Sron Smeur

25 June 2012

Participants - Neil and Ben
Where - Sron Smeur, 511m/ 1,676', Sub- 2k Marilyn, Map 42, NN 452602

Both on the map and on the ground, Sron Smeur looks insignificant, a gentle rise in the general moorland. But its situation, above Rannoch station and on the eastern fringes of Rannoch Moor, was enough to persuade me that it should reap great rewards for little effort and was therefore a Marilyn that I should add to my list. I parked at the start of the track that goes to Corrour, just over a mile before arriving at the end of the road at Rannoch station. The hill was just visible from here and I suppose that it might have been possible to make a direct approach to it across the moor.....

but I decided to take the easy option and follow the Right of Way for just over a mile and ascend the hill via its western top, Meall na Mucarath.....

The views very quickly opened out, this is from the track looking across part of the moor to Beinn a'Chreachain and Beinn Achaladair....

Shortly after I took that photo the morning train to Fort William chuntered by.....

Gaining height, I could see back across the moor to Loch Laidon with the Black Mount Munros forming the background.....

The summer hill-walkers friend, the wind, was almost completely absent. So there were midges about, and flies, and clegs, but fortunately not enough to make things unpleasant. There was a good view of the long south ridge of the Munro, Carn Dearg from Meall na Mucarach......

and the actual top of Sron Smeur came into view for the first time, across an area of peat hags, which Ben enjoyed immensely, plenty mud to immerse himself in. Fortunately, there were also lots of clear water pools about which he also enjoys lying in so he managed to wash the mud off again.....

There was no cairn- maybe because this hill receives few visitors?  However, the highest point was obvious and there was a great view east to Loch Rannoch and Schiehallion.....

Beinn Pharlagain with its Corbett summit Meall na Meoig is immediately to the north.....

and by walking a few yards in its direction I was also able to see down to the glen that separates them and which contains Lochan Sron Smeur.....

Looking further north-east, I could see the deep trench that contains Loch Ericht with Ben Alder and Beinn Bheoil towering above it.....

and to the west, the panorama was completed by the Blackwater Reservoir with the Glencoe hills beyond.....

I sat about the summit for a while before the midges got too much to bear. We almost bumped into a large herd of deer on the way down; fortunately, Ben didn't spot them, he was too busy sniffing interesting smells in the heather. Back on the track, I was looking across Loch Eigheach to the Munro of Meall Buidhe at the head of Glen Lyon.....

and of course no drive along Loch Rannoch would be complete without stopping to take a photo of the loch and Schiehallion.....

So an insignificant little bump had provided a memorable day out; highly recommended.

Rubers Law

19 June 2012

Participants - Just me
Where - Rubers Law, 424m/1,391', Sub-2k Marilyn, Map 80, NT 580155

Rubers Law is one of these stand alone, see from miles around, little peaks of which there are a number in the Lothians and Borders. It is surprisingly rugged high up with cliffs around the summit and, as it commands a magnificent view of the surrounding countryside, has a lot of history associated with it. It contains the remains of forts and hut circles, it was a Roman signal station, was used by the covenanters, and much more recently, looked as though it had had a Jubilee beacon on its summit.

I found a space to park on the verge opposite Whiteriggs farm on the west side of the hill, the grass had been cut short here and there was room for a couple of cars.....

 A broad farm track led downhill initially then there were fields to cross before reaching the heather clad upper slopes of the hill. Just as well that I had decided to leave Ben at home, this walk included all the problems of the lowland sub-2k's, farm stock, electric and barbed wire fences, etc. The track went through a gate and up through a field; the problem was that there was a herd of bullocks in the field that charged towards me as soon as I made a move to get through the gate. They were probably only curious but I wasn't going to risk it so I quickly changed direction to the field next door which fortunately had sheep in it. The cattle followed me uphill on the other side of the fence. At least all of the fences had gates through them so I was able to avoid potential problems with electricity and barbed wire. I kept to the fields passing a strand of trees on its left hand side before going through another fence and out on to the moorland. This is looking towards the summit after leaving the fields.....

Visibility was good so I got the views. The Cheviot is the hill in the background in this pic.....

this is looking in a generally easterly direction over the border farmland.....

and this is looking back down to where I had left the car (near to the farm in the middle of the picture) with Hawick beyond.....

The hill still obviously plays a part in the life of the local community, I spotted this plaque set in the rocks near to the trig.....

I went back by the same route carefully ensuring before I did so that the cattle had not somehow changed fields!

The Loch Ruthven Marilyns

2 June 2012

Participants - Neil, with Ben on Stac na Cathaig
Where - Stac na Cathaig, 446m/1,463', Sub-2k Marilyn, Map 26, NH 640302 and Stac Gorm, 430m/1,411', Sub-2k Marilyn, Map 26, NH 630273.
Plus reports from earlier visit in 2009 on Tom Bailgeann, 464m/1,522', Sub-2k Marilyn, Map 26, NH 588295 and Creag nan Clag, 407m/1,336', Sub-2k Marilyn, Map 26, NH 630273

I first came across this area, south-west of Inverness near Dores, in autumn 2009. It is an area of many lochs and looks almost Canadian in places. As far as hills go, it is well off the beaten track but there are four sub-2k's there, clustered round Loch Ruthven. I climbed two of them in 2009 and my visit today was to climb the other two; for completeness, I am adding reports on the 2009 hills at the end because I guess that it is perfectly feasible to climb all four in a single visit.

It was to be Stac na Cathaig first. I parked at the entrance to a forest track near to the east end of Loch Ruthven, next to the road to the house named Balvoulin. The track wound up through the forest passing Loch a'Choire with the cliffs of Creag Dhearg beyond.....

At a junction, I took the right hand branch, went round a second gate and carried on to the high point of the track where I had read that there was a rough path up through the trees to the moor above. Great things these hill walking sites, you get loads of information about routes. The way up through the trees was a bit rough but I could see daylight at the top and we soon emerged on to rough moorland with the hill directly ahead.....

There were a lot of deer about and Ben had to go on his lead from time to time, which he was not pleased about! This was another hill with two cairns; there was a good view down the Highland fault line from the first one that we arrived at with Meall Fuar-mhonaidh prominent.....

The other cairn looked as though it was slightly higher.....

It wasn't. This is the view north over another loch, Loch Duntelchaig.....

We sat about for a bit before reversing the route; this is the gap through the forest.....

Once back, I moved the car to the RSPB car park at Loch Ruthven, less than a mile down the road. Stac Gorm is the best of the four hills- a rugged, shapely little peak.....

There were a lot of wee cliffs around so I left Ben in the car to have a snooze while I went up. There was a rough path which started at the car park; it went through thick heather low down and then wound a way up through the rocky section. On the way up there were views across Loch Ruthven to Stac na Cathaig which showed just how much it is surrounded by trees.....

and over the loch to a distant Ben Wyvis.....

There was a substantial trig; here are a couple of pictures, the first looking south-west down Glen Albyn and the second north-east with Stac na Cathaig immediately to the left of the pillar.....

but the best view of all was down Loch Ruthven.....

I sat around for a while before reversing the route and getting ready for the drive home.

So, for completeness as far as this mini-area is concerned, here are brief reports on the other two sub-2k's. Tom Bailgeann is the highest of the group; this is it seen from Creag nan Clag.....

It is also the easiest as there is a track all the way to the summit, built to serve the radio mast etc on top. The track isn't marked on any map that I have seen but it starts close to the east end of yet another loch- Loch Ceo Glais. If you ignore all the communications equipment, there is a fine view down Glen Albyn from the summit with Loch Ness just in sight.....

and Loch Duntelchaig is always in view during the descent.....

In September 2009, I found Creag nan Clag a bit of a heather horror, I guess that it is easier earlier in the year. This is it with Tom Bailgeann beyond.....

It is another hill with big cliffs on some sides; I parked below the cliffs and went up through the heather to the right (waist high in places).....

It was a bit easier higher up, and there was a good view down Glen Albyn to Meall Fuar-mhonaidh.....

and of course another fine aspect of Loch Duntelchaig.....

This is a great area, highly recommended!

Cnoc Mor (Strathpeffer)

1 June 2012

Participants - Neil and Ben
Where - Cnoc Mor, 269m/883', Sub-2k Marilyn, Map 26, NH 490569

I have been in Strathpeffer umpteen times and done some walks there but had never ventured up Cnoc Mor. Maybe it was all the trees that put me off. Anyway, it is a sub-2k Marilyn, the day was still young after climbing Carn Faire nan Con, so I drove to Strathpeffer and parked in the woodland car park at the west end of the village signposted Blackmuir Wood. This is Cnoc Mor from the approach to Strathpeffer.....

I took the track signposted Knockfarrel past some houses; one of these had the most amazing collection of wood carvings that I have ever seen.....

There has been some forestry work here in the not too distant past and the lower slopes were clear although the trees looked pretty thick higher up.....

It certainly wasn't obvious how we were to get up through the forest; however, just before a sign pointing to "Maze", it looked as though there might be the beginnings of a path through the trees. It soon broadened out into a firebreak and it was clear that this was the trade route to Cnoc Mor. It was quite steep especially near to the top but the forestry had kindly provided a stile over the fence (Ben was able to get through a hole in the fence) and we were out on to the ridge of the hill. A rough path headed along the ridge with a few ups and downs along the way but it wasn't far to the trig which was in the middle of some deciduous woodland and gorse.....

There was no view from the trig but by dodging about between the trees and the gorse I managed to find a spot where I could get a view to the hills of the west (Affric, Strathconon etc).....

We had passed another stile on the way to the trig and Ben wriggled under the fence when we got back to it. He had obviously decided that this was a better way down. It looked in fact as if this might have been the route before the forestry operations started but the path was still in reasonable condition and less steep than the one coming up, although we did have some fallen timber to negotiate near the bottom. But we also got a good view of Ben Wyvis from the felled area so it was worth it!.....

Carn Faire nan Con

1 June 2012

Participants - Neil and Ben
Where - Carn Faire nan Con, 370m/1,215', Sub-2k Marilyn, Map 26, NH 396592

I love to get away to different areas and this trip was to the Inverness area in search of some sub-2k Marilyn's with hopefully good views. Carn Faire nan Con had received some good reports on hill walking sites so I chose that as the day's first objective. I drove to Garve and parked in the lay-by just before reaching the village and walked back down the road for a few hundred yards to the start of a track up the hill. There was very little in the way of a verge so I had to be careful to keep Ben under control; he was excited and raring to go as this was his first hill walk for about a month. The track wound up the hillside through some deciduous woodland, the only downside being that it was also the route taken by some pylons, which sort of spoilt the view down to Loch Garve. Anyway, we were soon clear of the wood and getting a first view of the hill; at the highest point, we left the track and took to the rough hillside, a mix of heather and grass. In high summer, I guess that it could be quite tough going. The views were starting to open out and there was a first view of Loch Luichart with the hills of the Fannichs beyond...

Soon on top, there were two cairns; the more western looked slightly higher. This is the lower cairn with Ben Wyvis in the background.....

and this is a rather dirty dog admiring the view to Loch Luichart from the other cairn. As usual, he had found some nice muddy pools to wallow in on the way up!.....

It was certainly one of these hills that provide good views for not too much effort. This is looking north over Garve.....

over Loch Garve to Ben Wyvis.....

along Loch Luichart to the hills of the north.....

and across the loch to the neighbouring sub-2k of Sgurr Marcasaidh. It looks a fine hill but quite a bit more difficult of access.....

I sat about at the cairn for a while before descending by the same route and on to the second hill of the day, Cnoc Mor above Strathpeffer.