If you go down to the woods today!!!!!!!
Myself and fellow "hill nut" Tomyboy73 decided that we would tackle 2 munros he himself had tried before but due to weather he only managed the one summit.So early sunday i made my way to Paisley to meet up, quick visit to the "wee shop" for a pint of milk and we were off, driving up by Loch Lomond the skys were grey but not threatning but the low cloud around Ben Lomond told us we werent going to be getting the views we really wanted.Arriving at the car park at Dalrigh we noticed a few cars and people already there
So we got the boots and gaiters on and headed for the path, once we were over the railwayline we headed straight off road and over the boggy field to find the infamous bridge from there its a very pleasant walk through the forest until you came across the waterfall and the pointless deer fence
Now im not bothered by a bit of mud and soft ground but this takes the biscuit, the gradient increases but so does the height the mud creeps up your boots and before long we were squealching up the hill, trying to avoid the really bad bits. My legs started to burn already and i felt i was slowing us down a lot but by taking a couple of breathers, sum snacks and growing a pair we pushed on towards the grassier slopes of Bein Dubhchraig.
The higher we climbed the gloomier it became and pretty soon it became obvious that doing the double was off the cards, it became pretty wintery and the cold and wind started to bite at us, still we were both suprised to see how many people were out walking the hill, and as aways we exchanged sum pleasantries with fellow walkers and we all commented on how poor the visibility had become, the gloom increased as we headed towards the ridge to take us to the top, and large patches of snowy/ice started makin conditions underfoot that bit more interesting, we wouldnt have know what direction to go if it hadnt have been for that age of navigation method of following sumone with a 50 scale and a laser guided compass and pretty soon after taking a detour to get a bit of scrambling in( ok ok we got lost a teeny wee bit cos we didnt keep up with the compass man) we arrived at the summit along with 3 other walkers who kindly offered to let us sit in there shelter with them. i refrained as i had a lovely hot cuppa (mind the milk i bought peeps ) and id also made a few egg mayo rolls that i honestly didnt think would be well recieved in what was really a large orange bag, Tomy having made cheese ones joined our fellows in there shelter for a bit and i greedily munched my rolls. After packing away the stove and checking we had all our bits and bob we headed back down the hill, avoiding the icy bits the best we could although there was one bit we wished we had slid down because A. it would have saved us a bit of walking and B. it looked like it would have been a lot of fun.
We picked up the pace and before long we were at the muddy section again and soon after we were back to the forest, giving us time to reflect on the walk and the fact that twice Tomy has tried to do Ben Oss and twice hes been beat by weather/conditions. Another great day out with my mate, filled with laughs and lots of hard effort at times but well worth it.