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It was a last-minute decision on Friday evening to climb ben Wyvis the next day (7/5/2022).
We arrived at the car park (the slow human and the fast “mutt”) at 07:30 and started walking ten minutes later. It was forecast to be a nice day but it was cold first thing – 3 degrees according to the car. We set off at a reasonable pace and soon warmed up – the walk in is through woodland and then alongside a burn, which was very pleasant.
- Meg keeping an eye on the ball she’d brought along!
Pretty soon the path started to climb, with An Cabar ahead looking magnificent in the morning sunshine. It was indeed a glorious day!
- Looking towards An Cabar.
The trail up to An Cabar is steep but very well defined, with a gravel path leading to stepping-stones further up. About an hour into the walk, we met a woman coming down who had started her walk at 05:30 when, she told us, the temperature was several degrees below freezing. Even on warm spring days the overnight temperature on the Scottish hills regularly drops below freezing.
- Looking back down the valley from about two-thirds of the way up to An Cabar.
We were passed on the way up by a guy running and Meg decided that she should probably stick with him as he clearly looked like the pack leader! The only guaranteed way of stopping her was to get the ball out – she simply can’t resist it, but it was problematic since we were on the steepest part of the track, which meant that she ended up chasing it several yards down the hillside on more than one occasion, until the runner was well out of sight. Well, she is a young Border Collie, so more than able to cope with that sort of strenuous exercise!
With the ball safely tucked away, we headed on up to the first cairn of the day on An Cabar.
- Looking west from the top of An Cabar.
From here the walk along the plateau is a gentle grassy slope, that only rises about another 100m to reach the summit of Ben Wyvis. However, care needs to be taken to stay on the path to minimise the damage caused by many boots (this is a very popular walk) to the surrounding ground, which is a nature reserve.
- Looking towards Ben Wyvis (the second peak) from An Cabar.
We reached the summit mid-morning and enjoyed some early lunch sitting in the sunshine, chatting to some fellow walkers and a doggie friend that Meg made.
- Looking east towards the Cromarty Firth from the summit of Ben Wyvis.
- Looking east towards the Cromarty Firth from the summit of Ben Wyvis.
Lunchtime over, we headed back the way we had come, taking a few more pics along the way.
- Looking towards An Cabar from Ben Wyvis.
- From the cairn on An Cabar, looking west.
We met several more people on the return trip, who’d started later in the day, and I was glad we’d started early as it was now quite warm and some of them looked very hot!
- Almost back to the car park.
We arrived back at the car just after 13:30, had another snack before heading back home to enjoy a nice cup of tea with our feet up – well I did, Meg collapsed in the kitchen and pretty much slept until the next day, when she was up and raring to go again!
All in all, a very good day out.