18 Carnethies, old and new, set off from the Steading on Friday night at 10.30pm to celebrate the summer solstice, with a social round of the Pentland skyline. Worried about the distance and creaky knees, Willie and Nick jumped into Willie’s car to drive round to Easter Howgate to meet Moira and gain a head start on us (a head start we would never make up!)
We could not have asked for a better night. The sky was clear and it would barely get dark over the next 6 hours. The sun set as we climbed Caerketton where we said farewell to Richard who headed off to bed as he was running the Eildons 3 Hills Race the next day. The prosecco safely stashed in a hollow below the summit (the wrong hollow we would later find out) we headed on to Allermuir. Here we became 16 as Emma (and Kipper) decided to call it a day. If this continued there would be no-one left at sunrise!
Head torches remained off until we descended Turnhouse. There had been a few casualties already with runners falling foul of random rocks, so we decided to err on the side of safety and embrace the greater speed the extra light provided. The moon had also been absent until this point. However, it rose in style over Carnethy, a golden globe rising behind Penicuik.
As there were still 16 of us there was a lot of regrouping. To save a bit of time John led some of the front runners off to Black Hill while the rest of us headed straight to the Kips. Down to the Drove Road where we briefly lost Patricia and Sarah who had attempted to contour round. Hare Hill was now in sight where we expected to meet up with Willie and co but they were seemingly on target time wise and kept on going! We squelched on through bog and heather to split into 2 groups again at the foot of Black Hill (Fiona’s favourite hill we would discover!)
The low group only just beat us to Bells Hill and we reached the top together. However, from now on the group began to fragment. The sky was lightening and time was ticking by. We needed to get a move on if we were going to be back on Caerketton for 4.25am. Willie phoned as we climbed Capelaw wondering where we were! Time to push on. Fiona and I tried valiantly to hang on to newbie Richie who was embracing the Pentlands on his first ever skyline. I am quite sure it won’t be his last.
The sun rose as we climbed Allermuir. Numerous people were out camping or bivvying on the summit. Think the guy camped by the trig point must have been cursing the banging of the gate as we all trundled through.
Finally we caught up with Willie, Nick and Moira below Caerketton. Willie’s first words being “where’s the Prosecco?” Wrong hollow remember? After a brief search the alcohol was located and we settled into the correct hollow sheltered from the wind. One by one the group reformed and glasses were raised to the sun, accompanied by Patricia’s very tasty, if blackened round the edges, flapjack.
A few of us descended to Hillend to retrieve cars while the others took the direct route to CaliBobs where breakfast was waiting. Sausages, bacon, scrambled eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes and endless cups of tea. Food never tasted so good! Thanks so much CaliBob – you were awesome. A perfect end to a perfect night.
Dorothy