I flew back to the UK from New Delhi at the beginning of September 2020, and after months of being stuck inside, it was nice to be able to get back to breathe fresher air–at least, after the mandatory 10-day quarantine period at that time came to an end. To celebrate the end of quarantine, I decided to head up to Scotland to climb a few of the mountains in the Highlands, first with my sister Lesley who is an avid hiker and who lives up in Glasgow. Was a tiring couple of days – Les and her boyfriend were so much fitter than me (and I suspect they still are as the mountains are so much more accessible to them in current situation!) and would go at breakneck speed and leave me trailing in their wake.
After a day in Glasgow getting supplies for my own planned camping trip, we went towards Perth and the Beinn Ghlas ridge: despite having been born and raised in northern Scotland, these would be my first Munros! S. A good 21km or so… first time out hiking properly (as opposed to just gym-work) for… wow! ten months? Seemed like forever! So good to be out, about and active again. Oh and the weather was absolutely fantastic – breezy but perfect conditions. I confess, though, that by the end of the hike, I was definitely hobbling a little and needing a rest by the time we reached Aviemore in the evening!
A good review of the overall hike with some great pics (much better than the ones I took!) is on the Walk Highlands site (which also provides brilliant details of the very many hikes you can do up there).
