Though I had hoped to have as clear, sunny, and beautiful weather as the day before, my last day turned out to be rainy and overcast. Low-hanging clouds covered the top of the mountain - even reaching to Clunie on the other side - making the thought of a hike seem rather daunting. However, I had been told the path was very clear and well marked, so I shouldn't have a problem due to rain or fog (except maybe when trying to enjoy the view at the end).
So I started my hike. The path started in the same direction as my first hike (Craigower) but turned to the left to climb up the shoulders of the mountain and up towards the summit. First I crossed some hilly moorland, which stretched over the smaller peak of Bealach, and then made it to the small Loch a'Choire - a beautiful mountain lake which was covered in a thin sheet of ice. This lake was very pristine and perfect, with the tall mountain of Ben Vrackie just on the other side. From Loch a'Choire I could see the stair-case like path up to the top of the mountain. Unfortunately the top of the mountain couldn't be seen because of the clouds!
Passing by the Loch, I began to ascent the mountain itself. There were occasionally patches of snow which I needed to trudge over in order to continue up the path. At one point the path was even covered by a stream, originating from the winter snowmelt. The hardest part was making it over the slick icy patches, and not falling through where the snow was soft and melting. There were often points where I would step, break through the top foot of snow and end up in a hidden stream which was eroding the underside of the snow bank. Naturally my shoes and legs got very wet! At one point I was crossing a medium-sized snow field to reach the path I could see on the other side. I paused for a moment and listened... there was a gurgling, gushing river sound - but I couldn't see the stream. Then I realized: The river was under my feet! There was a big snowmelt, likely with waterfalls and a good stream, just under the surface of the snow. I moved very quickly (but carefully) to try and get out of the "danger zone" and on to solid ground before any snow gave way and left me falling into the river below.
At about 1/2-2/3 up the mountain climb the entire path became covered with a snow field. I couldn't see where to go, but there were a few footsteps leading up and back through the snow. I began to continue, following these footprints, but realized that I was losing good vision ahead due to the dense clouds. While I may have had these few footprints, I didn't even know if they were going in the right direction! What made it worse was, at the point I decided to turn around, the frozen surface of ice had made it difficult to get a good foothold. It was just not my day to make it to the top of the mountain. I have to console myself with the idea that A) It just would not have been safe for me to go forward into the clouds/snow, and B) I probably wouldn't have had any kind of view, because the top of the mountain was in a cloud bank.
And so I made my way back down to Loch a'Choire, and decided to take the optional side path around the Loch, over Bealach ridge, and back towards the city. However, this proved difficult due to yet more snow-melt streams, mud, and at one point I even lost the path because of a snow bank! Fortunately I could see the sign post at the top of Bealach, and so trudged through the heather until I got back onto the main path. I was a little worried, though, that I would have had to backtrack a long way to make it to where I had begun the hike.
So my last day was certainly my most adventurous. Fortunately I made it back safely and with many good, wild pictures of the "gateway to the Highlands". Also, lucky for me, my B&B hosts were very generous to let me come back to the room, shower, nap, and dry my clothes by the fire even after checkout! They let me stay until my night train (10:45pm) came into Pitlochry.
The last part of my Spring Break Adventure was taking a sleeper train back to London. Silly me, I didn't book a sleeper berth, and therefore had to content myself with two extra-wide seats to curl up on. If I bent my knees and curled up a bit I could fit in my row of chairs just fine... It wasn't the most comfortable night's rest (we arrived in London at 7:45am), but it certainly beat just one chair, or no sleeping room at all! Maybe next time I will consider booking a berth, rather than a seat.
The following pictures conclude my epic adventure in Scotland. I hope you enjoyed!
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