Mull of Kintyre Marilyns- Cnoc Moy and Beinn na Lice

9 June 2015

 

Participants: Just me

Where: Cnoc Moy, 446m/1,464', Sub-2k Marilyn, Map 68, NR 611152 and Beinn na Lice, 428m/1,404', Sub-2k Marilyn, Map 68, NR 602085

 

I had only been down the Kintyre peninsula once before- with work on a dreich January day. So it was a part of the country that I was unfamiliar with- time to put that right. I drove down the east side so I got a good view of the Arran hills, this is from the harbour at Carradale.....

The weather on the following day was a bit hazy and there looked to be a bit of a sea mist around. I had been fighting a cold for a day or two so decided to do Cnoc Moy and then decide whether I was up for the other hill. I had spotted an approach from the south east following a forestry track and passing a farm at Gartnacopaig. A lot of the forest had been cut down and I soon got a view of my hill.....

I left the track before I got to some other buildings at Largiebaan and took to the grassy hillside; the going underfoot was good- miraculous compared to some of the other hills in the area! Looking back, I could see Sanda island.....
 

 

The haze made the views a bit disappointing, this is looking to Machrihanish beach from the trig.....

This is The Slate, another sub-2k and one that definitely wasn't on my list of hills to do, as well as being covered in trees it is apparently very rough, even by Kintyre standards.....
 

 

I could also see my next intended hill in the distance.....
 

 

Fortunately, I didn't have to reach it cross country. It was back to the car in what I thought was a very reasonable 3 hours 45 minutes. I didn't feel great but Beinn na Lice only takes about 40 minutes so I jumped in the car and headed to the Mull of Kintyre.

 

The sun shone all of the way until I got to within a few hundred yards of the road end. But I suppose that I shouldn't have expected anything else but mist rolling in off the sea!
 

 

Anyway, there were breaks so I did get a view from time to time. The hillside was very rough but no matter, the cairn and trig soon came into view.....

 

 

This is the radio mast on the nearby Torr Mor, with the coast of Northern Ireland just visible beyond.....

So a nice couple of hills, and easy. Driving back up the road on the west side of the peninsula the following day- a day of crystal clear visibility- I got a great view of Cnoc Mor from Machrihanish beach.....