free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
We decided to change our car in late 2021 but it took a few months to find a suiting replacement for good old Black Arrow (140 k in seven years of driving on bumpy Scottish roads!). It was hard to say good bye to our faithful trip companion but no car lives forever
She had been squeezed into tiny parking spaces, left for hours in laybys, on grassy road verges or forest tracks entrances, she carried bikes and camping gear, was constantly dive-bombed by seagulls and covered in Scottish mud, you name it - she suffered through it with us...
- Black Arrow's best moments!
For the replacement, we wanted something small-ish but versatile with good fuel economy. Kevin was a bit picky and after trying several models he still couldn't make up his mind, but then... He knew the right one when he saw her for the first time
- Hi, my name is Swift. Taylor Swift!
For her first trip to the mountains, we took Taylor to Strath Rory, where we had an eye on a local Sub2000-er. Of course, we had higher ambitions but weather didn't play ball so we were reduced to Cnoc an t-Sabhail.
Two weeks earlier, we visited the twin top of this Sub (they share the same name) and it was a lovely walk in the snow. Today, completely different story:
- Where's all the snow gone???
We started from the bikers car park near Loch Sheilah and used the existing tracks/firebreaks to do a circular:
IMPORTANT NOTE: the area is currently undergoing extensive tree felling so our route might not be possible on working days (we did it on a Sunday).
We followed a wide track along Strathrory River; later on it climbs through the forest past a small quarry. So far, so good:
Looking down Strath Rory with Beinn Tarsuinn on the horizon:
A strange cairn on the edge of the forest. It didn't mark any path or access to anything (nothing obvious, anyway) so why it was built remains a mystery:
- The mysterious cairn
The track took a large loop and soon we walked out of the trees and onto the felled area. There was nobody about and no work was carried out so we decided it was OK to proceed, even if walking past hundreds of felled tree trunks wasn't a cheerful experience...
View south across the sad remnants of the forest, to Cnoc Corr Guinie, another local Sub:
Cromarty Firth and Mount Eagle. We didn't know it that day, but this would be our next target
The tree-eating monster!
Cloudy Wyvis:
Having left the mayhem behind, we continued on the track for another 0.5km or so, before Kevin located the right firebreak:
- This way up!
The firebreak in question looked wide to start with, but later it became... a bit tight
- Let me pass!
1-25k map has "navigation pole" marked on the firebreak crossroad. Whatever this construction is (was?) used for, I don't know, but it is still there though not visible from the far distance as it's surrounded by much higher trees:
But if you think the pole marks the summit, you're wrong. The highest spot is about 300m N from this spot, but I still took a "sort-of-summit-picture", in case we didn't find the exact top:
- Two Poles?
The crossroads near the navigation pole can be confusing (it all looks the same level) but we had the 10-digit grid ref from Hill Bagging database, so we simply followed the bearing up one of identically looking firebreaks:
- Just trees...
According to Kevin's GPS, this is the summit of Cnoc an t-Sabhail (West). There is no cairn or any other marker. And no views whatsoever. But our 61st Sub ticked off (29th for Lucy):
The easiest return is to retrace steps down the firebreak to the forest track, but our tradition is "some kinda circular" so we continued down the other side of the gap till we emerged out of the forest:
- The other Cnoc an t-Sabhail
Tarbat Ness and Dornoch Firth:
The ridge of Struie Hill:
Beinn Tarsuinn pano:
The next step was to follow the edge of the woods (along an old deer fence) - according to the map, this should take us down to the upper end of another forest track. Or so we hoped.
- Oh how typical - Lucy hitches a ride!
The initial descent took us past another felled area; the ground was rather wet and bumpy...
...but lower down we spotted a path:
...which led us to what we assumed was a freshly widened forest track, a good sign that tree felling was planned for this particular stretch:
We took the track back to Loch Sheilah; down by the loch it became obvious that forest cutting is going to take place here soon:
Loch Sheilah:
Not a hill we will be returning to and not just due to tree felling! I can't remember when I was last on a summit where views were totally obstructed by trees. But at least, we had some good exercise and introduced Taylor to Marylin
Speaking of summits with no views... Here comes Mount Eagle!!! (TR in progress).