I've ended this weeks training with something a bit different. This time four of us took to Ben Lomond for a bit of hillwalking. This was the first time I had done any hillwalking so, in keeping with my usual lack of preparedness, I was planning on doing it in jeans and running shoes. Apparently that's a terrible idea and, after doing it, I'm inclined to agree.
We set out from Rowardennan at about half 10 and, after thinking we had gotten lost almost immediately, made our way through the forest area that makes up the first area of the walk. Now, I should acknowledge that is October but, it having been a fairly rain free month, I thought the ground would be dry. It wasn't. 20 minutes in to our ascent we had taken a wrong a turn and I had nearly sacrificed both shoes to a boggy area of the woods, the bog and I would meet again on the way down. A wrong turn once we made it out of the first woody area set us back a few minutes more but once this was over we were well on our way.
Out of the woods and onto the relatively clear paths, Mhairi and I encouraged the other two to go on ahead, we'll only slow you down, just go, don't look back, or something to that effect. For the first hour or so things were great, it really is a beautiful looking down on Loch Lomond from there and the views get more spectacular the higher you go. Then things turned sour. Mhairi, being somehow even less fit than me, started to tire and we slowed down a bit more. Soon my motivational skills kicked in. "I'll buy you one of those new Chinese munchie boxes if you make it to the top" I said in the hope that would spur her on. She says it didn't help but she definitely sped up.
Then the motivational speeches started. "Come on, think how amazing you'll feel when you make it to the top, you'll be able to say you've accomplished it!". But soon the bribery and motivational speeches gave way to meanness. "When we get back, you're going to the gym!" and "I can't believe how unfit you are!". I'm not proud of either of those.
As we sauntered on we were passed by a variety of people, grey haired couples breezed past us with a cheery "morning!" to which they received only a grunted reply, small children scaled the higher rocks like tiny Spider-men, men in colourful tights sped past us making me wonder if they were off to fight Papa Shango in a winner-takes-the-mountain wrestling match at the top. Most demoralising though were the people who we had seen set off at the same time as us, now coming back down the hill, each with the now infuriating "Not long to go now!", coupled with a disgustingly large Cheshire cat style grin.
Eventually though, we made it to the top. There's something quite ethereal about sitting in a cloud, looking back at where you've just walked. After a bit of lunch and a few pictures, we started to make our way back down and immediately turned into the people that had annoyed us so much on the way up. "MORNING!" I practically screamed in the face of everyone we saw, it was about half past 2 in the afternoon by this point but that's beside the point. If I saw someone struggling up the hill, I wanted to give them that Cheshire cat grin with a "NOT LONG TO GO NOW HAHAHAHAHA!", I restrained myself from doing so, still very aware of just how annoying it is.
The smiles let you know this was on the way down
The walk down was more of a freefall with it being so difficult to control your speed, but we made good time and were on our way home by around 4pm, although I was now shoeless having once again tangled with the bog and having sank up to my ankles. True to my word, we dined on Chinese munchie boxes that night, infinitely proud of our first Munro.
I'm running for Childreach International, you can donate to them here.
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