Cnoc Ceislein, circular route from Evanton

[gld73]

With travelling afar to do new hills being off the cards just now, new routes close to home are the next best thing. I've only done Cnoc Ceislein from Fyrish before, so had a look at the map for another route which would take in Cnoc Ceislein and, as it was such a beautiful day, give a longer circular walk. This is (approximately) what I ended up doing:

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I parked in the free car park off the main street in Evanton and continued along the street, past the caravan park, over the river and took the first left (the Glen Glass road). When the track bent left I continued straight ahead, which became a path into the woods. There's quite a network of trails through the forestry from this point. A sunny Saturday, so a few other walkers and mountain bikers were on the lower trails, though I didn't see anyone once I got higher up.

Leaving the tarmac and heading to the start of the forestry trails

Lower tracks had mountain bikers and other walkers and I thought it would be a busy day on my route ...but I barely saw a soul on the rest of the walk

Got a view of Fyrish monument as I made my way up through the forest

Had to get my map and compass out a handful of times at junctions, working out how to get to the track I was aiming for (the one which runs across the flank of Cnoc Ceislein - it's easier to find from Fyrish, though even then I vaguely recall getting a bit confused!). Fortunately I made it without any wrong turns, and headed up the snow covered track between Fyrish and Cnoc Ceislein, out of the forestry now. Not too many footprints on the track, and then none at all from when the track branched and I took the left to Cnoc Ceislein.

Leaving the tree cover behind and taking the track between Cnoc Ceislein and Fyrish hill

Fyrish over to the right

Cnoc Ceislein to the left

The summit is towards the northern end of the hill, so after making my way along the snowy track for a bit, I left it and headed up the heathery, snow-free slopes. It's surprising there's not a well worn path to the summit given how popular Fyrish is - you'd think more people would extend their walk to the main summit, but I'm not complaining, it makes it feel like a nice hill walk when you've got to walk up rough ground rather than taking a path. It's a lovely surprise getting up to the summit trig point and suddenly getting views of the hills beyond.

Gentle slope and low heather to head up the hill

Couldn't see any mountains on the way up, so it was lovely to come on to the summit area and suddenly get views

Towards Glen Glass and Ben Wyvis

Zoomed - Meall an Tuirc (L) and Bendealt (R) in the middle of the picture, Ben Wyvis behind

Looking back to the Cromarty Firth and Fyrish

Quickest way back to Evanton would have been back the way I'd come, but I wanted a longer walk, so could see tracks on the map which would take me to Glen Glass. I headed north east down the easy heather slopes again to rejoin the track further north than I'd left it on the way up and followed it down north. Quite hard going through the snow, so I ended up walking up on the heather again alongside the track until the snow ended. Not long after that, the track merged onto a section which became like a road, not tarmac, but more than a track used for the occasional Landrover certainly. The reason became clear when I reached the signs and substation for the Novar windfarm, this was obviously part of the access route when it had been under construction.

Descending north east

Back on the track, heading NW

Track visible again after the snow ...Novar Windfarm on the hills ahead

My OS map was a few years old so didn't have the substation marked. It wasn't the most scenic view on the walk...

From the substation, I went left, south towards Glen Glass, still on a good track (coming to Cnoc Ceislein this way from Evanton or Glen Glass would be a good cycle route). It wasn't the most interesting stretch of the walk, but the view over to the less-seen side of Cnoc Ceislein was good, it looked a more impressive hill from this side. The tops of the wind turbines of the Novar wind farm over the hill to the north / west were visible, but there are few walks in Scotland when wind turbines aren't in sight nowadays!

Heading south on the track to Glen Glass, the view back to the north is the graham Beinn Tharsuinn

Cnoc Ceislein from the west

Continuing down the track towards the rounded lump of Meall an Tuirc (the smaller of the 2 Meall an Tuirc's in this area)

Full length of Cnoc Ceislein

Eventually I reached the T-junction of tracks and went left, then the next right, to skirt around Meall an Tuirc (the 496m one, not the 625m one a bit further north) - from a distance it had looked like a nice wee hill to go up, but there was no obvious way from the part of the tracks I passed it on, so I didn't bother trying to battle through the forested slopes and just continued on down past a couple of houses and onto the single track Glen Glass road. I could have walked back to Evanton along it, it's quiet enough, just the occasional car passing along it, but my map showed a couple of places where tracks more or less parallel to the road could be followed, so I took these in a couple of places. The first of these was nice until it turned into a churned up mud bath (forestry equipment maybe?), but shortly after that quagmire it reached a big gate. The immaculate grass on the other side looked like it was part of the garden of the nearby house, but it is a track which runs between the houses and back to the road again.

Back on the Glen Glass road, came across this local

Could have stayed on the road, but I took a forestry track to the left

The track goes through a muddy stretch but then comes to this gate. Didn't look overly welcoming, but I climbed over it and the grassy track continues above the garden of the house before joining the driveway of a couple of houses at Redburn to go back to the road

Looking back once I'd got to the Glen Glass road (single track road here on the left), this is the driveway I'd come down. I think if I'd done this walk in reverse I would have continued along the road as this entrance doesn't look like it goes to a public track - but it does

Further along I took a track off to the right as it looked like I'd get to the Black Rock Gorge and could walk back to Evanton through the paths there. The footbridge I went over looked a bit industrial and didn't look familiar from my previous visit to the Gorge, but it was a good viewpoint down into the deep, narrow gorge, so I assumed it must be the viewpoint I'd been to before ....but up the steep slope on the other side and continuing down parallel to the gorge I came to a signpost pointing down to another bridge over another part of the gorge which was the one I'd been to before and is the main one people go to. Nice to know there are 2 bridges now anyway!

Footbridge across Black Rock Gorge

View in to the narrow gorge

Black Rock Gorge

So just the stroll on the path through the woods to the parking area for the Black Gorge and back into Evanton. Not the shortest, quickest up-down route for Cnoc Ceislein, but a good lockdown leg-stretch discovering tracks I haven't been on before

Following the woodland path back to Evanton

End of the walk, the small car park in Evanton

[Jaxter]

This looks fantastic - such a great feeling when you arrive somewhere and get some views isn't it We did actually find quite a well-worn route up to Cnoc Ceislein, although it was summer and the heather was much higher so may have been more obvious!

[gld73]

This looks fantastic - such a great feeling when you arrive somewhere and get some views isn't it We did actually find quite a well-worn route up to Cnoc Ceislein, although it was summer and the heather was much higher so may have been more obvious!

Ah, I did think it odd there wasn't a path!
Anyway, next time you're cycling in this area again (especially if The Storehouse is open for a cake stop), incorporating the walk up Cnoc Ceislein would definitely make for a better day out than the walk to Mount Eagle ..

[dogplodder]

We did this one by the path up to Fyrish, which was lovely in the snow.... but your version looks a bit more adventurous.

[Jaxter]

This looks fantastic - such a great feeling when you arrive somewhere and get some views isn't it We did actually find quite a well-worn route up to Cnoc Ceislein, although it was summer and the heather was much higher so may have been more obvious!

Ah, I did think it odd there wasn't a path!
Anyway, next time you're cycling in this area again (especially if The Storehouse is open for a cake stop), incorporating the walk up Cnoc Ceislein would definitely make for a better day out than the walk to Mount Eagle ..

"better than Mount Eagle" is not a very high bar
But you're absolutely right - that would be a smashing route

[BlackPanther]

Like many others, we also climbed this one via Fyrish and never thought about a longer route. Your option looks good though