I live in Cheshire, and I am happy to travel up to Scotland to walk the hills, but prefer not to walk alone if possible. I discovered the Get on Yer Hike group online, and contacted Aaron to ask when the next hike would be. Aaron was super friendly and added me to a group chat, with the others joining the next walk. Ben Cruachan, end of March 2024 (Easter weekend).
The group chat was welcoming and helpful, and I appreciated the kit list and weather updates. As an experienced hiker I knew what to bring, and had the map downloaded (and on paper), but I always appreciate the extra information, we can always learn new ideas from others experience. I drove up on the Friday and camped at the Tyndrum holiday park (which I can highly recommend). Next morning the weather was rather wet, so with a forecast of rain stopping a couple of hours later, we headed to a hotel to meet for the first time over a coffee. I could already see I would enjoy the day with a lovely group of people.
Our later start paid off and we had dry, mild weather to hike up the first 2 sections of Ben Cruachan. From the bealach we moved into winter conditions, with snow underfoot and clag all around. It didn’t dampen spirits though, it’s pretty normal mountain weather in Scotland. We made it to the summit in the clag and snow, with no views at first.
Then as we caught our breath, a breeze picked up and blew the clag away for a few minutes, revealing the beautiful views we had seen hints of lower down.
The icy/winter conditions on the ridge meant we could not cross it on this day, so we reluctantly headed back down the way we came. It was a wonderful day out walking the hills with a fab group of people. I look forward to walking with them again.
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