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Another trip
to the Campsie Fells. One day I'll get back to the Highlands...
Slackdhu
I started walking at Strathblane, preferring a walk in the evening over
the afternoon as it was the fifth day of warm weather and midday was
always swelteringly hot. I enjoy the relative
coolness of morning and evening and set out at 7.40pm. The sprouting bracken
on Slackdhu
offered a new route finding challenge and to the west, the haze blocked
most views. I came with the hope of photographing the sunset, but
thicker cloud overhead signalled the coming of less favourable
conditions. I wondered which way the weather turned, but knew I'd carry
on regardless even if it didn't go in my favour. Then, half way to the top
of Slackdhu, I spotted another person
on the same face as I, perhaps 200 metres to the west. I'd never seen
anyone up here before and it almost seemed odd that they should
be. As I climbed, they remained
at a similar altitude to myself and this confirmed to me they were indeed
climbing. With personal competitiveness at work, I attempted to keep
ahead, for no real reason other than to see whether I could...
Laden with walking gear, a camera and two
lenses it was naturally harder to keep up with someone who appeared to
be carrying nothing. I ascended via. my own steep route (I'd first
climbed this way on April 25th) and flew up without a single
fear of the heights. I was accustomed to the exposure, but this
confidence led me to exert myself beyond comfortable limits - enough to induce queasiness. Slackdhu's
plateau offered me a comfortable walk, because I was already exhausted.
Just ahead, the person I'd seen climbing arrived the summit. I wasn't
far behind him, although he left in the opposite direction before I
caught up.
Dumfoyn and Dumgoyne
Having taken a few minutes to rest on Slackdhu, it was evident that the weather
conditions weren't what I'd hoped for. Earl's Seat wasn't
visible and the cloud was only building. I hadn't a hope of catching the
sunset, but I also couldn't sit around
forever only to have nothing in return. Instead, I continued to Dumfoyn,
figuring that a far more satisfying evening could be had by making a
roundtrip from Slackdhu to Dumgoyne. Beneath Dumfoyn, at Cauldhame Glen, I saw
to my first wild Golden Eagle. Years ago I may have seen one, but
in recent memory it was my first. It was entirely unexpected. Such
unpredictability is one of the beauties of hillwalking, and as the eagle
glided downstream, it was almost out of sight before I had a chance to
take the camera out. Such is always the case with wildlife, and the one
picture I got is below, centre.
From Cauldhame Glen it was a brief pull up to Dumfoyn. With thoughts of
sunset now out of my head, I decided to walk
onwards to Dumgoyne. I left
Dumfoyn and climbed Dumgoynes scree gully, gaining altitude rapidly.
Like before, I didn't find the exposure a problem and the climb was
also physically easier than I'd previously thought. I arrived on
Dumgoyne 15 minutes after leaving Dumfoyn.
The weather on Dumgoyne was dull, so I left with the
intention of catching the 10.40pm bus. I held a moderate pace down to
Cantywheery and then along to Strathblane via. the private road. I
arrived at the bus stop in good time to catch the bus home.
The weather was nothing like I'd hoped, and my target was to
do some photography. But small events such as the eagle was something
worth seeing and testing myself over the two Duns is always always an
interesting challenge. I didn't get what I'd gone for, but a hillwalk is
never boring and like all others, this one had it's own special
'moments'.
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