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In the same fashion as 2009, I ended the
year on Auchineden Hill. And as 2009, I had climbed 99 mountains by
Hogmanay. So it was fitting on this day to go to Auchineden Hill with
dad to do my 100th before the New Year kicked off.
The weather couldn't have been more different to a year previously. Last
years harsh winter saw snowy mountains bathe among endless days of
sunlight. Last 31st, the Campsie Fells turned purple and pink in the
sunset and a huge full moon rose in the east as we drove home. It was
magical.
The crazy thing about this 31st December was that the cold weather had
come and gone! We'd had weeks of stupidly cold weather starting late-November
and now it had warmed up. The weather this day wasn't so good either
with a lot of cloud in the skies, moving fast with high winds to propel
it.
It was certainly a day to stay low, I though.
The summit itself was cold and we met a group of four plus babies up
there. I got a summit shot of them. With me in shorts it was no wonder I
was cold, but we didn't go to the Whangie either. It was just to cold
and damp to bother, for a piece of rock architecture I've been to many
times before. But s for the hill itself, it was a joy and a pleasure to
do my 100th, as hard as that was to comprehend at that moment standing
on the the top.
On the way down, dad and I returned over the plateau, looking for a
hidden crack in the ground, a small version of the Whangie. Dad found
this with a friend years ago when he was in his teens, and told me about
it just a couple of years ago. I found it in November 2009 and
remembered it's approximate location. So we went looking, scouring the
hillside above the cliffs. In the end, the aerial view provided by
Google Maps on a smartphone helped us find it. And because it takes the
form of a cleft five foot in depth, hidden by grass and heater, we got
pictures of ourselves inside, heads poking out the top.
So that was it! Last hill of the year, for another year...
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