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Marilyns: Torr Achilty
Date walked: 20/09/2009
Distance: 135km (bike), 2km (walking)
Ascent: 1100m? (bike), 250m (walking)
Time: 9 hours
Weather: Warm and sunny, turning slightly overcast later on.
Another oldie, and one with very little walking in. I set out on a bike ride around the Strathpeffer/Garve/Strathconon area without any particuarly fixed plans, other than to have a good long day out. I ended up adding in all sorts of detours, and taking a quick trip up the small but steep Marilyn of Torr Achilty. I've tended to make a habit of cycling to many of the local Marilyns, but most of them weren't this long! I'm not sure if this area strictly counts as Easter Ross either, but I'm not sure what else to call it.
I left the house at about 9am and took the quick route over to Dingwall. In recent years, a cycle path following the A835 has been constructed, making this a bit less of a fight with speedy traffic. A bit of a slog up to the high point is rewarded with good views to the upper Cromarty Firth and Ben Wyvis, and a nice long descent to Marybrugh. A bit of old road led me into Dingwall past the cattle market.
The first 14 miles had flown by nicely, but the next section slowed me down a lot. I headed out of Dingwall on the Strathpeffer road before turning off for the Heights of Dochcarty. New territory for me, and I have a feeling the annual fell race up Ben Wyvis comes this way. First part of the hill was bloody steep, and just when I thought I was done, a guy out walking his dog warned me the second bit was even worse! I had problems with the lower gears on my bike at this point, and the chain fell off. No way I was going to be able to get started again, so I pushed for a few minutes until the road started levelling off. A bit further along and there were stunning views over Strath Peffer, and back to the Monadh Liath in the distance.
Looking across Strath Peffer to Knockfarrel and the Strathconon hills from Heights of Fodderty:
Back down to the Cromarty Firth from Heights of Fodderty:
Some lovely downhill followed, with good scenery - just the sort of thing that makes cycling so appealing. I could have carried on all the way down to Strathpeffer for some tea and a cake, but I fancied doing a bit of offroad, and getting right into some of the less visited parts of the forest south of Ben Wyvis.
The key was to turn right at the farm of Newhouse and pick up a track into the forest. With so many houses and lanes up here, this isn't obvious, but I found it eventually. Past the house it was very steep and rough, so I was glad I'd given my gear changer a good kick and gotten into a nice low gear ready for it. After I hit the forest boundary, the track improved a lot, and led me up the upper course of the Abhainn Sgitheach. I'm not a massive fan of these sort of areas when I'm on foot, but with a bike, they become a whole lot more enjoyable.
Cioch Mhor from the forest above Strathpeffer:
Southern slopes of Ben Wyvis:
The high point of the track was just north of Cnoc na Gearrasaich, and there are more great views over forest and moorland from here. Although I'm quite used to seeing the hills and valleys in this area, I've never quite seen them from this angle before.
Descending to Rogie - looking across Carn Faire nan Con to the Strathconon hills:
Raven Rock:
I'm sure a friend of mine mentioned that the Snowman Rally comes over this way, but luckily not in September, so I had the place to myself. A fun descent down to Glensgiach followed, where the farmhouse has been converted into a power station on a run of river hydro scheme. I knew I could work my way to Contin from here, but decided to have a look at Loch Garve first - a loch I've driven past hundreds of times, but never seen from the other side. On the one hand the water's edge was very pleasant, with good views over to the rocky hills above Tarvie, but on the other hand, it appeared to be a popular drinking spot, and there were cans, broken glass and the remains of fires strewn about
Loch Garve and Carn Faire nan Con:
I reversed a short part of my route then headed under a small railway bridge in the direction of Contin. Some nice bits of river hereabouts - marshes and meanders. Further down, there are some small gorges and impressive waterfalls at the Rogie falls. I didn't go down there this time, but have visited often enough. The photo is from another visit earlier the same year.
Rogie Falls (taken March 2009)
I finally popped out on the road again at Contin, most of the forestry track to that point having been pretty smooth. Where next? I always liked the look of Loch Achilty and the lower bits of Strathconon, but was usually whizzing through in the car, so I decided to head up here next. The sign at the junction indicates that this road is a dead end, but it isn't, and you can take a car through to Strathconon this way as well.
Loch Achilty:
Confusingly, the River Meig actually comes down Strathconon, and the River Conon flows from Loch Luichart. Beyond Loch Achilty, this is picked up, and even in dryish conditions it is a pretty hefty river. Another chance for a detour arose and I took a fork up to Luichart Dam. Most people will be familiar with the view down Loch Luichart as they charge past on the Achnasheen road, but I'd imagine fewer will have seen it from this end. It was the first time I had. Pretty steep sided, and gave me good views of the Marilyns either side. Sgurr Marcasaidh in particular is high on my list now, and looks very steep and rocky from here. If driving up, there is a locked gate about 500m before the dam.
Lochluichart dam:
Loch Luichart and the other side of Carn Faire nan Con:
Back down to the Strathconon road, and I stopped for lunch above a wooded gorge on the Meig. Very difficult to get a good view into this, but it appears to be pretty deep.
Meig Gorge:
Meig Gorge looking the other way:
One of the things I had noticed while driving up this road was how much bare rock is on the northern slopes of the glen hereabouts. I crossed the road from my lunch stop and went to explore briefly. Pretty hard going terrain, but an ascent of 50m or so gave a nice viewpoint.
Down Strathconon from a shoulder of Creag na Carachain:
Rocky shoulder of Creag na Carachain:
On the bike again, and I finally hit the main Marybank road up Strathconon. While a left turn would take me home, I decided to go right, and take a bit of a tour up the glen. It is a lovely road for cycling - never busy, not particuarly steep anywhere, and with constant changes in direction providing varying scenery. I like Strathconon as much as the much more popular Glen Affric - one of the best glens up here.
Meallan nan Uan and Sgurr an Mhuilinn from Bridgend:
I hadn't planned on going all the way to the road end, but in the end I went further than expected. At one point I thought I might climb up Meall na Faochaig, as I had plenty of time, but once I saw it I changed my mind! I also turned round at this point, at Glenmeanie.
Clach Loundraine and higher up Strathconon:
I had the wind behind me and a slight downhill all the way back down the glen, so decided that I would go up a hill, albeit a much smaller one. I had been meaning to go up Torr Achilty for ages, as it is a very prominent hill in the Contin area, and looks like good fun.
East along Loch Meig:
After passing my previous junction, some winding about through pleasant woodland took me past the new substation for the Fairburn wind farm to the dam at Loch Achonachie. Torr Achilty rose up rather abruptly on the other side of this.
NOTE: SSE have since stopped access across this dam, so it is no longer possible to approach Torr Achilty from this road.Once across the dam, I attacked the hillside. This involved climbing up an almost vertical earth bank while trying not to clutch onto brambles. A crash through head-high bracken and a climb over a barbed wire fence followed in the next 5 minutes - who says the smaller hills can't be challenging?
Even after clearing the bracken, things were not that easy. Despite being covered in heather, the topsoil is virtually non-existant on the upper part of the hill, and for most of the ascent, you are walking on bare comglomerate mudstone. This is very knobbly but also soft and crumbly, as well as steep, so is like climbing up a slope of ball bearings! Ok-ish in the dry conditions I was in, but fun in the wet I'd imagine.
Still, if this ascent had one thing going for it, it was short, and I was on the summit in little over 20 minutes. Being surrounded by higher hills meant that views weren't that far ranging, but what could be seen in the immediate vicinity was very nice. Also a pleasant heathery top with the odd tree dotted about made this a nice change to the windswept higher summits.
Contin from Torr Achilty:
Towards the Beauly Firth from Torr Achilty:
Up Strathconon:
In the direction of Garve, Beinn Dearg on the horizon:
Little Wyvis and Ben Wyvis:
Loch Achonachie:
Interestingly you can see that the developer of the Fairburn windfarm has opted to use the existing hydro access track to get to the turbine locations, rather than bulldozing lots of new ones. This is one that I can see from my house, and it was quite a surprise for it to suddenly appear on the horizon. I don't have any great concerns about it, but it seems that the developers like to keep a lowish profile when sticking these things up - I'd never head about it prior to construction.
Access to Fairburn windfarm:
Back down the same way - brutal, but at least I knew what I was letting myself in for! In retrospect, it is probably no bad thing that SSE have now shut this route off - I'm pretty sure there are better ways to climb this from Contin.
Loch Achonachie from the descent:
Achonachie dam:
Back on the bike again, and I was beginning to feel a bit worn out by the time I reached Marybank. Thirst was creeping up on me and I had run out of water. Looking for a river to drink from isn't really an option in this area - maybe further back up Strathconon would have been OK! I eventually stopped off in Beauly to buy something, and pottered the last 15 miles home rather slowly. An enjoyable day of exploration - It's great being able to get into these areas under your own steam
