It is ok to walk in the dark and other lessons from my first outing with a mountaineering club
- hiking scotland
My trip with the Tweeddale Ramblers (click) may also count as an outing with a mountaineering club, but it was only a day walk.
This club is different. People are generally younger, the walking is more ambitious, and they go on weekend trips in the highlands every fortnight. Accommodation in hostels, bunk houses and mountaineering huts is arranged and very cheap. Lifts get shared, and communal evening meals are also sometimes organised.
The club meets in the pub every Thursday, and I had gone along a few times to see if people were nice. That confirmed, I joined them on a weekend trip in Roybridge. A whole weekend with a group of strangers in the remote Scottish highlands.
My car company was nice and chatty, but unfortunately I got very, very car sick on the drive up, sitting in the back and not wanting to make a fuss. That pretty much ruined my evening, and I was having trouble socialising. Socialising consisted of looking at maps and gear and planning the next day’s adventures. That was the single topic of conversation. Everyone seemed to check with everyone else what they were planning on doing and who with, before making up their own minds. It amazed me that people in the end did have a plan.
The weather wasn’t great. Lots of snow on the hills, and poor visibility. My plan was to walk through a river and along a glen, possibly up one or two corbetts if it was nice enough. I was happy to do it on my own, but ended up walking with three guys, who seemed to be in a rush to get this hill-walk done and over with and get back to the huts. Once I realised I’d rather continue alone at my own pace, I was on a hill in a whiteout and didn’t know how to get down it, so I kept following the guys. Not exactly my kind of walking.
At night, we cooked together and had a nice chat and made plans for the next day. Trying to fit in, I talked about the long walks I had done, but in order not to risk my mountain cred, I didn’t mention all the stages I had skipped…
This club is different. People are generally younger, the walking is more ambitious, and they go on weekend trips in the highlands every fortnight. Accommodation in hostels, bunk houses and mountaineering huts is arranged and very cheap. Lifts get shared, and communal evening meals are also sometimes organised.
The club meets in the pub every Thursday, and I had gone along a few times to see if people were nice. That confirmed, I joined them on a weekend trip in Roybridge. A whole weekend with a group of strangers in the remote Scottish highlands.
My car company was nice and chatty, but unfortunately I got very, very car sick on the drive up, sitting in the back and not wanting to make a fuss. That pretty much ruined my evening, and I was having trouble socialising. Socialising consisted of looking at maps and gear and planning the next day’s adventures. That was the single topic of conversation. Everyone seemed to check with everyone else what they were planning on doing and who with, before making up their own minds. It amazed me that people in the end did have a plan.
The weather wasn’t great. Lots of snow on the hills, and poor visibility. My plan was to walk through a river and along a glen, possibly up one or two corbetts if it was nice enough. I was happy to do it on my own, but ended up walking with three guys, who seemed to be in a rush to get this hill-walk done and over with and get back to the huts. Once I realised I’d rather continue alone at my own pace, I was on a hill in a whiteout and didn’t know how to get down it, so I kept following the guys. Not exactly my kind of walking.
At night, we cooked together and had a nice chat and made plans for the next day. Trying to fit in, I talked about the long walks I had done, but in order not to risk my mountain cred, I didn’t mention all the stages I had skipped…
The following day, I had to go where my driver was going, because his walk was on the route home, and he wasn’t going to come back to the huts. We did a lovely walk up Creag Meagaidh nature reserve with a larger group of friendly people. They had some incredible stories to share.
There was the one of the guy who came down a hill very late at night and ran into a search party. He decided to join them, because on the hills you look out for each other. Only after a while did he realise that it was him they were searching for.
Another story was about this seasoned hill-walker who didn’t make it back at night at all. He had gone up Creag Meagaidh as well. His wife was used to him coming down the hill quite late, but eventually in the morning she got concerned when he still hadn’t come home, and she notified the mountain rescue. They walked up the usual route and took a break at the lochin before going up ‘The Chimney’ to the ridge. They had a cup of tea sitting down on the mountain rescue kit, a coffin-shaped wooden box for emergency shelter, when they suddenly heard a knocking sound. Yes, the guy they were looking for had turned his ankle in the evening, hadn’t been able to make it down the hill, took shelter in the mountain resuce kit and fell sound asleep. And it never occurred to the rescue team to look inside!
I now always carry a head torch when out and about in the hills. It seems quite normal to most hill walkers to come down a hill after dark.