Schiehallion is without a doubt my favourite place in the world. Admittedly I’ve not been to a huge number of places in the world but of where I have been, Schiehallion tops the list. I can’t quite put my finger on why, but it makes me feel incredibly happy. Whether it’s to do with the folklore (it’s name translates as “the fairy hill of the Caledonians”), it’s special shape, or something else, I have no idea, I just love it.

Anyway, I reckoned this was 12th visit since I started counting, and on the previous 11 times there’d been no view at the top because of cloud, rain or snow. And today wasn’t looking particularly promising, as the summit was again swathed in thick cloud, although there were blue skies round about and a strong wind. I started up the track from the Braes of Foss car park, and stopped at the cup-marked boulder.

This rock has some huge cup marks on it, the biggest of which is 14cm in diameter and around 6cm deep. After a few minutes I was back off up the track on my way to the summit.