The Devil's Pulpit

I bottled out today. 

I left the Lake District in sunshine this morning and headed north. As I got on the good weather faded away, it didn't actually rain until I got towards Loch Lomond but you could see what was coming. I made a slight diversion at Glasgow to get to Finnich Glen, where this delightfully narrow gorge carved out of red sandstone is not far off the road. I'd read up about it and had a good idea of how to get there. My chief concern was about how much water might be coming down the Carnock Burn after all the rain. I managed to park in the layby across the road and met a young chap as I went in. I asked if he knew the place and it seemed he'd just been down there. I asked about the water level and he looked at my wellies and told me he didn't think they'd be much use. His friend had taken his shoes off and waded. Well, it might be a good photo but I wasn't up for that!

I found the stone stairs that go down and they are very steep and a bit narrow and they seemed to get worse as they went down. I thought maybe I'd have a look round the top of the gorge and see what I could see. So, this is it, my bottling out blip, taken from the top of the gorge and for today, I'm afraid, that will have to do!

I'm settled into my hotel in Glencoe now. The weather was pretty poor as I came through Glencoe but I shall see a lot more of it over the next few days, I hope. I shall be going out soon to meet up with NickyR and her husband for a meal. They've been up here for the last few days and are going home tomorrow so it's good that we had a day overlap so we could meet up.

I've added an extra of Black Rock Cottage. There was a short lull in the rain as I approached so I quickly turned in and photographed it. I didn't even change my shoes so had to be careful where I was treading. It's been owned by the Ladies Scottish Climbing Club since 1947 and is an iconic location. It's come out fairly well but it's missing Buachaille Etive Mhor which should be behind and to the right of the picture and is probably the whole point of the scene. It's not derelict but it could do with a new slate roof to replace that tin one  ;-)