Hi
This is a brief report from the walk up the Ben Vrackie, with a link to the slide show a the bottom of this message.
This was a little bit of a spontaneous decision to walk up the Ben Vrackie. I had an opportunity to spend a weekend with my family in Pitlochry, and before I set off I took my hill walking gear with me - just in case.
During the stay the weather forecast was rather poor, but the actual weather was rather pleasant. The "day shift" was not an option for me, so I had to plan for something either early morning, or late evening. As such I decided that I will do the closest hill, and will aim at sunrise. A quick research and this is how the Ben Vrackie came about. The more I read about it the more excited I was, as the views were supposed to be quite rewarding.
My mum, who used to be a keen hill walker herself, decided to join me as well, and did not mind getting up at 0330 on Sunday morning.
We chose the typical route up the Ben Vrackie, between the Creag Bhreac and Meall na Aodainn Moire, up to the Loch a choire, and then steep up the southern slopes to the summit.
The morning was rather dark but pleasantly warm. We set off from the car park at 0350. Due to poor planning I only had one head torch, but after the first 30 minutes, when we got out of the woods, mr. moon kindly assisted with illumination of the path sufficiently.
The views, naturally, were none pretty much all the way up. The path until the Loch is very nicely laid out and it is impossible to get lost, even in the poor light. The section from the Loch up is steep but still very nicely laid out, with steps pretty much all the way up to the summit. Some may like it, others may not, but this is the way it is here. I presume it does help with the maintenance of the path, and reduces the erosion due to human traffic.
We got to the summit around 0530. It was still dark but with the sunrise only 30min away it was getting brighter every minute. I have explored some nice spots for photography, set up my time lapse camera and then enjoyed the spectacle.
I hope you liked it.
Thanks for reading / watching.
