free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
Perhaps I was misled by the forecast for Dumfries which predicted some sun around midday, but, as I should have known, Criffel's summit climate was very different. When I arrived in the Ardwall car park the higher tops were enveloped in cloud though the sun was shining not far away.
- Looking back at the car park and some blue sky!
- Half-way up the good path - no wind down here
The walk up through the trees followed a good path with occasional flights of bouldery steps and was nicely sheltered. I followed a group of three junior doctors all the way from the car park to the gate at the top of the forest where I assured them that the muddy scar leading on from there really was the way up.
- Now on the muddier slopes above the trees and about to enter the clouds
We exchanged the lead a few times as we climbed up into the cloud. The visibility diminished and the wind rose until the last few hundred metres were becoming quite adventurous for the trio.
- The summit view with Douglas's Cairn just visible about 50m away.
They persevered and attained the summit cairn a few minutes after me despite the cloud restricting the view to only a few tens of metres.
- The Medical team reach the cairn ...
- ... and they appear to be enjoying their day!
On the way down I took us all down to the east of the path to get out of the wind more rapidly. We had met a few folk on our way up. On the way down there were quite a few more. Definitely by far the most popular summit I'd been up near Dumfries - which wasn't difficult. In the whole south-west only Merrick and Cairnsmore of Fleet in May 2016 had been busier.