misty mountain hop

waking to the news of drumpf joining the post halloween pumpkin dump, a couple of quick coffees, looking out of the window the summits of Yangmingshan are covered in cloud but the forecast tells us that it would clear up, packing bags and setting off for another part of the grand hike around the taipei basin... should have known better really... a mile or so from the bus stop to the trail head, uphill into heavy mists and blasting drizzle fired from gusting winds, an odd timetable meaning that the next bus would be in four hours, onwards, upwards to wherever it was, gleaming eyed demons arriving out of the murk, transforming into cars and bikes as they passed, a bemused looking cyclist at the, not really a, shelter at the start of the trail, a few others, all of us wearing the same kind of grin, the one which offers up the single question, "really?" and then further.... to be fair it was only 6.4km from here, the markers and maps along the way offering representations of what would be gorgeous views across the city and down to the eastern coast on a clear day, today you could see the markers from as far away almost thirty meters, beyond that best to allow the imagination to run riot...the blip is from a meadow just beyond the half way point, this being as clear as it got other than a couple of woodland glades which could well have just been ripped up from scotland and dropped here, the weather matching their initial localities, offering something beautiful and awe inspiring, misty moisty morning and all that... wondering if it's a perversion or a cultural thing which makes these walks almost as enjoyable as the ones with a view... reaching the grasslands of a couple of weeks ago, the mist far heavier now than it had been, joined by what felt as if it could have been rain but it's long since it was possible to get any wetter... and folk were still arriving upon sparsely filled buses up.. while, just to add to the joy of the wander, a seat on the bus down, overcrowded as ever and then, as it stops near shillin night market, postponing the last part of the journey home for shaved ice and eggroll ...