The Top of West Lomond

Tonight I`m gobsmacked and flabbergasted, and all those things because I climbed the highest hill in Fife.  It is approx. 522metres or 1713 feet high.
Geordie was terrific, he pulled me up some of the steeper slopes.
I grew up in the small village at the foot of the north face of the hill.  It can just be seen to the left of the cairn.  It`s been over forty years since I climbed this hill and really didn`t think I was capable of getting to the top.

We didn`t set out to climb the hill.  We drove through Falkland and up to the carpark between the two hills (Craigmead).  Planning just to go for a walk in the direction of the West Lomond, but we just kept going.  We met a few people who said the visibility at the top was great, so I thought we would just go as far as I could manage.  But the closer I got the more determined I was to get to the top.  
The wind was really strong but the views were amazing.  The sense of satisfaction I had was huge.  I had achieved something I never thought I could.  
The West Lomond, figured greatly in my childhood.  As children we climbed it often, and there were no easy routes then.  Each year on May 1st about 5.30 or 6am, as many villagers as could manage would climb to the top of the hill to wash our faces in the morning due. (to make us beautiful). When we climbed back down we would meet other villagers at the Maiden`s Bower, a rocky outcrop with a cave and a bonnet stone shaped like an anvil.  There the minister and others would have prepared bacon rolls for everyone.  Then we would make our way back down to the village in time for the men to go to work and the children to go to school.  It was a great tradition that generated a lot of excitement.
I couldn`t wait to tell the boys what I had done  I knew they would find it hard to believe, and I was right.  Thank goodness for photographs.
When we got back to the carpark we had drinks and eats then drove home.  The first thing I did was run a hot bath with epsom salts and lay in it for half an hour.