Hurray for Hillwalking!

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We continue to enjoy the great outdoors and can’t offer up too many complaints about the weather. The last two weekends have been filled with some phenomenal hiking. Two weeks ago we went to a small village named Luss on the banks of Loch Lomond and did a bit of hill walking. This past weekend we spent the weekend in Pitlochry. This village is further up north in the Highlands. It was a great couple of days. We left early Saturday morning and drove through some really scenic country and many quaint villages. Upon arriving in Pitlochry, we took one of the five loop trails that extend into the surrounding woodlands of the town. The first took you up along a beautiful burn and to the smallest whiskey distillery in Scotland. The walk ended at the Moulin Inn, a 311 year old pub/brewery. It was a really cool bar with some very fine “real ales.” I must admit though that the warm/flat beers here do not compare to the real ales of Oregon. I start to salivate every time I think of my first Terminal Gravity IPA upon arriving back home. After a pint, we completed another loop trail that wound around through another small town and into the hills. Oddly enough, that trail led back to the Moulin Inn where we got to watch the Ireland vs. Scotland rugby match. How did that happen? The next morning we headed out with every intention of climbing Ben Vreckie. We started our ascent around 10:15 and were doing beautifully. The sun was shining; I had a lightweight fleece on, was sweating profusely and we were three hundred meters from the top. Within a matter of two minutes, the clouds rolled in, the snow was near blizzard condition and the winds had to of exceeded fifty miles per hour. Had we not had Camille we probably would have carried on, but we decided this was a good time to demonstrate responsible parenting. Therefore we descended as quickly as we could only to look back at the mountain one half hour later awash in bright sunshine. Ahh Scotland!

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Photos

Ben Vrackie
This shot was taken about 15 minutes after our retreat. Twenty minutes later the mountain was aglow in sunshine.