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The first day we were allowed to do more than stare wistfully at the mountains from our hoose in the central belt, we packed up the camper and headed out. The forecast wasn't that bonny, but after several weeks of glorious sunshine in the garden, we felt sufficiently bolstered to casually discard our usual labels of "fair weather walkers".
Decent drive up to Loch Earn after a not so early start, we found the place pretty packed. No trouble finding a parking spot on the verge, but rather impressed at those who had washing hanging out in motorhome gardens already...
The walk starts off relatively gently and clearly marked, so we strode off with some enthusiasm. Sammy the spaniel hadn't been up a decent hill for months, so I selflessly volunteered to have his lead attached to me for the first part of the up, and enjoyed the boost before he got wise to my game. Many thanks and points to folk who add dog gates to stiles btw
Rather nice wander with bird life, trees and small waterfalls up the track for the first part, and the sun was peering through high cloud occasionally. Nice views back down to Loch Earn. So far, so jolly.
After an hour or two, the cloud started descending ahead. We had previously been able to see the summit at odd points, but it was becoming clear that the clouds had the same idea we did, and were determined to summit themselves
By the top third, the wind was making itself felt, and it was increasingly like being inside a mist wind tunnel. More importantly, it turned out that our lockdown plan of replacing our usual summer of hill walking followed by camping and a bottle (or two) of wine, with simply wine, wasn't going to cut it. We had swithered with the idea of Ben Vorlich followed by Stuc a'Chroin depending on the weather, but by the time we were nearing the top the only way we were going to make it up another was if the wind blew us over.
Made it to the summit after some serious mental dragging up the last part of the slope, then desperately swigged a gulp of Laphroaig (for the warmth). Peered over to see that Stuc a'Chroin had completely vanished, which gave us the excellent excuse to head straight back down
. Several others summiting near us with far more enthusiasm clearly took a look and made the same choice.
Although the top part is relatively steep and rocky, with the cloud and wind level we were fairly keen to head on down with a skip and a jump. Once out of the mist it became a much nicer descent, with the views ahead of us once more, and less water being huffed into the ears.
The day even warmed up noticeably down at a more sensible human level, enough for a dook for the dug in every pool along the way, and a final rather optimistic swim in Loch Earn for all of us before heading up the road to a hot shower and a (for once) well-earned bottle of wine.
