Weather/Conditions: A night-time walk - little need for torches since the hill was illuminated by Glasgow. Substantial cloud cover above all summits with regular breaks to the stars above. Some strong wind on the summit but little below the summit area.
Distance/Ascent/Time: 3.6km / 400m / 1h 45m
Accompanying: Steve

Steve asked me quite last minute, if I wanted to go and climb Dumgoyne. It just happened to be night-time, but there was only one answer really - a resounding yes! It was quite cool he was getting me to go away and do silly walks like this.

We took the car out to the distillery and began the gradual plod to the top. We'd had a lot of rain a few days previously so I expected to the ground to be a lot wetter than it actually was. With high cloud cover bouncing light from Glasgow back onto the hill, Steve used a headtorch for a while, but then we just went torchless.

Night-time walking is great fun and Dumgoyne is a great target because of it's unproblematic ascent. When I did hills at night all the time with Michael, the hills we chose always offered easy navigation. It's a system that has paid off too, because every time I've walked at night, I don't believe I have ever had a navigational nightmare, perhaps asides that first fiasco on A' Mhaighdean.

On Dumgoyne, the wind blew around near the summit ridge. I enjoyed the feeling of height in the dark. It was more fun when you could only sense the drops! With both Steve and I feeling great and looking out at the lights of Glasgow, we paused for a moment when above us, the clouds pulled apart and let the stars shine through. It was a beautiful moment.

We plodded on a little further and arrived at the summit. The wind was biting and we sat behind the stone pillar. It kept us warm for a while but that wind was cold and would eventually rob us of all our heat. By the time I packed away the tripod I could hardly feel my fingers, and so much for brining and tripod anyway - the wind simply kicked it around! Any shots I got with it (the second last and third last) weren't so great.

But anyway - another great walk up Dumgoyne and my 20th as well! I did my 10th with Steve, too, at sunset one May evening a couple of years ago. On the way home, we looked for a chip shop to grab a meal, but realised they're all shut at that time of night. It was after 11pm.