play misty for me

Sunday 3rd Jan.
There is very little good to be said about some of the weather we have had of late. I suppose we should be glad Edinburgh is hilly and coastal meaning the excess water runs out of town and into the sea and not in our back doors. But it does make it difficult to find the motivation to get out when there is precious little daylight about. I can't remember what the motivation was for this trip to the Pentlands. Mary saying lets go to the Pentlands probably. The Berlingo has been struggling to get started in such damp and humid conditions but once started is fine. There was a reluctance to remove jackets and leave the warmth of the car in Red Moss car park; unusually busy for such a crappy cold day. 

We ran up Beech Avenue turned right and up the drove road to the kips. I was wondering if I'd worn enough (a long sleeved Helly and t-shirt) and it only got colder as we got higher. The cold wind blew in our faces and there was a fair bit of moisture in the air although it wasn't really raining. No views. Mary warned me we might be turning around at West Kip and retreating unless things improved.

I think the forced march up W Kip did improve things and we were both jolly enough at the top to press onwards to East Kip before descending to the Howe and back to the car park. When I say jolly I mean there was quite a lot of bitching and complaining about other hill users which seemed to cheer us up. On the descent between the kips I filmed Mary disappearing off into the gloom then let gravity encourage me down the slope slightly faster than recommended. We were nearly having fun by now.

some hill walkers were dressed for nuclear winter

 

Since we hadn't gone very far we did the Red Moss boardwalk as a coda. There is chickenwire on the wood which is just as well as any non-wired wood was deadly in the wet. Just to be different we went the wrong way round (anticlockwise) which added a fresh perspective. The lichens were amazing and we stopped at the wee pond to take a photo or 2.

Best thing I can recommend for this time of the year and the dreadful weather is company. Mary and I had a laugh and a chat which more than made up for the lack of scenery. With the (awful) Carnethy 5 on the horizon it is time to get out and hill training. There is little motivation when the weather is like this but we managed to make the most of the day and really, once you get going it is not all that bad. Quite a lot of the chat was about what we would have for lunch afterwards.