Cnoc Coinnich

18 April 2011

Participants - Us again
Where - Cnoc Coinnich, 761m/2497', Graham, Map 56, NN 233008

Cnoc Coinnich- the equal highest of the Grahams-  was one of a handful of hills that I thought that I had climbed before but could not be certain and had not therefore included it in my Marilyn total. So it was high up my list of hills to do. This is a view of it that I took last year from Ben Donich, its Corbett neighbour to the north.....

It was still warm although hazier than yesterday and as the best of the sunshine was forecast to be in the morning we set off fairly early from home. It was very handy being able to drive a couple of miles past Ardgartan to the large car park at Coilessan; the Forestry had even been working on the road filling in the potholes. No chance of getting lost at the start of this hill, the route up the glen was well signposted.....

After about a mile the track was replaced by a path that climbed steeply to the top of the forest.....

There was a fence at the top with a stile but also an old, semi broken gate which I was thankfully able to open to let Ben through. A few hundred yards after leaving the forest we came across a cairn from where there was a good view of the rest of the walk.....

The path we had been following was part of the Cowal Way and we continued on it to the highest point on the plateau before heading for the north-west ridge of Cnoc Coinnich- the ridge on the right of the photo above. It was typical of the hills around here- quite a bit of rock higher up but the ridge was grassy and we therefore avoided any potential problems. Ben hasn't learned yet to watch what he is jumping off and I didn't want him disappearing over a cliff! For that reason we didn't spend much time at the summit when we got there as the cairn is perched close to a considerable drop. In fact, I only stopped long enough to take the obligatory summit photo......

before moving away slightly from the summit to take a picture looking down towards the Clyde although the view in that direction was a bit disappointing- a combination of the haze and the sun being in the wrong place.....

Just below the summit there was a wee lochan in which Ben splashed happily (Ben Lomond in the background).....

We stopped on the way back down where there was an excellent view towards the Brack with Beinn Luibheinn, Beinn Ime and the Cobbler to its left.....

Back on the Cowal Way we caught up with a large group of people who were walking the entire route. I had a look at the map when I got home and it looks like a good route through some really rough country.  But Cnoc Coinnich was enough for us today- all in all it took about 4 hours.