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Looking back over my trip report diary, I'm ashamed to say that it's been three months since we've been for a walk even of modest scale, and four months since we last climbed a hill! There's no single reason for this - moving to Edinburgh, a change in my and my partner's work routines, weather have all played a part. Nevertheless it was about time we headed back into the countryside, and with a dusting of fresh snow over much of Scotland it seemed a good time to go back to the Sidlaws.
Lundie Craigs were the target, and I made the start of the day more interesting than it needed to be by opting to cross the Sidlaws by the direct, unclassified road rather than sticking to the less direct A-road. Fortunately the few centimetres of fresh snow on the tarmac was fairly grippy and hadn't been made more slippery by other cars yet, so we made it to the (already busy) car park in one piece.
The walk itself was more straightforward than anticipated - we reversed the WH route, using the path below the south side of the crags on the way up, and descending by the main track. Perfect conditions for walking, with the ground frozen, blue skies, light winds, clear air and just enough lying snow to make things look pretty. A highlight was our first sighting of a great spotted woodpecker, noisily trying to get inside a pine cone on a high tree branch near the start.
P.S. sorry about the slightly strange colours in some of the pictures - we were experimenting with different settings on the camera and didn't always remember to turn it off
Nothing exciting to set the forum alight I know, but a very pleasant few hours nevertheless. Here's hoping for something bigger over the next couple of months!