Weather/Conditions: Summer sunset - perfect weather and some wind at the top. We mainly caught the twilight - still very spectacular.
Distance/Ascent/Time: 2.8km / 350m / 1h 50m
Accompanying: Steve and Pete

The night before this walk, I'd been playing at a ceilidh. I had left the house 6pm or so, and arrived home at 1am. I watched Avatar (Cameron's) at home from 2am until 5am, then took the early train north to Arrochar and climbed the Cobbler. It had been a lot of fun but when I got home, I had sleep to catch up on. Steve came into my room after a couple of hours to the tune of "Pete and I are going up Dumgoyne soon. Are you coming?" For all the tiredness, I couldn't refuse.

The parking for Dumgoyne over the summer of 2011 has been awful. There's very limited parking at the Blanefield memorial and the Glengoyne roadside parking is fenced off! So Pete being Pete, we drove up to a house the map calls Blairgar and parked outside their driveway. I'm not sure the homeowner would have appreciated it, but it was Pete's car so... why not?



We caught the last of an amazing sunset. Steve and Pete both couldn't really be bothered (according to them!) but we went up anyway, just as the sun set on the western horizon. A magnificent clear sky darkened above. We were just toiling away on the last ridge toward the summit, when I heard a call - something similar to "Kevin! I read your website. It's an inspiration!" I didn't recognise the voice, but I'd bumped into Douglas Gibson and his son. Douglas reads of my website, and we talked mountains in growing darkness. We share an enthusiasm for the Campsies; we had many stories to tell. Steve and Pete became impatient and carried on! Douglas, I'm glad you enjoy my website. It means a lot.

For a while I'd lost track of Steve and Pete, so nipped to the top and back. I'd meet them on the way down? I found them again and we continued to the bottom, still buzzing from my chance encounter. Dumgoyne, as ever, was a great way to end of a wee period of activity. Now I could rest!