best part of the day: dawn raid on Pentlands

Mary noticed the forecast for the 2nd Jan was really very good. A conversation started along the lines of "we should really do a dawn raid on the Pentlands". I do enjoy a holiday adventure and though I struggle with early mornings, I considered this a decent challenge. With dawn being so late (8.44am) it wasn't too much of a task to get into the car and start driving at about 7.15am, while the moon and Venus were still bright in the Iona St night sky.

We were the second car to park up at Flotterstone. (4hrs later when we returned every place was full.) We started running about 7.50am. There was something about the windless frosty start that recalled our 2007 trip to Nepal and the Everest Marathon, where we would wake up in the half dawn with a deep frost on the inside of the tent, then the day would suddenly warm up as the sun rose above the mountains, the smell of wood-smoke a constant.

We only wore headtorches for the first quarter hour; there was plenty pre-dawn light going up Turnhouse. I was remembering a previous dawn raid on the Lammermuirs where the forecast had been ludicrously optimistic and we were treated to no sunrise and a rather flat overcast grey day. (Sort of trip that puts you off a dawn raid for life.) It was evident from halfway up Turnhouse, that today would be a better result as the sky became lighter and the thin cloud cover lit up with a splendid rose and orange hue. Unfortunately there was a band of dark cloud lying sullenly on the horizon so the actual appearance of the fiery disk was postponed 15 minutes until 9am and halfway up Scald Law, the third hill of the day.

a skein of geese

2 grouse - the other lying low, just an eye peeping out

fantasy map of the world

Going up Scald Law we noticed another runner descending from Carnethy, following us. I think we both felt it was a challenge to see if we could manage to climb Scald Law before being caught. And we both did despite stopping for photos of the emerging sun about halfway up. Hot on our heels a panting Stewart Whitlie appeared and we all stopped running to chat for a bit by the trig point. He too had been anticipating a sunrise and had hoped it might be even more spectacular than it was, although by previous standards I thought it was pretty good and justified the early start. Stewart was going to run the kips then retrace his route in a similar way to the Carnethy 5. We descended to East Kip then dropped down to the Howe turning left to then go up Black Hill.

Mr W bounding up West Kip on all 4s!

frozen tracks

A birdwatching friend many years ago drew my attention to the crags opposite Black Hill saying a peregrine falcon nested there. A bird of prey flew by in the dawn light but my knowledge was insufficient to identify it. The frost was quite heavy in the gullies the sun hadn't reached.

lucky white heather

As the sun rose it picked out the sparkles of frost on the heather and grass and the whole place twinkled and shone. We have had a few good runs in the Pentlands recently and this made today one of the real highlights of the holidays. It felt so much more special than when you run through the hills with low clouds and flat light making it all look pretty dull.

The heavy frost kept all the soft ground locked frozen. Well almost all. I managed to step on a bit that had softer mud underneath and the frozen edge caught my foot leaving a bruise for a week. But if you chose your route carefully you could get past with dry socks, a rare treat on Black hill.

There is a gulch between Black Hill and Bell's Hill. A stream lies in hiding there and snakes through the spiny grass ready to soak the feet of unwary hillwalkers. The sun had just climbed high enough to light the hoary frost and we stopped for 5 minutes to take photos. You could see the sparkles where the sun jinked through prisms of frost, refracting the light into rainbow colours. It wasn't easily apparent how to capture them. I clambered in among the grasses on my knees and zoomed in, hoping the short depth of field would magnify the minute twinkles of colour in the background, which it did.

out of focus 😢

A bit further up and the frosty bracken lay dead and dying, and I was very pleased with a couple of atmospheric shots looking more like underwater wrecks in the eerie light.

Normally that dip between Black and Bell's is the beginning of a long steep climb and so never the cheeriest of prospects, but the photos I got today helped change my opinion of it. (Also, many years ago I bumped into a lizard, sunning itself near the swamp. A very rare occurrence, and one that has not been repeated, but means I always keep my eyes peeled when passing through.) However I doubt it will change my feelings around there during any future Skylines.

We stopped at the 2.5 rocks marking the top of Bell's for a snack. Holland and Barrett have these reduced price flapjacks currently that are good and stodgy and cheer up a long day out.

sundog alert

It's a shame for these poor walkers with their crutches, I mean poles

We decided to do Harbour Hill then Capelaw then drop down on that contouring path round Castlelaw and back to Flotterstone on the smallest stretch of tarmac possible. We were quite tired but it was a fantastic day to be out which kept spirits up.