A climb of contrivance...

Last weekend saw a break in the stormy weather. I took this to mean a good opportunity to start the winter climbing season with an attempt on the north face of Conic Hill. Mummy appeared less full of enthusiasm for my idea, arguing that at 4 weeks old and with a temperature of zero degrees, that this wasn't exactly the perfect time to introduce our precious daughter to the finer points of Scottish hillwalking. Unfazed by this irrefutable logic, I announced that the supreme being was clearly giving her tacit consent to my plan by sleeping through the proceedings. The details of my argument were being somewhat lost on Mummy, so I was forced to agree to a gentle walk round the loch instead. (Little did Mummy know however, that given I was the only one that knew where we were going, some skillful navigation might just see a summit attempt before the day was out). 

And so off we headed to Balmaha, with Mummy realising only half way there that this was actually an entirely different place to Balloch. This boded well for my sneaky navigational plan as Mummy's sense of direction seemed to be on its usual top form. Striding out in glorious sun we headed off "round the loch", Emily contributing as normal by being fast asleep within seconds in the sling.

Delighted at the discovery we could still find the daughter amongst the blankets

Mummy catching the rays

As the weather seemed set to be absolutely stunning I thought I would now seize the day and suggest taking "that path over there for a change". A few hundred feet of ascent later, Mummy was still absorbed in the views and none the wiser as to where we might be heading, and so I pressed on for Emily's first summit. 

The views got better and better

Emily knocked out by the beauty of it all

Three quarters of the way up Conic Hill and I felt totally elated at sharing this experience with my daughter. Emily was as usual sleeping through it all, but for me standing up there was my favourite Dad-Daughter first so far. Mummy by now had cottoned on to my scheme but had taken it all in good spirit and was now sensibly pointing out that it was getting a little chilly. Whilst not quite making the top of Conic Hill due to a genuine fear of slipping on the ice, we had now been walking for a couple of hours, and so we called it time and headed back. A simply amazing day out was topped off by Mummy suggesting that we stopped at the local hostelry, insisting something sweet and sugary would do wonders to boost her milk supplies...
 

A beautiful reminder of my first hillclimb with my daughter