I woke on day six tucked into the corner of a Co-op car park, where the friendly staff the night before had assured me it was fine to stay. The shop was just opening, so I popped in for a few supplies before heading a short way up the road to park in Moffat town centre.

Moffat itself was a delight with lots of independent cafés and little shops, the kind of place that immediately feels welcoming. I decided on a wander up a nearby hill, a gentle start to the day that took me through lovely woodland with views across to the Devil’s Beef Tub.

Once back at the van, on a whim, I took the road out to Grey Mare’s Tail, around ten miles beyond Moffat. The drive alone was worth it: wide open landscapes, rolling hills, and shapes on the horizon that had me mentally bookmarking routes to research later on my maps. When I arrived at the car park and went to pay for a ticket, I spotted an unused one left on the machine - result!

And so off we went, Nala and I, following the path that hugs the waterfall. A series of cascades tumble down the hillside, eventually leading up to the beautiful Loch Skeen. The first sight of the loch completely blew my mind. I lingered there for a long while, stopping to eat beside a smaller lochan just above, soaking it all in.

Looking up at the surrounding hills, I realised White Coomb the highest point of the Moffat Hills wasn’t far away. I pondered whether to have a chilled day or go for the longer walk up to the Corbett. (A Corbett, for anyone wondering, is a Scottish mountain between 2,500 and 3,000 feet.)

I wandered back down towards the loch and out onto a small island-like outcrop that juts into the water. From there I spotted a faint path and decided to follow it just to see where it went. It began to climb, and I carried on. I’ll just go up this little hill and check out the views, I told myself, with no intention of going any further.

Along the way I spotted some feral goats in the distance. They watched us approach, two of them briefly butting heads, before they vanished over the hill and were gone.
The “little hill” turned out to be further than it looked from below, but I eventually reached the top. From there, I could see how easily I could reach the ridge leading on to White Coomb. Once again, I paused. No, I decided. Another day! And started to descend.

On the way down I met a woman coming up, and we fell into conversation. I asked where she was heading.
“White Coomb,” she said.
I laughed and told her I’d been debating it myself but had decided against it.
“Well,” she replied, “I was debating whether to go up too and had decided not to but then I saw you walking up here and it inspired me to go for it after all.”
In that case, I felt I had no choice.
“Well,” I said, “I suppose I’d better come with you then, if you don’t mind?”

And so we turned back uphill together, climbed onto the ridge, and continued on to White Coomb. As it turned out, I already followed her YouTube channel GoSummit Solo. We chatted easily as we walked and have stayed in touch on Instagram since. She does a lot of extreme wild camping on mountain summits and completed all the Munros in around 18 months, if I remember rightly. She's now living from her van - \I got to see her van back down in the car park later - it certainly put my basic little set up to shame - but I love my van it meets my needs.

I love meeting random people in the hills. Most of the time we part ways without exchanging details and never cross paths again but this time was different. I hope we’ll meet again someday.
Eventually we made our way back down past the waterfalls to our vans, she stopped for a swim in one of the pools and I wished I’d joined her but chickened out which is unlike me! She headed off to her parking spot for the night, and I debated whether to stay another night myself or head home. In the end, I chose to go home with my heart and soul completely full.

I feel so incredibly lucky to experience days like this, where I never quite know where the path will lead or how the day will unfold. And I can’t wait for the next little adventure, wherever that may be.