Bunking off

Yesterday we had one of those beautiful Scottish mornings where the mist is rising from the river and the sun is peeking through the trees, making beams of soft light in all directions. Magical. But on a work day…

I knew Nick had the day off, so I texted him to express my jealousy. He invited me to climb Ben Vorlich. I had calls to do instead.

I spent the rest of the morning at my desk, trying to concentrate, staring at the beautiful day outside. If my last call finished at 2:30, I could finish early, then I’d have 4 hours before sunset. I texted Nick again. We’re on.

This was a re-peak for me, but Nick had been planning to climb Ben Vorlich on his day off, so I was happy to go with the flow and just be out in the sun. It’s 5 minutes from where we live, but what we didn’t factor in was that the road south of Loch Earn was closed part way down for roadworks. A 35-minute detour around the loch before we could get started.

We started at a fast pace, probably thinking about the sunset and not wanting to be out when it gets too dark and cold. That soon came back to haunt me as the constant incline took its toll. It feels like I mention the struggle in the majority of my posts these days… must be getting old.

After a beautifully sunny morning and afternoon, of course, it started to rain and the grey clouds came over from the west. Thankfully they soon cleared and the sun blinded us as we made our way up Glen Vorlich.

A lot of sheep and not many trees (there’s a surprise) as you leave the glen, but the peak of Ben Vorlich comes into full view. It didn’t look too big from down there.

It’s rutting season at the moment, so as we made our way up and out of the glen, we could hear stags roaring in the distance. Nick spotted a few on the ridge line of Meall na Fearna, but much too far away to get a good photo.

Then the wind kicked in, the clouds gathered again, and it got cold. The final slog up to the summit was by far the hardest part, but we were rewarded. The clouds moved on and the sun burst through just as we reached the top. Beautiful views to Stob Binnein and Ben More, and Stuc a’ Chroin within touching distance.

We made our way down quickly. To get out of the wind, but also because we knew the pub might be closing soon.