great gully
the views were fantastic, you could see for miles and seeing the light in the citys and town just topped everything off.
- ben lomond from north summmit
- view to summit from north summit
we then walked over to the summit.
- summit in moon light
we sat and lapped up the moment, one of my best moments in the outdoors.
- summit pic
we sat and had cuppa and a snack, we were hoping to meet the Peter and Jim, but headed down after our stop. we could see their head torches on the ridge so we headed down to the car park. im really sorry that my pictures and words don't do this trip the justice it deserves, all i would say is if you get the chance to go out on a similar night the don't miss it.
ps, got a txt at 2 am from the boys saying they were safely of the mountain.
bet it wis cauld
. do people actually do that ????? 
