Glencoe Quarry was turned into a lake as a gift for some rich-guy's wife,* and it's a nice 45 minute hike. Ideal if you were up all night listening to your daughter complain, but still wanted to take in some stunning views - which are impossible to avoid here. Super wet, water running in and out from all sides, and it only showered for a few minutes. [*I left a note here to factcheck this: It was built by a laird of Clan Stewart, mostly to fit in with the other Scottish aristocrats who were imitating the semi-manicured gamelands popularized by Queen Victoria. I still prefer the romantic version, and that is absolutely what a Scotsman would claim at home, truth be damned.]
We arrived back at the house as the second car was leaving - so my parents and I jumped out of one van and into the other! We had another plan for a short-ish hike, so Sage could hike on her on - no carrying. This second hike was at An Torr [Lit: The Hill], and we picked a 45min loop. Hungry from missing lunch in our van-swap, I spotted some berries next to the parking lot. I was pretty sure they were blackberries, but I did the responsible thing and tasted, spat, waited, googled, and ten minutes later laid into the lot of 'em. The entire trail was lined with berry bushes- to the point that they could out-compete the hikers who would normally strip any bushes that close to a trail. I've never seen such a forester's feast, and we all took full advantage. The trail wove out over a river with some amazing views of mountains (surprise!), and then through further woods down to a one-lane road with amazing views of other mountains(surprise!) where it started raining (surprise!). It wasn't a hard rain, and we passed a lodge/restaurant before veering back into the woods and back across the river to forage even more berries.... I mean return to the parking lot. It was a great time and Sage did almost all of it on her own two legs!
Bouyed by our success, we decided to do another hike! I have no idea how they are choosing these hikes, but so far they've been picking bangers. Or possibly, every trail is a banger here. We headed up the valley (the scenic mountains all now covered in tiny cataracts as the squall intensified). We got to the trail-head and started checking radars, finding an upcoming window that should be dry. During this wait, we heard a full commentary as Oli finally got over his constipation! I swear I've heard more about poop in the last week than the previous two years of my life. That crisis averted, the rains subsided, and we all headed off to hike this mystery trail. Well, all of us except for my mom and Ollie, who are gonna wait it out in the car.
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The trail was.... poorly marked, and my dad headed off into the wilderness trying to find it. We tried another route, and found *a* trail... unmarked and well squishy, but doable. We semaphored our intentions across the field and started on converging routes. A half mile in, and we were reunited. The trail was not improving, but the weather was holding and we were still in high spirits despite sloshing through the muck. Adam put it best: "I've hiked streams dryer than this".
A mile in, and the rain came back. Not strong, but not insignificant [Editor here: I apologize for recycling the same meme for the 4th time with different synonyms]. Adam, Dani, and Sagey (who was half walking / half being carried at this point) decided to backtrack. My dad and I wanted to see if we could finish it out, especially if there was a chance we could get picked up on the far side. We started checking our maps (always download your maps, you might be stuck in a rain-storm on the Scottish Highlands with no service) for possible exits down to the road. The next half-mile was relatively chill, though we had given up keeping our shoes / boots remotely dry and fully accepted the squish. We found a spot where we could ford the river if need be, but wanted to try a push to the waterfall overviews, where we hoped to find a drier route to the highway. We queued up texts with our expected road-crossing, told our phones to send them if we ever got service, and set off. The drizzle immediately intensified into a full-on downpour, and our pants became as wet as our socks. Which is kinda freeing, one less thing to worry about.
The point, with it's views of the waterfalls, was magnificent. The rain even let up back to a calm drizzle. We scouted another route down through the brush, but chanced it on a gradual decline (declade? is that a word) that wrapped around another bend in the river, and set off knowing one of these two routes would spit us on the road. Our previous text had finally gone through, so we sent a follow-up describing our current position, and started shedding elevation. As we rounded the bend, there was a black Mercedes van parked at the bottom! They'd played similar topo-map games, guessed our exit, and were waiting a minute away. They all had a few laughs at our river-rat looks, we had a few laughs in relief, and we headed home. We all know I need to do dumb shit, and this sorta "no signal and who knows where this trail goes" is just enough to scratch that itch. And it looks like my dad has a bit of that in him too* if he has a proper excuse.
We were supposed to head to dinner, but some of us vetoed that in favor of dry clothes and we returned home to warm up. Then, we went back to the lodge we'd passed earlier. I had the highland stew - a bit of whatever (rabbit, pheasant, deer, grouse, etc) they had shot this week, and an elderflower cider. Of course, we all traded sips and bites and the venison chili and oak-casked beers were both particularly good.
And like that, it's time for the youngest generation to call it a night. We hung out around the house as various bedtimes came in shifts, and when it was Ada's turn, her crib got moved to the entryway where she wouldn't be able to see mommy and daddy react to her every wail - So far, so good :)
Tomorrow.... even more hiking and rain? Seems a safe call.
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