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Woke up this morning with no intention of going hill walking (came down the stairs for breakie dressed to go jogging!!) but it was such a lovely morning decided a hill walk was the order of the day. Quick look on here (walkhighlands) and decided on Ben Donich at around 09:20am, as its less than an hour away from me, and by 10:30am i was parking up at The Rest and Be Thankful. My wee Beagle, Eva, has just turned 1 so decided she was coming along too...this would be her biggest hill yet. I was slightly concerned about the wee scramble and if she would manage but decided to give it a go.
Off we went up the path and before long we had good views looking back down and along the road we had came and also over to the Cobbler, Ben Ime etc. So far so good weather wise.
Some of the flatter sections were quite boggy but not as bad as expected given the amount of rain we've had recently. I had kept Eva on the lead as I could see plenty of sheep on the hill further up. She was doing a good job of pulling me up anyway : )
As we got further up it got quite windy and the temperature fair dropped. It was a chilly wind and with the wind came the clouds : ( We still had some good views and I could even name a good few of the surrounding hills and Lochs. Enjoying hill walking more and more with each climb.
Although I didn't spend a lot of time reading the reviews on here, I read enough to know we should be reaching the scramble some time soon. My plan was to let Eva off the lead for this part, for both our safety. We soon reached it and off came the lead...and off darted Eva...in the opposite direction!!! I managed to coax her back with a treat and after a few shaky false starts I managed to get her down. Back on the lead and off we continued.
It was still getting windier and colder but we didn't have far to go now and soon enough the trig point came into view. We passed a couple of fellow walkers just before the top on their way back down. No hanging about at the top for them or us. Took a few photos but not the best of views. I usually stop for a bite to eat and a coffee at the top of hills but not today. My fingers were going numb just taking photos!
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- Looking down Loch Goil / Loch Long from the summit during a very brief gap in the clouds.
I had remembered to pack a tripod so hurriedly tried a selfie of me & Eva at the top.
As i said we didn't hang around for long and headed straight back down. The scramble on the descent was much easier going up than coming down and Eva went up it no problems.
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- Eva itching to get going up the rocks!!!
It was quite slippy going down in parts and also it got quite busy. Half ten is very late in the day for me to start a climb, but I passed loads of people going up while we were on our way down. The weather wasn't getting any better either. We were back at the car just under 3 hours after setting off, and I decided to have my lunch at the car before setting off home...we drove along to the rest and be thankful car park to take in the views there from the car. All in all a great day. With the rocky sections and the scramble bit it felt like a right proper hill walk and I'm chuffed for my wee Beagle Eva who done great. : )
