Glaur

Good Scottish word, that. A word that can be used when 'mud' doesn't quite fit the bill. Glaur, for me, defines the essence of mud: a dark, dirty, damp, sticky, gooey substance caused by rainfall upon the earth of Scotland. Something like what we experienced on our Ramblers' walk on Wednesday. Aye, that and more.

But, wait, what's this we see in the above photograph? Ramblers having a short break on our walk around Coalsnaughton and Gartmorn Dam to remove layers of clothing? Indeed.

The forecast was for afternoon rain, but the walk started brightly enough. If not exactly sunny, it was dry and overcast and quite humid (in relative terms) so, by the time we had walked from Coalsnaughton to Gartmorn Reservoir, had a short stop for our morning tea-break and continued around the side of the loch, more than a few of us decided we could dispense with a layer or two of clothing.

About an hour-and-a-half later, and thankfully after we'd had our lunch stop, the rain started to fall. The paths, some of which had been muddy up to that point, become increasingly like a string of miniature lakes and what had been a pleasurable walk became a bit of a chore after that.

"There is no such thing as bad weather, only being unprepared for the conditions" runs the adage and, although we were all well shod and clad head to toe in waterproof clothing, the last two hours of our walk were not the most enjoyable experience we've had.

However, and one must accentuate the positive, the start of the walk around Gartmorn Dam was pleasant and the Coffee Shop & Farmhouse where we had our post-walk coffee (having first changed into dry clothes) was most pleasant. And there's always next week's walks to look forward to.