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It’s been a frustrating start to the year in hill walking terms with the weather or other commitments getting in the way. A week in a cottage on the edge of the Galloway forest would hopefully provide us with an opportunity to kick start our efforts.
Safe to say, we had very little in the way of expectation weather wise from our week in South West Scotland. As it turned out however the weather was great, far better than many a summer week spent north of the border. Following a walk around the Galloway forest on the Sunday we headed off up Cairnsmore of Fleet on the Monday.
Snowdrops by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Finally out of the forestry plantation by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
View back down to the forestry by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
The morning was a bit grey and misty but a chat with a friendly local boosted out confidence of summit views. It was quite soggy lower down but as we increased in height the ground started to get increasingly frozen and by the time we emerged from the forest the going was good and hard.
I've found Snow! by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Inversion by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
As hoped the sun started to break through revealing a walk that was really quite Pennine in character. In spite of the sunshine and the inversion that was coming into view to the south it looked as if we would be deprived of summit views. Right on cue however as we made our way towards the memorial the cloud started to lift and we were rewarded with spectacular views to the south that were more like what you would see out of an aeroplane window.
Out of the mist by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Summit View by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Frozen Cairn by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Cairnsmore of Fleet by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
We spent a while taking in the sights from CoF’s extensive summit plateau before heading down through the melting ice back to the car.
View to the North by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Summit adornments by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
The Walk up Cairnsmore of Fleet may not be a particularly exciting but with the extra magic that winter walking tends to provide it was a more than worthy outing.
Floating River by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr
Rising mist by
johnkaysleftleg, on Flickr