Well today's walk did not go to plan, we set off at 9am leaving a sunny Crieff, but in the 25 min journey hit snow showers. That's ok we don't mind them. We parked the car and got ourselves ready, boots etc. on and left car at 9.30am.
We head up a track passing a cow and her sleeping calf, yes snow on again.
We carry on up the path, it's a bit windy and cold but nothing to worry about and showers are short lived. It's quite a steep climb straight away and hats, tops are removed as we get a bit warm, but best having them handy. We carry on up the trail and the winds are getting stronger, but again we don't mind, we knew this was to be expected. The flow of the river water is going incredibly fast.
Walk is good and enjoyable at the moment as we contiue our acscent towards Vorlich, though skies keep changing and wind getting stonger, snow and ice appear but not too much.
We see the changes within minutes, so yes hats have to go on as it's much colder.
The views are great. :) We meet three men coming down that had been to the top but said it was getting very windy and was just ice. We thanked them and wished them a good day and on with our walk we go hoping it won't be too bad.
But oh how wrong could we be!?! We're completely out in the open and the gusts are so strong they were taking us off our feet and we had to dig our poles in to stop going over. It is so bitterly cold now, fingers are a bit numb so camera does not come out after this.
We meet a guy who has said he had gone a bit further but decided the risk was too great as it gets narrower and gusts of up to 80mph meant it was no fun. We go up a little but we are really struggling, we decide it's too strong and cold and although trig point is only a short climb, today we were not going to get there. Down we stuggle until we come across a large rock, the sky was very grey with more bad weather on the way. So out comes our Vango storm shelter to be used for the first time, immediately we feel the difference, it's draft free and cosy. We have our sandwich and coffee in good conditions, though very blowy.
We have a video clip, shows how windy it actually was! :)
Well we can't stay here, though it feels cosy, because of the wind chill, ice is forming inside our shelter. So we pack up and once again enter the stormy weather. More people are passing, but they too soon turn back. We can do it another day though, it's not like the mountains are going to go away any time soon. :)
Down we go back to the car, it's much better down here. But as we're driving back to Crieff the snow blizzards return. We finish by having a nice pint, before returning to James Cottage for a rest before showering and going out for tea at The Gurkhas. Let's hope weather is good to us tomorrow for Tarmachan Ridge.
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