There but for the grace of God....

Woke slowly and eventually got on with heating soup, making sandwiches and the not inconsiderable task of getting her up and out(!)

We drove west, Ben Lomond in mind. She'd missed out at the end of last summer, and with Nic in Madeira and Baz in Ardgour, we thought it was a good opportunity to get it knocked off.

At Stirling, the view north was better than west so we swing right up through Thornhill, Callander and Strathyre before ending up on the south shore of Loch Earm staring up at Ben Vorlich, Snow capped and sunny!

We wandered up in shorts and t shirts (with base layers as well, mind) and views opened up north to Lawers and west to Stob Binnien and Ben More. Deep blue skies, little wind, very peaceful

Sadly around 2,800 feet, the snow became like concrete and without axes or crampons, the final push for the summit was a non starter. I've been there x 3 already but she hasn't so...

Having moaned all the way up, she then moaned all the way down at having expended all that energy but with no tick in the book....!

Seriously - a great day in the hills, caught the sun, we really enjoyed our day out. Tempered by news of a fatality on Ben Lomond so our change of plan seemed to work for us.

Bath, beer, pasta and bed very shortly. But smiling!