The last summits of 2021

 Having decided to spend Christmas with the family in Scotland, the first time in 35 years we have done so gave me an opportunity to walk a couple of summits I had earmarked on our last trip north.

The weather was not kind when we set off from home, the A66 was shut due to a road traffic accident & so it was left to head north to Newcastle & cross over to the west coast on the A67.  For the full duration of the journey it was heavy rain then fog when we reached the west side of the country & all the way up to Dumbarton it stayed with us.

The weather for the next couple of days was meant to be much of the same but there was a brief window of no rain on Christmas Eve, so with this in mind I headed out early & drove up into Glen Douglas to head up onto the hills early.

The rain was off for the time being but the ground was saturated and low cloud covering the peaks, it was 2 steps forward one slide backwards all the way to the top of Ben Bhreac @ 2234 ft as there was no footpaths it was all over rough ground and made the hike a bit more demanding than I first anticipated.

The look back down into Glen Douglas on the way up, spot the ammunition bunkers buried into the side of the hill for the MOD at Faslane.

The views up & over An T-Sreang

I was now up into the clouds and it was a whiteout on the top of Ben Bhreac I could only see the cairn from within 20 metres or so.

The obligatory self portrait to say Ive done it albeit it was freezing & the wind was blowing a hoolie.

No landscape photographs out over Loch Lomond today or so I thought.

A quick coffee & a look at the map to get my bearings to the 2nd summit I wanted to do which was Ben Reoch next door @ 2168 ft  I then headed off in the general direction looking for any sort of path. I quickly found a sheep path & started to follow it which brought me down back out the clouds along a spur heading for Ben Reoch.

On looking back towards Ben Bhreac I seen a part of Loch Lomond far below & had a quick scout around for a better vantage point & sure enough the cloud lifted just enough for me to capture a view.

The top end of Loch Lomond through the low cloud came into view.

I was almost at the summit of Ben Reoch when the cloud started to lift some more allowing better views of my surroundings.

The small summit cairn on Ben Reoch with Loch Lomond & Ben Bhreac summit still shrouded in cloud.

The view across Ben Donich to the Arrochar Alps off in the distance.

Me in a happy place with nobody around thinking of everyone rushing around far below trying to get the last bits & pieces for Christmas the next day.

I had seen some waterfalls marked on the map so decided to head off in their direction to see what they were like before the walk back off of An T-Sreang & back down to where I had parked the car.

The first set of small falls I came to which I was sure wasnt the ones marked on the map but pretty never the less.

I then came across this one which I was sure was one of the ones I was looking for, I couldn't see a way down from this side so had to settle for a shot from above, as the water came down a chute it struck a large stone at the bottom which projected it back up into the air before coming back down into the pool below. 

I finally found a way across below & walked back up the opposite bank to get a better shot.

a couple of seconds delay on the camera

to no delay, frozen in time from same vantage point.

and the other waterfalls were also a climb but worth the effort. 

And so that ended my last outing of 2021. I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone who still takes time out to read my ramblings albeit not as much fishing as I would like, who knows what 2022 will bring. Happy New Year Everyone.