From Winter to Spring

During the past week we seem to have passed from winter to spring. It seems amazing to think that we were skiing on the 18th March,

and on the 19th March we were walking in snow at low levels in the Carron Valley.

On 24th March we had a beautiful, sunny day, when I climbed Ben Ledi with a friend. It was warm enough to walk in short sleeves almost to the summit, until we were exposed to the cold wind at the top, yet on the way down we visited a small lochan which was still almost completely frozen.

These photos show the summit of Ben Ledi in the background.

The only flower we found was Coltsfoot.

Meanwhile, it has been all change in the garden. We saw the last of the Bramblings on the 23rd, and the Siskins and Redpolls disappeared at around the same time. Instead, we have Blackbirds, Starlings and Jackdaws all demanding food every time I go outside.

On the 25th, I saw the first wild Primrose of the year,

and yesterday we caught sight of an adder sunbathing on some rocks by a reservoir where we had stopped for lunch.

A day in the Campsies

It snowed hard for most of the day yesterday, but didn't settle here. Late in the afternoon, I could see that the Campsies had a fresh fall of snow, so today I suggested that we might try going there to see if there was enough snow to ski. It was a damp, foggy morning, we couldn't see the hills, and almost no snow was lying, so we weren't very optimistic. We decided to take the road that climbs high into the hills, and to our delight we soon came up out of the fog into bright sunshine.

On the north side of the Campsies, there was plenty of snow on the tops of the hills, so we were soon skiing in good conditions.

Dunbrach

Meikle Bin

Lecket Hill

Near the top of Holehead, we looked down on a sea of fog below, but could also see far distant snow-covered hills above it.

We followed a forestry track for part of the way down the hill. The mist had now cleared.