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A long time ago, last century, I organised for a group of us from Dundee to do the circuit along Loch Turret and back by Choinneachan Hill. In those days I'd never heard of a Corbett, apart from the Two Ronnies one, so it never occurred to me to include Auchnafree Hill. That at some stage would have to be rectified.
I tried to do it in 2017 with my old dog Jack, but at 12 it was a big ask of him and when I was faced with heaving him over a stile by the dam (there appeared to be no gate option that day) I changed it to a walk across the dam wall and along the west side of the loch.
Loch Turret July 2017
Jack the legend, on lead as sheep about
Looks like Auchnafree would be in cloud
Symbolic of the brave but prickly Scot
Next time at Loch Turret was a November day in 2020 when I took Pete up to the dam and had no intention of going as far as Auchnafree Hill, although it would have been a glorious day to have done it.
Loch Turret November 2020
Classic Turret shot
Zoomed to north end
We had Keira dog with us that day but there were numerous notices asking for dogs to be kept on lead at all times and when I mentioned it to a friend who lives in Crieff he said the sheep grazing estate there is increasingly not comfortable with walkers and certainly not dogs. The route I'd taken down from Coinneachan Hill in the 1990s is now discouraged, which is reflected in the revised route WH now recommends.
The week we were in St Fillans in June 2021 we had gorgeous weather on Beinn Dubhchraig and Ben Oss but it turned unsettled after that so instead of heading west for Beinn Achaladair as originally planned we went in the Crieff direction to finally nail the oft discussed Auchnafree Hill.
Driving up the dam road, which seems to be more potholed each time I come, it was disappointing to see the cloud so low. But we had decided that whatever the weather threw at us, this time we were reaching the top!
Out of respect for the sheep estate's attitude to dogs I didn't bring Keira. In any case she wouldn't have much enjoyed being on the lead for the entire walk - and neither would I.
Loch Turret June 2021
A number of burns run off the hill on the east side of the loch but none were any problem to cross. They did at least break up the monotony of walking along a track surrounded by cloud.
One of the burns
Easily crossed
Very low cloud
Feeding station
We took a sharp right turn to follow the track up the side of the hill and shortly afterwards were met by an estate vehicle. The driver said he thought we would be continuing north to climb Ben Chonzie but since we weren't explained they were doing the annual gathering of the hill sheep to health check the lambs and MOT the ewes. On account of poor visibility they were way behind schedule so would we be willing to stop and have a cup of tea until the sheep had passed?
So of course we agreed although I can't stand tea and we didn't have a flask of coffee with us either. But we could have half a lunch so that's what we did. The man said it would probably be 20 minutes and we could continue after the flock crossed the track ahead of us. In the end it was more than 20 minutes - more like 40 - but gathering sheep in cloud is not an exact science and some stragglers are probably still up there who missed this year's health check and MOT.
Enforced food stop
Never imagined being held up by sheep!
View from unplanned lunch stop
Vehicle that spoke to us
Here they come now
Man and dogs guarding the way
For working collies these two were delightfully friendly and wiggled up to us with tails wagging. In the absence of Keira at least I got my dog fix. Their human was friendly too. He had come over from a neighbouring farm, in the way farming folk do when there's a job to be done that needs more hands on deck.
Look blue sky over Ben Chonzie!
Friendly man and collies following the sheep
Flock now below us so okay to go on
Following our enforced stop we probably climbed the rest of the track more quickly than we would have done and reached the junction at the same time as two guys also heading for Auchnafree Hill but not too sure of the way. We showed them our map and off they went slightly ahead of us, although we reached the top at the same time.
Auchnafree summit
Zoomed to Lawers range
Plaque just below summit
I'm not sure what that was about. It didn't mean anything to me and the guys didn't know either.
Moira on Auchnafree Hill
We found a spot out of the direct wind and ate the rest of our lunch before retracing our steps back to Loch Turret.
Loch Turret from descent
Where has the blue sky gone?
But brighter than the walk in was
We had been warned
So that was Auchnafree Hill on a day of low cloud when thanks to the sheep we probably got a better view from the top than we might otherwise have done.