Meet Tom, Intrepid Climber

Climb #4

Monday, September 5, 2011

Weather:  sunny with fluffy clouds, high fifties, mild wind

Time:  30 minutes

Huffing & Puffing breaks:  less than yesterday

Number of times nearly maimed self by falling in trying to get a good photo of a patch of heather near the peak:  at least three times before moving to a safer point.

Meet Tom Grant.  I did yesterday, near the top, on the rockier, less-obvious-path side of Arthur's Seat.  He saw me taking pictures of the heather and commented, "More of that than you can photograph in the highlands."   He then went on to relate how his wife doesn't like him to climb bigger hills (in the Scottish Highlands) alone.  So he climbs Arthur's Seat -- five or six times in a morning! I didn't ask his age, but I'm guessing seventies.   He worked his way right to the top, let me take a photo and promptly began a sure-footed descent while I admired the view (and caught my breath).

Tom at the Peak

Tom on one of the trails that leads past the ruins to St. Margaret's Loch.