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Weather:
Some clouds throughout the day, but
well above the summit, it was pretty cool, although there was a biting wind on
the exposed areas to the summit.
Accompanying:
Dad (at long last) |
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Finally, a hillwalk with dad again! The last time
was up the Buachaille Etive Mor back in 2005, and although Meikle Bin isn't as
massive (about 1800 feet high) it was a good day out. When the opportunity for a
hillwalk arrived I wasn't one to just turn it down, because I would be busy
until the end of the month at least! So Meikle Bin was to be the last until
February, I suppose.
We arrived at a small car park at Carron Valley Reservoir at 1.30 after I had
been picked up from a music lesson. Even at the car park there was a pretty
biting wind, so I put more layers on. Dad and I left and we followed the track
through the forestry, taking the route up to Meikle Bin. It was a nice gradual
ascent, and we were sheltered by the trees. However, as expected, we were told
there was a biting wind at the top. After following the track through the forest
for a substantial amount of time, we knew we were nearing the top, as only the
summit pokes through the trees that skirt around it's edges.
We came upon a small path which cut it's way through the forest to our left. We
decided would take us to the summit as we really weren't far off at all, and
followed it out onto the exposed ridge. A fairly strong (and cold) wind blasted
its way across which was enough to be uncomfortable without gloves, yet we
walked up the last section taking in the views of the Campsies, Central Belt and
peaks to the north.
At 2.45 we reached the summit, a simple trig point. We took some photos, got our
photo taken by a cyclist behind us, and retreated to the north-east side of the
hill where I sat for a while to get out of the bitter south-westerly wind. My
fingers were cold and stiff yet promptly warmed them underneath my armpits, and
after a while we decided to go search for bits of the aircraft which crashed on
this hill during the War. We only found the big chunk of metal lying beside the
path, but got some photos.
After 45 minutes at the summit we left to get back to the car. (approx. 3.30) We
got out of the wind, into the forest and took the track back to the car, a
simple 2 mile walk as the crow flies. We arrived back at the car at 4.15 after 1
hour 5 minutes walking and drove home.
Written 2008-01-19 |
