We saw nothing.... it was great!

Glas Tulaichean literally means, "grey-green hillocks", I am reliably informed. Two Saturday's ago, it should perhaps have been named, Great Lump of a Hill, Hidden in Fog and Lashed with Rain. When the suggestion of doing a Munro was made to all the guys on the church men's weekend over twenty of them responded. On the day however, only four foolhardy idiots still thought it was a good idea, given the weather conditions and deteriorating hill-forecast.

Nevertheless, we parked at the Dalmunzie House Hotel (wasting a fiver, but saving about three miles!) and followed the disused railway track up the glen, to a magnificent and completely ruined hunting lodge nestling at the foot of the hill, above a wonderfully powerful mountain river. The climb up to the summit of the hill is navigationally aided, but visually ruined, by the bulldozed track that ascends from the old hunting lodge right along the summit ridge to within a few hundred metres from the trig-point. Allegedly a terrific viewpoint, the only view I could see from here were three wet, cold, gnarled faces peering at me from under hats and waterproof hoods, grimly pondering what dinner might be waiting for us for, back at the Compass Christian Centre.

Trudging back, along the broad summit ridge, it occured to me that despite the elements; safely encompassed within my goretex cocoon - out in the hills was still a wonderful place to be. The Glen See hills, may be blighted by all the unsightly ironmongery of the ski-ing industry, but tucked just behind the likes of the Cairnwell and Carn 'Asda', great expanses on unspoilt upland lie above majestically ice-carved glens. As we dropped back into the glen, we dipped below the cloud level and were rewarded with views down its length, the hills appearing and retreating mysteriously in the mist. Just a great place to be. Back at the Centre we were able to smugly ask how the 'low-level' walkers had fared in our absence, grab showers and destroy a vast acreage of lasagne and salad.

The church men's weekend had many other highlights too. There was some good Bible teaching, from 1Thess2, an interactive Bible study, a quiz-night, a prayer time; and an especially moving communion service in which we all served each other, prior to leaving the centre to go home. Not having the kids at a church thing was a good change for me - usually managing them, organising them, finding their coats, drawings, or just finding them; means that I am so preoccupied that getting to know new people is very hard. The weekend away threw many of us together, around meals, dorms, kettles, up hills and in quiz teams and meant that I had real conversations with some people I have previously shared only the obligatory 'good morning' with. It was well worth going for this itself.