Conic Hill

Today was a very foggy day at home. I looked at the mountain weather forecast and it said that it would be a sunny day, but only above 300m as the fog would cover the lower ground. I had already thought of climbing Conic Hill, and at 358m, it seemed like a good choice.

The fog was thick all the way until I was close to my destination. Suddenly there was a break in the fog, and I could see Conic Hill in sunshine.

I soon climbed into the sunshine, but the fog then rose and hid the view until I was at almost exactly 300m. Suddenly it cleared again and the sun shone. I was soon on the summit ridge, and as the sun cleared I saw a glory - a ring of rainbow colours - on the cloud below me.

To the west, Loch Lomond was covered in cloud, though one of the islands was peeping through.

To the south, the Campsies were sticking up out of the fog.

The fog rose again and the glory became stronger, showing my shadow, the Brocken spectre, at the centre.

The mist was still swirling round the summit.

To the north, the fog cleared off the summit of Ben Lomond.

Soon it came rolling back up the glen below me.

I went to the west end of the ridge. Normally this is a good viewpoint for seeing the Highland Boundary Fault stretching across Loch Lomond, but this was blotted out by the fog which was rising and falling below me.

I stayed on the summit ridge for several hours, as I didn't want to go back down into the fog. Then I began the descent.

There was still some frost on the vegetation in places.

I had a last clear view back to the summit, with another Brocken spectre in the foreground.

I noticed that there was also a fogbow, which is just visible in the picture below.

Then it was time to go back down into the fog.

There are two slideshows of my previous visits to Conic Hill on the hill walking pages of our website.

For more information about glories, Brocken spectres and fogbows see the Atmospheric Optics site.

Ben Lomond

Today I went up Ben Lomond again.

Ben Lomond is 974m high and you start from not much above sea level.

At first the weather was fine, with mist drifting over the hills. But soon it deteriorated and began to rain, getting harder every minute. What a nuisance it is, having to put on waterproofs. My waterproof jacket is too narrow to zip up over my camera and GPS, and the waterproof trousers are a struggle to get on without taking my boots off. Of course, as soon as I had put them on, the rain became less. Soon the clouds turned back to mist, drifting away across the loch.

The summit of Ben Lomond was clear of cloud and I thought I was now in for a fine day.

Near the top, the clouds closed in again.

Soon it was not only raining, but windy and rather cold. I had to put my gloves on as well as the waterproofs.

At the summit trig point there was no view in any direction but, as it had only recently started to rain, I decided to hang around and hope for it to stop.

Patches of blue sky kept appearing overhead, but I had quite a long wait before the clouds started to move away. At last I had a view to the north, with a rainbow over the head of the loch.

As I started the descent, I could see sunlight on the loch below.

Suddenly the sun burst through the clouds overhead, so I hurried up to the summit again in the hope of seeing a Brocken spectre.

I was in luck.

The only other person still on the summit to share it with me was someone for whom Ben Lomond was his first Munro (hill of over 914m), and it was quite a celebration to see such an unusual phenomenon.

The descent continued to be a mixture of sunshine and showers.

The same view as the first picture, but now with better weather.

For more about Ben Lomond, see the virtual walk on our website.