Birnam Hill

Today's 'Plan A' comprised a cycle ride up Glen Tromie and a trudge up to the 769 metre summit of Meallach Mhor and back, with a visit en route to Sue and Neil in Newtonmore.

Waking to a blizzard in Dunkeld, this plan was rejected in favour of a circuit from 'home' taking in the 404 metre summit of Birnam Hill.

A message from Newtonmore confirmed "Common sense prevails - looking at Meallach Mhor from here - well it doesn't beckon!"

Rain and snow continued on and off all morning - basically, rain below 100 metres, snow above that height. It was a lovely walk despite the conditions. I enjoyed strolling above the river past Birnam Quarry and then gradually ascending, before pausing for a cuppa and some views at Stair Bridge.

There's a massive cairn on top of the hill at King's Seat, pictured top. Visibility was limited, if rather far from the white-out conditions recently experienced by Sue O - "Big John and I wrestled our way up Harvey's first Corbett (Carn an Fhreiceadain) on Saturday with aforementioned dog plus Moll - we had to get the GPS out to find the top - we were about 3 feet from it! That's how good the white-out was."

A little lower down, on the direct descent to the north, the woodland was very pretty in the fresh snow (middle picture). But, you may observe, I could be anywhere, so the bottom picture is of the ancient Birnam Oak, thought to have been an inspiration to Shakespeare in the composition of Macbeth, after he visited the area in 1589 as a strolling player. Hopefully that's proof of my whereabouts, though I doubt anyone cares!

Anyway, I was back down in time for lunch in Palmerston's, before ambling back to the Hilton, from where this excellent 15km stroll takes around 4 hours.

This afternoon, it's snowing in Dunkeld...

Time to 'chill'.

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