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This hill has a bit of a bad reputation, but honestly? It's well-deserved!
However, after having spent so much time in Inverness over the past several years, it has become, like the Hill of Stake (
), a local hill that just had to be done, in spite of the horrors told: Bushwhacking through impenetrable foliage. Ticks. Cows.
Sheesh! What's not to look forward to?
Every time I'm heading toward Strathconon, Achnasheen, or Ullapool, to any of the delights those destinations lead to, or back home to Inverness, this cheeky little hill catches the eye. It looks innocuous enough – like butter wouldn't melt – however, every time this phrase comes to mind, so too does a rather memorable day with Evie on Carn Faire nan Con last year.
like butter wouldn't melt!
It's been on the radar for a while. Had to be done before (or after) the bracken was head-high. Today, the weather was rather grotty in the morning, but due to be better in the afternoon, so Evie suggested we give it a go. We combined the routes from WWK for the ascent (starting from Contin) and Hills4dogs for the descent, then added in a bit of extra distance via a forest track leading to Loch Achilty, plus the quiet minor road along the loch, leading back to Contin. This made for a nearly 10km circuit.
It all started out easily enough, although after a few days of both rain and warmth, at thigh-high. the bracken was already higher than we'd expected. A bit higher up, we lost what little path there had been, and hacked our way steeply up through a thick forest and deep heather that sometimes hid deep holes. Steps of blind faith, hoping not to fall into one of those holes. It wasn't very pleasant, but neither (thankfully) was it very prolonged, and we soon found ourselves at the summit. It was a nice enough view, I suppose (damning with faint praise!).
The descent was more of the same, although the foliage was perhaps not quite as thick.
the general direction of our descent
Loch Achonachie
Evie swimming through foliage
We soon found ourselves at the corner of the deer fence mentioned by Hills4dogs, and were pleased to see that it was still down (we'd worried that it may have been fixed, and were prepared to climb over it, as we'd quickly decided that we were NOT going to go back up and retrace our ascent route!). From there, we descended steeply through the forest, until we suddenly realized that the rest of the forest....wasn't. The sting in the tail – cause we hadn't really had any challenges till now, innit? – was having to traverse the last bit of the descent through an area that had been recently felled. Carefully stepping over lying branches and stumps, the fear of impalement looming large, we eventually found a deep caterpillar trail (of the excavator type, not of the “will someday be a butterfly” type, or of a “chocolate cake that may or may not be called Colin” type) that led us down to the shore of Loch Achonachie. Another 2 km or so saw us to the minor road along Loch Achilty, which eventually brought us back to the A835 on the outskirts of Contin.
We rounded off the afternoon with well-deserved yummy treats from the Deli in the Square in Strathpeffer. It's licensed!! and I'm not driving; cue the Happy Chappy!! (which, to the uninitiated, is a lovely pale ale from the Cromarty Brewery).
