• This Scotsman was doing a rather lousy job of guarding the national secret.

Today was amazing, horrifying, exhausting in ways I’d never thought possible, and completely sopping wet. Since we’d been a bit theatered out with all the Fringe shows, Tawny, Chris (her boyfriend) and I thought we’d all head up north of Perth to a wee town called Pitlochry. We bought train tickets and headed up this morning at around 9am. The idea behind this trip was to go for a nice hill walk. Well, it was hardly walking weather by the time we pulled into the station. It was warm enough, but it was absolutely pouring down rain. I knew to bring a range of clothing with me on my trip, but I didn’t pack the Northface. Probably should have, now that I think about it.

But, no bit of rain was going to stop an Englishman and two Oregonians. So, we grabbed a quick meat pie and coffee at a shop, put in a 50p deposit at the hostel for a walking map and set off. The goal of the hike was a little peak called Ben Vrackie. I wasn’t in charge of planning or map holding, so I really had no clue what we were setting out for. I can assure you I didn’t notice the elevation contour lines on the map when I grabbed a quick glance at it.

Well, it turns out Ben Vrackie is quite a bit of a challenge. At least for me. All in all, we climbed up 640m (2100′) over the course of 8km (5mi). The path was great with nicely laid stones to step your way up. The severe drawback was that it was no slight incline. Much of the route was about as vertical as a steep staircase, but it just went on and on and on. And, thanks to Mr. Rain, it kept us nice and damp the whole way. The clouds were, as you might imagine in a dreary Scottish scene, thick around us. Visibility was close to nil and it kept us oblivious to how far up we had left to climb.

As you may know, I am not the most accomplished person when it comes to doing anything quite this strenuous. And it was a bit slow going for me, as I’d stop every 5 or so minutes towards the end. Several times, I wasn’t quite sure if it really made sense to keep going, seeing as the conditions were miserable, and none of us really knew how far we were from the summit. But, it seemed a shame to have come all this way and not get to the top. So, we kept pressing on.

Finally, completely soaked and miserable, but overwhelmingly relieved and proud, we made it to the top. The wind had picked up considerably, and the fact that we were no longer exerting ourselves quite so hard meant it quickly starting feeling cold. It was sad that there was absolutely no view, but it was good enough that we’d even made it. We pulled out our cameras, took a few photos (for in my case, that’s probably the closest I’m going to get to summiting a mountain), and turned around to head back down.

My legs had turned to jelly and every calorie I’d had in preparation was long since burned. I started to feel horrible and was nervous that I’d have a really hard time making it back down. That was kind of sucky, because I hadn’t planned on it being tough going down the hill. But, Tawny and Chris brought an emergency hiker repair kit, which consisted of a tuna sandwich, banana, water, coffee and a Mars bar. We sat on some rocks a few turns down from the summit and voraciously ate our picnic in the relentless drizzle. From that point forward, the going was downright easy, and it really felt tremendous walking down off the mountain and straight into the pub.

Sadly, we had pretty much dried off completely by the time we got down as it had stopped raining shortly after our lunch, but a few hundred yards from the pub, the heavens opened up and soaked us thoroughly once again. But, a pint and some patience got us dry again. We hopped back on the train and rode 2 hours back into town. By the time we walked in the door, we’d pretty much collapsed. And that’s about where I am now. In a completely collapsed state. So, rather than putting up all the photos right now, I’m gonna hit the hay. However, as soon as I get a chance, I’ll put them up so you can see what it looked like out there today.

Right then, cheerio!