We were far more familiar with cycling up this hill than walking it, so it felt like it went on forever - but as the gradient eased as we came towards the top of the steepest bit, the fields opened out and it felt like PROPER WINTER
Further along the road
Carn a' Bhodaich above Loch Ness
We stopped for a short breather as I was shattered, but also to enjoy the views (and for Malky to show off his new bobble hat
)
We took the track just before Drumashie Farm which thankfully was gently downhill and had had a tractor or two along it to make it good snow for walking on (despite this, Malky nearly went flying a couple of times
)
As we headed into the trees there had definitely been less traffic, but a couple of bikes (either very fat-tyred mountain bikes or something motorised) had been through.
Snowy woods
A break in the trees gave us a glimpse across the end of Loch Ness
Looking back, the sun was preparing to do nice things....
Miles to go - Cullaird; the buildings just in front of the trees, were our next aim....
There were lots of tracks criss-crossing but for once we made our way through unscathed
As we dropped lower, so did the sun
Beautiful early evening colours
As we dropped lower, the ground became less snowy and more muddy but with plenty of ice to watch out for! Soon we were approaching Cullaird buildings and the sun was having a final hurrah
From here we headed into the woods and followed some very muddy paths interspersed with frozen lochans
We then reached the road and had about 3km to walk back home - it felt like an eternity and I thought I was going to need a carry home
But a beautiful day out in the snow!
