Mists on the mountain

It was a lovely spring afternoon, and I felt the need for some mountain wandering. I had to dodge the madding crowds at the summit, but once I started to head south across the plateau people were few and far between.

From the city below the skies had seemed clear but for a cloud draped across the front of the mountain, and it was this cloud that drifted up and across the rocky terrain, hiding and then revealing the striking dolerite formations that make it look like a crazed Neolithic society had gone on a menhir-planting frenzy.

At times the mist was thick enough to obscure the nearby outcrops, but at other times it would clear and I could see snow on the distant peaks of the mountains of the south-west (which I totally failed to include in any of the photos I took).

I love all of the mountain’s varied terrain and vegetation, but I have to admit that the summit’s alien landscape of low shrubs, small tarns, and densely scattered boulders is one of my favourite parts.

And as I made my way back to the summit car park, a drift of cloud shifted shape enough to reveal the top of the transmission tower while obscuring its base, making the structure appear even more rocket-like than usual.