free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
Weather forecast looked abysmal but me and my friend had had a hike pencilled in for a while so we were determined to climb something, regardless of the weather.
Arrived at the start point and set off - sky was overcast but no rain as of yet. Initial part of the descent I found the toughest - mostly because it is a monotonous, not particularly steep path. My friend is from France and has done a lot of hiking in the Alps over the years. She is like a mountain goat and I swear it's almost like she jogs up without even breaking a sweat! It can be a good motivator for me to pick up the pace but it is hard work!
Once we got onto the steeper, more interesting terrain, my mojo came back and I enjoyed the hike up the rest of the hill. We met some volunteers repairing the path halfway up. They trek up there every day to work on the path...yikes! We plodded on and it wasn't long before we reached the summit. The sky was still overcast but no clouds so we got some good views.
We stuck about at the top and had some lunch before heading back down. About halfway down we looked back up to see the clouds now engulfing the summit - excellent timing!! We found a lovely little forest garden on the way back to the car. A little path wound up and down a steep incline with beautiful flower bushes. We had a little wander around here before heading back to the car.
