Climbing Criffel

Thursday, Jess and I went with her cousin Margaret and her co-workers to climb Criffel, a hill just outside Dumfries. Margaret is in her 50s and works as a nurse at a mental hospital. Her co-workers were in their 30s-50s. They were climbing to raise money for their ward at the hospital. Criffel is a hill (not a mountain – it’s too short) which people climb here as a right of passage. Most of the group had climbed it when they were 16 or so. Jessica had specifically wanted to come to see her family and climb Criffel. I was happy to accompany the group on their hike. After a few wrong turns, we started out at 10 am. One woman had brought her two German Shepards with her. They were much faster climbers than us and kept running up and doubling back.

The path was rocky at the beginning and muddy in many places. It only took us an hour and a half to get up the hill. From the windy top, we had views of an inlet and the Scottish coast on the other side. We could also see a wind farm off the coast. In addition, we could see tons of farms, a reservoir and a river. It was really pretty, but cold. We spent 45 minutes at the top and ate our lunch there. Coming down was more challenging than going up. The path was muddy and we couldn’t find our way at first. We had to come through plants and it was difficult to figure out how far down your foot would go as you took a step. Jess and I got down before the rest of the group and we hung out in her cousin’s car to wait.

After our climb the group went to a nearby inn for a drink; we had tea. It was pretty difficult to follow the conversation, but I tried as best as I could.

Jess’s family is so nice. We’re staying at her mom’s cousin’s house. Helen is in her 40s or 50s and has a husband, son and daughter. The kids are in high school; they’re 13 and 14. Helen is super accommodating. She is constantly making sure I have food to eat for dinner and dessert. She made stewed rhubarb (like a compote), which was really tasty especially since I had never tried rhubarb before. She’s also been really kind: when she made mashed potatoes, she left some plain boiled potatoes for me. I like staying with the family on their farm because they’re teaching me about living in Scotland. I’ve had Sara, 14, explain the school system to me.