Meikle Bin in Autumn

This morning James and I went to walk up Meikle Bin. It was a gorgeous day; sunny and cloudy, with a temperature inversion over Glasgow as we drove up into the Campsies. We wanted to take advantage of the good weather because Storm Babet was predicted for later in the week. We set off in decent time and walked in towards the hill, where we saw spiders’ webs glistening on the long grass beside the path. The sun was shining through the tall pine trees. By the time we reached the picnic bench at the bottom of what I jokingly call the death zone, I was ready for coffee and a snickers bar. We then pressed on for the last steep, but mercifully short, pull up to the top of the hill. The cloud was still circling around, which meant that the view appeared, and disappeared after another coffee and the obligatory summit photos, we decided to set off downhill by the longer and more circuitous route. I had some misgivings about this because I remembered reading through mud and climbing over fallen trees the last time I went there. James assured me that the route is now much clearer than it used to be. Well, how wrong he was! The path started well but soon we were sliding through mud and climbing over a burn and through trees. Admittedly we probably took a slightly wrong turning. After what seemed like ages we emerged from the wilderness and onto a forestry commission track and thence back to the car. Despite the muddy diversion it was still a great wee walk.