Monday 24 April
Mid Hill was our objective today; a close neighbour to yesterday’s tops, the difference in the underfoot conditions was remarkable. Not a single tussock did we encounter, and only occasional mildly squelchy bits. This hill is obviously more popular than some of its neighbours (no doubt because of its accessibility; it has a signed path starting from the foot of Glen Luss), so whilst our route was surrounded by tussocks, our passage was mainly over compacted bare earth or worn-short grass.
The forecast wasn’t great for today, but neither was it awful, although it did temporarily feel that way when the first snowy squall hit us somewhere between the first summit (Beinn Dubh) and Mid Hill. By the time it had passed, I’d completely lost the feeling in the left side of my face. In between the wintry showers, it was lovely and sunny (and even warm, lower down), but the wind was noticeable both in its strength and chill – and by the fact that it was in our faces for the outward leg.
Fine views were had from the top, but we didn’t linger long. Second breakfast was had hiding behind a peat hag on the way up, and elevenses was had hiding in a dip on the way down. A flask of something hot would have gone down nicely at either or both of the stops.
A suitably easy walk after yesterday’s efforts, this one came in at 7.1 miles with a little over 700m of ascent.
The other four hills I had earmarked in that area are now going to have to wait until another time. The weather forecast for tomorrow is such that we decided that reading books and crocheting will be the order of the day. As our attempts to stay at the Caravan and Camping Club site at Luss were a failure (footnote 1), and as we didn’t want to spend a day and a half sitting in an exempt-from-the-outrageous-camping-management-bylaws layby (footnote 2), we’ve had to move further north to find a campsite, and we won’t be backtracking on this trip to return to pick up those hills (footnote 3).
^^Footnotes:
1. Luss C&CC site is for members only, and you have to have been a member for 24 hours before you stay. As this prevented us from staying yesterday, we tried to join on the spot to book a pitch for today, but our membership request was apparently too difficult for the staff to administer. That’s twice I’ve tried to join the C&CC in the last couple of years and twice that the campsite has been confounded by the request.
2. Plus there was the fact that we only left home with 60 litres of water on board and, a week later, are feeling the need to top up the tank.
3. Not again, anyway. There was a backtrack on Saturday when we realised that we didn’t have as much LPG as we thought and searches of LPG location resources suggested that we’d passed the last LPG station on our entire route two days, and 20 miles, earlier. Doh!
Mid Hill was our objective today; a close neighbour to yesterday’s tops, the difference in the underfoot conditions was remarkable. Not a single tussock did we encounter, and only occasional mildly squelchy bits. This hill is obviously more popular than some of its neighbours (no doubt because of its accessibility; it has a signed path starting from the foot of Glen Luss), so whilst our route was surrounded by tussocks, our passage was mainly over compacted bare earth or worn-short grass.
The forecast wasn’t great for today, but neither was it awful, although it did temporarily feel that way when the first snowy squall hit us somewhere between the first summit (Beinn Dubh) and Mid Hill. By the time it had passed, I’d completely lost the feeling in the left side of my face. In between the wintry showers, it was lovely and sunny (and even warm, lower down), but the wind was noticeable both in its strength and chill – and by the fact that it was in our faces for the outward leg.
Fine views were had from the top, but we didn’t linger long. Second breakfast was had hiding behind a peat hag on the way up, and elevenses was had hiding in a dip on the way down. A flask of something hot would have gone down nicely at either or both of the stops.
A suitably easy walk after yesterday’s efforts, this one came in at 7.1 miles with a little over 700m of ascent.
The other four hills I had earmarked in that area are now going to have to wait until another time. The weather forecast for tomorrow is such that we decided that reading books and crocheting will be the order of the day. As our attempts to stay at the Caravan and Camping Club site at Luss were a failure (footnote 1), and as we didn’t want to spend a day and a half sitting in an exempt-from-the-outrageous-camping-management-bylaws layby (footnote 2), we’ve had to move further north to find a campsite, and we won’t be backtracking on this trip to return to pick up those hills (footnote 3).
^^Footnotes:
1. Luss C&CC site is for members only, and you have to have been a member for 24 hours before you stay. As this prevented us from staying yesterday, we tried to join on the spot to book a pitch for today, but our membership request was apparently too difficult for the staff to administer. That’s twice I’ve tried to join the C&CC in the last couple of years and twice that the campsite has been confounded by the request.
2. Plus there was the fact that we only left home with 60 litres of water on board and, a week later, are feeling the need to top up the tank.
3. Not again, anyway. There was a backtrack on Saturday when we realised that we didn’t have as much LPG as we thought and searches of LPG location resources suggested that we’d passed the last LPG station on our entire route two days, and 20 miles, earlier. Doh!
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