A quintessential autumn day: this morning misty and spider-webby,
this afternoon the sun broke through and there was a couple of hours of warmth, then a sudden drop in temperature as the sky caught fire in the west. Ben Rinnes was a sharp silhouette on the horizon against the last of the red sunset and there was a suggestion of smoke in the air as we took a last walk around the top field. Storing up these autumnal evening walks to remember when we get days and days of grey.Such a warm benign day for picking up the reins again....could still be June. After the ravages of Storm Amy (the "first named storm of the season" as they like to say) today has been warm (20 degrees and counting), still and sunny, blue sky and white clouds. The birds have emerged again having presumably survived the storm by hunkering down: playful crows dancing across the fields, swirls of starlings and a buzzard floating lazily overhead searching for supper.
Since the last post there have been festivals, catching up with family, working, much driving up and down, some walks (of which more in a bit), celebrations, parties and the arrival of a new member of the clan: welcome to Ursula who arrived without too much drama just 9 days ago.
One thing that has become clear over the last few weeks is that the old dogs are no longer up to long walks round the woods or up mountains. They could both sleep for Scotland, at home or in the back of the car, they don`t seem to mind, as long as they`ve had gentle trots up onto our back field and have been fed. Thus it is that, left in charge of the homestead for the last couple of weeks, I have accompanied them on their regular ambles across the fields and, Storm Amy notwithstanding, it has been mostly a gentle way to spend half an hour or so two or three times a day.
Indeed tonight, making the most of the ever shortening days and after a brief rain shower, it was almost magical. The sky turned dramatically gold and black and red and it was still very warm, humid in fact thanks to the rain.
Tomorrow it`s an early start for a long day at work so the "amble" might have to be a bit smarter in the morning but if it stays like this we`ll have time for another evening wander.
Meanwhile I`ve got to start reconciling myself to longer more strenuous walks unaccompanied which will feel very strange.
The last time I started posting something was ninth of May and we were in the middle of a heat wave. This is what I wrote:
"Drought! Water shortages! Hose-pipe bans! In May? In Scotland? Granted it`s mainly gardeners who are muttering this as yet but it is also true the weather has been quite remarkable over the last few weeks.
There have been cold winds, there has been some rain but Spring 2025 has outdone itself. The gorse is currently at peak golden just as the broom emerges with a paler shade of yellow (cue song? yellower shade of pale?) but without that rich coconut smell of the gorse when the sun burns into it."
Not long back from a few days @ Celtic Connections which always has a trick or two up its sleeve to surprise and delight. Two quite nostalgic gigs, one celebrating the music of David Crosby and the other The Band. A brilliant evening with the Bog Bodies which I`d only booked because of the name but they were excellent - fiery `heavy` folk sung with passion and humour. Highly recommend. Peatbog Faeries, again, but how ever many times you see them their gigs offer something new and Transatlantic Sessions as good as ever with the bonus appearance, unexpected to me, of Loudon Wainwright. And I managed to fit in a viewing of A Complete Unknown*, more nostalgia but a new take on a famous moment in musical history.
Another raw, grey, still day - a particular kind of winter`s day. Yesterday was the same, the kind of light that brings out the lustre of the lichens and mosses, enhances all the different greens and browns.
Bearing in mind we`re surely not finished with snow and ice, took the opportunity to head for Bennachie on a cool but fairly benevolent day.
Felt a long time since the last walk up here but as always it was worth it: deep breaths (quite a lot of deep breaths on the steeper bits) and I missed the dogs - both getting a bit old for some of these jaunts now. They`d do it OK, still jump up when their leads are rattled, but they`d be very very stiff by the end of the day. In dog years (do we believe in them?!) one has just turned 98 and the other will in August, the upside being that when they`re not walking or eating they`re sleeping so don`t need a lot of attention. Taking on younger dogs would - will, eventually 😉 - be a whole new ball game.
Anyway, cobwebs were blown away, the climb up and down was done in a respectable time and it`s sometimes just good to be reminded how lovely the world is.
January has done its usual trick of stealthily arriving at its midpoint while the world has been shaking off the lethargy of the descent into the shortest, darkest days. At least it always seems to come as a pleasant surprise at this stage to realise that while the fireside has often been the best place to be, the days have been drawing out and the snowdrops are emerging.
The last three days have been remarkably mild but during the last few weeks we`ve endured the coldest temperatures of the winter so far, very very cold some days; blizzards; torrential rain and, for some, ensuing floods.
Last week the amount of snow we had left us virtually locked in - not just the depth of the snow but the extreme cold which made moving about - on foot or in vehicles - problematic. So, to avoid the deep snow in the woods, there more road walks, affording fabulous Winter Wonderland views or forays through the deep snow in the top field, a proper work out.
Yesterday almost all the snow had gone and the woods were once more accessible. Walking on solid ground again comes a relief as do the greens and browns and greys. Pure white is all very well but you can have too much of it.
Good brisk walk this morning: a late autumn day that was cool, slightly overcast and calm, some leaves still on the trees but probably more bare branches now. In the woods as the sun emerged it felt a little warmer and there were still clouds of hovering gnats.
The sun was already casting long shadows at not long after noon - it doesn`t tarry long at this time of the year - and by the time we got on the homeward path a brisker breeze was picking up, foretelling the change in weather that`s due. But it was a good, head-clearing jaunt.
It would probably have been wiser not to go to bed late the night before, then, after about 2 hours sleep, drive over 100 miles to get to the titchy car park at the bottom of the path that leads up Schiehallion*
It took a certain amount of moral fibre to get going as we were shrouded in cloud, it was damp, cool and we were knackered. However,once we set off up the path and the blood began to flow, we were congratulating ourselves at our early-ish start and deciding that the cloud would not deter us.
It was eerily still so we were a little surprised to realise that as we gained height we were walking out of the clouds and able to look across to see mountains on the horizon, the distinctive "nubbin" (technical word 😉) on the top of Clachnaben very clear. It also gave me and my climbing companion the perfect chance to strike dramatic poses......
The boulders weren`t so bad going up the mountain (they would prove more of a challenge on the way down) but they did seem to go on for longer than we anticipated. Also, though we knew about the "false tops" it was much harder to assess how we were doing in the cloud. One enthusiastic young man tore past us at one point in an attempt to beat his friends to the top only to realise .... it wasn`t.
So a small congregation of us at the top, somewhat huddled in the increasingly windy and very damp conditions, a quick toast to our success (and to J.T.A. & H.C it being Remembrance Sunday) and it was time to get back down.
And as we tottered over the boulders, battling what was by now quite a strong wind, and got back onto the well marked path, Schiehallion relented: the clouds cleared, the wind dropped and we were rewarded with the most splendid autumnal views to make our descent.
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Be good to go back when we can see from the top but all in all it was a memorable day.
*Schiehallion is not only a mountain of folklore and legend but also "the mountain that weighed the earth":
https://www.scottishgeologytrust.org/geology/51-best-places/schiehallion
