I’d planned a trip to go walking in Glencoe for the late may bank holiday but the weather wasn’t looking promising. However a wet camping trip is a chance to practice resilience.

I wanted to be on the road as early as possible so prepared the van the night before and thus it was just before 7am I was pulling out of the street and into the rush hour carpark of the bypass.

Once onto the motorways and A roads to Glencoe I made good time. There was a quick stop for a photo on the way into the Glen.

View from entrance to glen

And then I was at the car park at the foot of the walk about 9:15am. The plan was to climb the two peaks that form Buachaille Etive Berg.

I got 1km into the walk before realising that I’d forgotten my walking poles. Given that this was a steep climb I wasn’t about to continue without them so it was back to the van and then a restart.

I was a long uphill slog to the first peak and since the weather wasn’t brilliant (not raining but then entire Glen was in the clag) I didn’t tarry and headed down to the middle of the saddle for some sandwiches.

View up south peak
Cairn between peaks

Then it was on up the north peak on a steep scree filled slope. Again not much to see at the top but as I was coming down it was clearing so I got some photographs.

View down glen from north peak

Back at the van it was time for a quick bite then onto the campsite for the weekend. The weather had really cleared by this point and I was able to pitch up in bright sunshine.

I settled down to make a dent in all the reading I’d brought with me.

Saturday dawned and the weather forecast was really not good. Heavy rain starting in the morning and then on for basically the rest of the week. In anticipation of this, I pulled on the waterproofs and headed out on a walk to the nearby village of Ballachulish. A craft shop, crafts and things was the first stop and a mug was picked up that will do me very nicely for work.

After the village it was back the way and then into the Glencoe visitor centre. I watched the film for a bit then picked up a fridge magnet to add to my collection and a Baby Nessie tea infuser that will go with the mug.

It was raining quite a bit now so back to the van and settled down for more reading and listening to music. One advantage of getting away to places like Glencoe is the limited mobile coverage means Internet surfing is curtailed and you can get peace and quiet to get on with other things. Of course I picked the weekend the Prime Minster quit..

It rained all night and Sunday morning it was still chucking it down so packing up was done in the rain and everything, awning, loo, clothes were damp by the time I set off. Then it was through the clag and mist of the glen and onto the main road home. It did brighten up as I drove south and in an absolute micky take by the weather gods, the sun was out and bright when I reached home. That did mean that I got everything dried quickly.

Bad weather is part and parcel of camping and while I don’t welcome it, it just is and there is no point getting angry or wishing it away. Instead welcome it and treat it as a way to display resilience.

Of course, I’m still hoping for sun on my summer holiday.