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If you go hiking without taking a “boots shot” did you even go? Love love love this shot of Great Gable and a hint of Buttermere behind. Would have loved a clear day, but it’s a bit hit and miss at the moment. There’s no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong coat… I’d rather have the highest peak in England to myself, but it was never going to happen and I make friends easily enough, and together we make memories I think we all know by now I follow @sightseeing_sinders blindly down any valley and up any scramble. It’s never led me astray… Quick “there and back in a day” jaunt over to my next hill. It’s a big one, anyone know which from the location we parked?… Definitely waterproofs and sunscreen kind of weather. As I come down from my 50th county top, I couldn’t care if I was in a monsoon. I’m happy in my element and planning my next trip already… I can hold these for several minutes now, but for the purpose of a photograph, it really doesn’t matter so much. Anyway, Wigtownshire topped. Will head down once I’m done dicking about… At what age did we stop picking dandelion clocks and blowing them to tell the time? More importantly, why did we stop? Because we grew up? Because we had more important things to do? Where’s @sightseeing_sinders leading me today? We’re in Wigtownshire, a place full of wind turbines in turns out… Oh go on then, one last view from the top before we head into Wigtownshire, another historic county lost to local government reform over the years, but up here, who cares, I have no cares… One last look back at Merrick, the highest point in Kirkcudbrightshire before we start heading back down into the @galloway_national_park … This is the top of Kirriereoch Hill. It is not the highest point of Ayrshire, because the border is actually the wall in the background. If there’s one thing I love almost as much as bagging county tops, it’s the hours of research getting my geographical geek on beforehand… County tops can be like buses, mountain ranges often form natural borders where several counties meet. From Kirkcudbrightshire’s top of Merrick to Ayrshire’s Kirriereoch Hill is a mere mile. Shame there’s no path to follow… It’s not a planche, it can barely be called callisthenics, but I can balance on two hands on a trig point, and for a matter of seconds, I feel chuffing epic… It may not be a Munro; #Kirkcudbrightshire may not even be recognised for local government purposes; but for the views alone, it’s snuck into 4th place on my list of all time favourite county tops… The Merrick, at 843 metres is the highest mountain in the Southern Uplands and the county of Kirkcudbrightshire and the area of Dumfries and Galloway… Here we see CJ in his natural environment. He surveys the scene; open country, moody sky, his mind clear of the stress of spreadsheets, he takes a deep breath and smiles for the first time in what seems forever… As I came out of the forest and on to the mountain, I crossed this plaque that told me I was coming out of the forest and on to the mountain. I liked this, but cannot explain why… I’d follow this girl anywhere. I mean she pushes her luck when it takes us up 1 in 1 inclines through dense woodland, but when it leads to a county top I don’t take much persuading… Bruce's Stone on the north side of Loch Trool commemorates Robert the Bruce’s first victory over an English army in 1307 during the Scottish Wars of Independence. Sometimes life gives you a sign… so that you know where you’re going. 😆 Time to tell you about some other adventures. And so we found ourselves racing up to Scotland after work, the sky teasing us with the good weather beyond the clouds… Though my mums ashes are now in Leicestershire, and my brother is here in York with me, just 500 yards from my mum’s church at Oaks in Charnwood I came across this bench. No other bench could have made me cry for my brother like this one. If you can have a favourite bench, this will forever be mine. Bardon Hill is the highest Hill in Leicestershire and on a clear day the Malvern and Shropshire Hills, summits in Derbyshire and Lincoln Cathedral can be seen. However, the view is somewhat dominated by Bardon quarry, operated for over 400 years and producing three million tonnes of rock a year, 15% of UK output... It won’t be the most exciting county top I’ll ever top, but it will forever be the one closest to my mum, so I’m sure I’ll be here again! Leicestershire done! As promised, back in my boots, exploring the Leicestershire landscape… Four days after my last post, my mother passed away, and is now at rest in the very church I posted about. I’m posting this now for several reasons. I need to go back to living my life, but to do so without acknowledgement just doesn’t seem right. In fact carrying on at all seems hard enough. There is no right way to grieve, I’m told, but I know I can’t put my life on hold for the rest of the year. So I will go back out onto the hills. I will meet with friends and I will try to remember how to enjoy myself. On the outside, I will play the part I have become so good at, on the inside I will suppress the turmoil. I will carry on as normal, and that will become the new normal, and that’s fine. If I seem fine, remember I’m not, only so you know it’s okay not to be. We’re all going through shit, we all have such a finite time in this life. To do anything other than try and get through it, try and enjoy it, and help others do the same, is such a waste. If you need help, reach out. I’m not very good at it, but I’m trying, and I’m supported by some amazing people. So yeah, rambling over. My next post will be out and about in the countryside, doing what I love, with people I love. Do what makes you happy, do it today. Love to you all x The weekend begins with a visit to my grandad, and beginning conversations for my mum and dad’s future plans. I know it’s a sad post, but we’re all going through our own tribulations, so why hide it from each other? And because no county top, either side of the border, is complete without a photo of a short man with a Yorkshire flag, here is a picture of one such man conquering Stirlingshire… And there you have it, the summit of Ben Lomond, the highest point in Stirlingshire and the most southern of all the Munros. My head is always in the clouds, but the view is still magnificent…