Awe and wonder in the mountains this evening…

I took advantage of a break in the clouds to have a moment of solitude in the mountains after a ‘memorable’ week at Fort Martin.

I could see up ahead that the soon to be setting sun and misty summit might provide the magical ingredients needed to create my favourite mountain phenomena – a Brocken spectre. I went as fast as I could, and arrived on the summit ridge panting for breath. As I turned around, I got this remarkable view…

Not only was it a corker of a ‘glory’ as they are also known, it stayed with me as I followed the ridge up to the summit.

I’ve seen a lot of these over the years I’ve spent in the mountains, but never with an additional extra wide halo and double rainbow. It was a real goosebumps moment.

I stayed on the summit for about forty-five minutes watching the clouds come and go, with the rainbows getting brighter and brighter.

As the light and cloud combination began to fade, I turned my attention one hundred and eighty degrees to watch the setting sun.

Alone on the summit I just stood, stared and raised my outstretched arms to the sky.

Not wanting to descend in the dark and as the temperature was already dropping, I hiked quickly back down to the valley. Stopping every now and then to re-admire the view.

Alone in the mountains, but not alone…