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Should have packed the machete...

Should have packed the machete...


Postby Jaxter » Wed May 26, 2021 2:52 pm

Sub 2000' hills included on this walk: Torr Achilty

Date walked: 06/12/2020

Time taken: 2.48 hours

Distance: 5.25 km

Ascent: 269m

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More weeks of feeling horrible, but we needed to get out and do something :roll: Malky suggested Torr Achilty - a "small and easy" hill near Contin. We parked up and walked across the bridge - there was plenty of ice around but nothing too slippery. It was a beautiful afternoon
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We walked a few metres along the road before taking the track down towards the farm. There was a lot of mud around but the track made for easy walking. The views back towards Ben Wyvis were pretty good
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Malky was convinced there was a path and an easy route up. In hindsight I probably ought to have asked more questions rather than blindly trusting him :roll: But we did find something that looked like a bit of a path so we left the track
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We followed the path, or bits of it, through the woodland. Mostly we managed to avoid the worst of the bracken and there were animal tracks which helped. It was slow going and more up and down than I would have liked
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As we pulled ourselves out of the trees, it was a case of "out of the frying pan and into the fire" as we ended up in deep heather... :roll: The views were wonderful though, so it was a perfect excuse for a breather, and some lunch.
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Looking towards Ben Wyvis
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Perhaps we should have stayed in the trees?
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Ahead - the deep heather looked like a nightmare. But there were not a lot of options. Fortunately the distance was very short, so we just had to get on and do it :roll:
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Once across the open field of deep heather, we were back into the trees and the ground underfoot did improve for a while. When we popped out of the trees we could see down Loch Achonachie
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Unfortunately, we were back into the horrific deep heather and on an even steeper gradient than before :roll:
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Out of the worst, we picked up a vague path heading towards the summit - thank goodness the ground was better here :roll: And the views down the loch were incredible
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Zoomed towards the Strathfarrar hills
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Almost there....
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And we were finally there! Summit of Torr Achilty - a smashing spot 8)
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The cloud coming in over Ben Wyvis
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We had another decent break - this was not turning out to be the quick and easy hill that I was promised :crazy: I put my foot down about returning the way we had come, so we debated options and decided to try to head down the shorted steeper ridge to the farm - it would be a longer walk out on the track but would get us off the hill quicker.
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Sgurr a' Mhuillin
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Initially as headed into the trees the ground wasn't too bad...
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We skirted around the top of the steep bit
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Looking out towards Contin
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Then the ground got steeper :shock:
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It was pretty tricky to keep our feet as we dropped down...
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We made our way around a big cliff and across a huge puddle of water
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A conveniently placed gate let us out onto the track
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We headed back along the track eventually meeting our outward route. The sky suggested that there was a good sunset somewhere, but we were just glad to get back to the car so I could sleep :lol:
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Perhaps there is an easier way up Torr Achilty, but this isn't it :lol:
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User avatar
Jaxter
Wanderer
 
Posts: 1486
Munros:217   Corbetts:141
Fionas:91   Donalds:49+13
Sub 2000:131   Hewitts:69
Wainwrights:81   Islands:35
Joined: Aug 8, 2011
Location: Glasgow/Inverness

Re: Should have packed the machete...

Postby Alteknacker » Sun May 30, 2021 11:38 am

Heck, you did choose a tough route there :roll: .

I thought I was the only one with a deep heather and impassable forestry compass on my feet!!! Evidently not!!
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Alteknacker
Scrambler
 
Posts: 3473
Munros:176   Corbetts:33
Fionas:1   
Hewitts:264
Wainwrights:118   
Joined: May 25, 2013
Location: Effete South (of WIgan, anyway)

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