Photo opportunity missed

No - the weather here in the Borders has not got this bad. This is just to introduce a bit of blarney.
Since we moved to this area, I have made a habit of doing a particular excursion on my birthday. Near to the picnic area where pointy nose and I go every other day is a bit of a hill. I've climbed it every 15th August just to prove to myself that I can still do it. Daft but there it is; it is something I have always had I suppose and is not connected to the adrenaline junkie thing.
Strongest influence was at a place in the Yorkshire Dales. It's location was nowhere near where we usually took a cottage but we went past it often when driving hither or even yon.
During the summer, it just looked as if it were a high bit of ground with the hardest walk below the summit proper. In winter - that is it above. Not really a place to go to. Liable to white-out and plenty of opportunity to get into really bad land if navigation was adrift.
It seemed to leer over me and in time the challenge became serious. In time, I planned a long week end in the area with the intention of facing the challenge. I had my GPS kit, good maps and even a SARBE beacon should things get really exciting.
The weather forecast was dismal as I drove up. There were blizzards from the Midlands up along the A1. The night I booked into the hostel was one long snowfall. Next morning was calm but with more snow in the air. I managed to get to a good start point and set off.
Within a short while I had added almost all of my spare clothing as the wind was increasing the chill factor well below zero. There were, obviously, no tracks or obvious stonewall to follow and the snow was 12" deep in places. Twice I thought it was just too selfish to carry on but was in that state of mind where one does not give in. Eventually, I reached the summit plateau, heated some food and drink and had a wander round. I took some compass readings to get a good walk back without retracing my route up and then came down - possibly with more difficulty than I had going up as the storm was well advanced. All in all, I was away from the car for some seven hours and it was dark when I got back to the car.
However, every time I drove along the valley after that, I was able to do so without any sense of some mystic challenge from the high ground.
I've tried to instill the same sort of challenge in my Borders on my Birthday thing. Yesterday of course, I was not in the Borders. Have to wait and see tomorrow whether the hill gloats at me. Still, there is always 15 August 2006.