Mountains swathed in cloud cannot be easily missed

In the latest in his series reflecting on places and pathways, Will Gore is caught between pressing on and turning back

The Cruachan Dam under clearer skies (Getty)

Walking in the Highlands is a funny business.

Land that seems dry can turn out to be saturated; mountains that appear inaccessible can be easily conquered: the tame can be wild, and the wild, tame.

If little reliance can be placed on the landscape, then the weather is an even stranger, many-faced beast; scorching the ground one moment, but shape-shifting as clouds rise and fall, come and go, swallowing mountains and bathing all-comers in any number of atmospheric delights.