~ ANNE! ~

Sorry, only got halfway through that story yesterday before boring things like work intervened. Funny how that goes.

Anyway, having reached the top of Beinn Narnain (this is what it would have looked like, had it not been almost completely shrouded by mist) we had celebratory chocolate bars and headed back down. In that panoramic shot you can see the marker that shows the summit, as well as Loch Long going off between the hills looking a lot like a river (like most Scottish lochs it's long and narrow). Pretty amazing view, the few glimpes we got.

Unfortunately we were running pretty short of time and didn't know how long it would take to get back down so we didn't have much time to admire it. It's a lot faster going down, but we were both tired and I had to stop once in a while because my legs were shaking so badly (having just climbed the equivalent of four hours of stairs). We finally made it to the straight bit of path that we'd missed the first time and figured it'd be no time until we were at the bottom - HA! That stupid mountain went on forever! It was a very nasty trip down, and we reached the meeting point with Bella much later than we had planned, only to have to practically run to the station (a few miles down the road) to be in time for the train. There was one train in and one train out per day, so if we missed that train we'd have been staying in Arrochar until 6 pm the next night (also the reason we had to get up so freakin' early to catch the train in the first place!) At that point I wouldn't have argued, but possibly a bad idea income-wise.

Anyway, we did make the train and I didn't die, although for a couple of minutes there it felt like I was close. I think it was mostly dehyration, as there was no way I could drink water as fast as I was sweating it out. (Yes, I smelled lovely by the end of the day). But we didn't have long to wait at Glasgow before we could catch our train to Edinburgh, and then I went home and had an insanely long bath and went straight to bed.

Yesterday I could barely walk, but today I feel much better (or at least not in so much pain) and the memory of the horrible trip down the mountain is receding, so now I can concentrate on feeling smug that I climbed it at all. Plus I got some amazing photos of Loch Long and surrounding mountains! We even caught a glimpse of Loch Lomond through the glen when the mist momentarily lifted.

Now all I want to do is climb things. I wonder if there's any way I can make it to the Cairngorms this summer?