GIANT STRIDES

Here’s another phenomenon that can happen anywhere, provided you are reasonably high up. Walking above lowlying cloud is always breathtaking (and gives you the smug feeling that everyone under the fog blanket thinks it’s a lousy day). But if the sun is behind you and conditions are right, you may also end up with your very own Brocken spectre – your own shadow, apparently magnified at least tenfold, rising over the cloud below with a rainbow-coloured halo (a ‘glory’) as its crown. They are especially common in autumn as you’re more likely to get layers of cool air trapped low in valleys, causing the cloud inversion that kicks them off.

 WALK HERE: Any ridge, above any valley – if you’re lucky.