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Grahams: Beinn Tharsuinn.
Date: 28/03/2021.
Distance: 7.5 km (cycling), 5.5km (walking).
Ascent: 175m (cyling), 430m (walking).
Time: 4 hours.
Weather: Overcast and windy, but dry.
I'd identified this as a possible lockdown route at the start of the year, but to make it manageable, we just needed to wait for the snow level to go up a bit...and the weather to be at least slightly benign...and for Jackie to feel like she might have a fighting chance of getting round it. Despite some cold winds being forecast, today looked like being the day.
On the drive across the Black Isle, the rain pelted down for a short period, and despite the sunshine once we parked up in Strathrory, the cold wind and dark skies in the distance didn't really give us much confidence. Oh well, we were here now - might as well have a go at least!
We had decided to cycle up to the quarry at the foot of Beinn Tharsuinn, which would save us around 5 miles of walking over the day. The track was pretty decent but we were uphill and into the wind - joy
.
Cycling up Strathrory Torr Leathan and Beinn Tharsuinn A sliver of Glas Leathad Beag Despite the initial gasps for air, we were at the quarry in around half an hour. The sun was still out here and we were on the most sheltered side of the hill, so it was actually very pleasant. We decided to go anti-clockwise around our route as it took in two summits, and this would land us on the highest one first. That way, we could just retrace our steps if Jackie didn't feel up to the second summit.
Leaving the bikes Unfortunately the initial approach to Beinn Tharsuinn required a bit of trekking across heathery tussocks to cross the Allt Meadhonach. There was a faint quad bike track to start us off, but this soon disappeared. The ground looked greener where the spur steepened, but this turned out to be just as tussocky as the heather!
Allt Meadhonach Dornoch Firth After a couple of short breaks, we were finally drawing level with the windfarm. I had always considered approach from the windfarm tracks as a bad idea, but it actually looked as reasonable as any other way up this hill. We eventually picked up a path for the last 150m or so of ascent - shame we didn't find it lower down!
Beinn Tharsuinn windfarm with Ben Klibreck behind Still, once on the path, the summit came easily and the wind wasn't even as bad as we thought it would be. Things were shaping up much better than we had thought on the drive over
. With good visibility you can see through to Suilven and Cul Mor from here, but in that direction there was grey murk. Still, Ben More Assynt and Ben Klibreck were on view, as was the good side of Ben Wyvis, so we were satisfied with that.
Ben Wyvis from the summit Beinn Dearg hills Mouth of the Dornoch Firth Invergordon and the Cromarty Firth Jackie felt much better up here than she had while grinding over the steep tussocks earlier on, so we decided to keep going to Torr Leathan. I thought the path here avoided the peat hags, but it actually goes right through them - in this case it was welcome as they were largely dry and kept us out of the wind. There was a peaty scrabble up a bank on the far side of the col, then we were back on a path again.
Jackie on Torr Leathann The descent to the quarry from Torr Leathan was on short heather and turf for a reasonable part of the route which was nice, and by the time the going became rougher, we were almost at the quarry. We slipped through the fence here and picked up the top of the track leading back to the bikes.
Meall a Bhreacain Pat Munro quarry in Strathrory Although there was a slight climb on the track to begin the cycle out, most of it was downhill with wind behind us, so less than 20 minutes saw us back at the car. Not the most photogenic of days, but for some reason it felt more like we had been on proper hills here than at any other point this year. With restrictions easing and a long Easter weekend coming up, we ended the day in a good frame of mind.