Weather/Conditions: Temperate, calm weather and cool wind on the summit. Flat light made the scenery a bit uninspiring...
Distance/Ascent/Time: 8.3km / 400m / 2h 30m
Accompanying: Alone

I wasn't particularly bothered about climbing Dumgoyne this day, but I had been getting into filming and I wanted to shoot some footage on the hill. Dumgoyne was nearby and I hadn't been out in a while. The solution, as ever was to head for Strathblane. I bought snacks from the shop then walked to the start - where I met one of my school teachers who had partly got me into hillwalking. She was there with her husband and grandson. They were walking up the Campsie Dene Road, and how far would probably be decided by the rain, which I'd expected would arrive by about 4pm.

So the first hour or so drifted by, then we parted ways. I turned up by Craigbrock Wood (which is now being felled), and filmed along the way. I shot continually, taking enough to give me footage to edit when I got home. This was a harder task than I'd imagined, and I carried the camera in hand, attached to the tripod all the way to the top of Dumgoyne. I wasn't particularly bothered about going to the top but I figured I needed the footage, and pushed myself onward.

The first rain fell on the summit, and later than expected. I met a guy on the top who had come up from the distillery. I love the panorama from Dumgoyne (I think it's one of the best) but today the light was flat and sadly uninspiring - part of the reason I probably wasn't fussed about going to the top. But with the summit knocked off, I walked back to Strathblane - and didn't bother filming too much. I'd already done more than enough!

It was also four years to the day since one of my first trips up Dumgoyne. Amazing how time ticks onward - how things have changed in the intervening time: in attitude, outlook, the people that have come along and occasionally gone.

Well... till next time.