Night walking

A catch-up post from November 2020, on an evening with a really bright full moon.  I set out from home well after sunset with the full moon up above the farmland of Aberdeenshire and the forecast of a clear night to come.  The plan was to take a night walk around the Correen Hills by night.  I expected to be using a head torch for much of the way, but in fact the torch stayed in my pocket the entire four hours I was out, so bright was the moonlight.

High on the ridge, three hours into my walk and four hours after sunset.  To the right of this image, the snow covered mass of Ben Avon, one of the Cairngorm giants, was clearly visible 50km away - the air was gin-clear and the moon was arclight bright; just a beautiful night to be out on the hill.

 From the summit of Lord Arthur's Hill, the village of Alford lay in a haze of frost and woodsmoke.  to the extreme left of this image are the distant lights of the city of Aberdeen - another world.  The top of the image shows a satellite pass in the long exposure - purely by chance.  

I'd forgotten how pleasurable walking by night can be. If you don't embrace at least starting and finishing walks and other activities in the dark during Scotland's winter months, it can be very limiting.  But deliberately setting out for a night walk is something I'd fallen out of the habit of doing, and I intend to do more of this in 2021.

If you want moonlight, the formula is fairly simple, given clear or reasonably clear skies:

Full Moon - rises near sunset, sets near sunrise - bright

3rd quarter (7d after full) - rises very late evening - reasonably bright

New moon (14d after full) - rises near sunrise, sets near sunset, dark skies

1st quarter (7d before full)- sets very late evening - reasonably bright