255.
Well, I finally did it. Not only me, I hasten to add, but Linda too. I made my long promised walk up Auchterhouse, and was rewarded with a wonderful view of... well, not very much at all, actually. As we began our climb, the mist came rolling in from the North Sea. By the time we were halfway up, we could barely see our hands in front of our faces. Still, there is a well trodden path, and we were never in any danger of getting lost on the moors of Strathmore or Strathmartine, and nor were we about to fall hundreds of feet to a sticky end in an old slate quarry. We were always in much more danger of sweating to death given the amount of clothes we were wearing (well, it does get cold very quickly, even at the not very impressive height of 1400 feet). We continued on our way, finally reaching the peak a whole 30 minutes after leaving the car in the car park about 1000 feet below us. By the time we got to the top, the mist had thinned out, and visibility increased to about 100 feet: we could see the contorted trees, growing where the old iron age fortress's walls used to be, looming out of the mist. With not much to see beyond the wall of white and the barely discernable shapes of strange looking objects, we turned our attention to the ground, and traced the path of the old fortress's earthwork defences which, over 1000 years after they were constructed, are still clearly visible (and steep and difficult to climb - they certainly knew the art of fortress building back then - any would be attacker would be exhausted by the time they got to the top). We had our coffee and sandwiches, placed a rock on the cairn and slowly made our way back to base camp. By the time we got back to the car, the mist had cleared. C'est la vie. Now that my head and lungs have been cleared and my limbs stretched in preparation for the coming celebrations, I would like to wish you all a very happy and prosperous 2005. May all your dreams come true and lang may your lum reek. Orrabest, Stu and family.

Auchterhouse Hill in the mist


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