The 2009 pre-Dinner walk
12th December
So here we are on Schiehallion again - approaching the summit rocks on a fairly typical winter's day.
Thick freezing mist and no views except the heels of the person you are following...
Dee was the trail maker, head down, plod, plod, plod...
Wraiths of mist flowed over and through our Schiehallion summit group. We can see blue sky above, will it clear?
It is bitterly cold.
We were all treated to a Brocken spectre, complete with glory. Not the best picture, but a special moment no matter how often it's seen.
For those unfamiliar with this phenomenon - a spectre appears when the sun shines from behind and you are looking down from a ridge/summit onto a bank of mist or cloud..
Your shadow is projected onto the mist and can appear huge; this is an optical illusion as there are usually no reference points to judge its size.
Your shadow also falls on constantly moving water droplets, confusing perception of depth. This 'ghost' can appear to move, sometimes quite suddenly, because of the movement of the cloud layer and variations in cloud density.
If you are lucky your shadow's head is often surrounded by the glowing halo-like rings of a glory, no - you are not sainted, these rings of coloured light appear directly opposite the sun when sunlight is reflected by a cloud of uniformly-sized water droplets. The effect is caused by the diffraction of visible light.
So that's the technical bit, best just to enjoy the experience!
Today we were really lucky as the cloud melted away, just from our summit, and as Schiehallion sits alone the views are extensive
It's an uplifting and special moment when this happens.
Great feeling of space.
Even David was seen to crack a smile!!!
Now down through the cloud to our Tulchan Lodge Dinner.
Tonight's special treat - home cooked Venison Stew.
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