Loch Brandy
Jul 8th, 2008 by Stace
We took another little stroll on Sunday to test out Wes’ new hiking boots. They need wearing in before we go do Ben Nevis in a few weeks. After an hour nonstop of super steep climbing up the side of the hill, we were met by a magical view of this little loch. As usual there was the freaky strong -and cold- wind that always seems to live at lochs.
Apparently there’s a rare dragonfly that only breeds at this loch. We didn’t see any, and even if we did, we wouldn’t have been able to tell if it was rare. Likewise for the various ‘rare mosses’ that we read about. I mean, without the guidance of my favourite expert, Professor Gordon, how would we have been able to tell? Actually while looking for a link to a pic and explanation of Gordon Hillman, I discovered the man really doesn’t have many photos on the web. For such an absolute legend, he really should be widely celebrated on the interweb. My next mission perhaps.
Back to the hike, I mentioned the strong cold wind that met us as we got to the loch, so we went from t-shirts and sunnies to winter woolies in a few short minutes. This is often the case when we’re out hiking in Scotland. We might wear shorts, t-shirts and sunnies, but we pack jumpers, waterproofs, scarves and beanies, because you never know what weather is around the corner. On our way back down the hill we met a couple of determined locals who had never hiked that hill before. We told them about the magical view rewarding them for making the steep ascent, and also about the cold wind at the top. The Scot replied with ‘We always say up here, if you don’t like the weather in Scotland, wait 20 minutes’. That pretty much sums it up!
On the way home we spottoed a small bird of prey on a roadside signpost. I dutifully pulled over so Wes could get a decent view. Turns out it was a kestrel, and aside from the Ospreys we saw at the osprey centre, this is our first proper ‘tick’ of a bird of prey! We saw lots and lots of big birds circling this weekend, but none of them close enough to know exactly what they were.
