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Is it possible for a hill to be someone's nemesis? Two times I'd set off for Farragon Hill, in 2017 from the W, in 2018 from the S; two times I had to turn back prematurely. It had been on my mind ever since, so when the chance came, I went for it - and to complete the compass, I decided to approach the hill from the NE. I also took J along, not only as a mental support, but also a witness that could testify the Corbett business could finally be laid to rest.
Since the last StreetView coverage of the road running along the S side of Loch Tummel, several parking-appropriate laybys have been set up. I ended up parking in one of them - and good thing I did, as the place I'd marked as a possible parking spot had been fenced off since, too.
- We started on a track through the woods
- Later on, it emerged into the moorland, with views to the snowy peaks of Beinn a'Ghlo
- Or Beinn Eagagach ahead
According to the map, we were meant to encounter two tracks branching off of ours, so I kept checking the map to make sure we wouldn't follow the wrong branch, but on both occasions, the track we wanted to take was the obviously major one, so we snaked uphill comfortably.
- Until we arrived at the track leading to the mine, which was clearer than the one we were on, but we went across, to the left and uphill
- The track then got boggy for a while on the bumps and waves as we approached Beinn Eagagach, and Farragon Hill appeared in front of us
Passing by Beinn Eagagach, tantalisingly close to its summit, I decided to run up the heathery slope and bag it, even though it was no Fiona; Lochan a'Chait would've had to exist some 30 m lower for it to count. J didn't see the point in making the effort for such a hill, and continued along the track. As it turned out, I was too impatient, and walked up its E top instead - but from there, getting to the summit only took a couple minutes.
- More of Farragon Hill was visible from this viewpoint, as was the distant Schiehallion
- Loch Derculich and views SE
- The E top and a loop of the track we'd come up on, although the mine track is the clearer one
- Meall na Fhearna to the NW and a shower I hoped wouldn't come our way
All this time, J was getting further ahead on the track, so I didn't even think about nipping up Meall na Fhearna, too. Instead, I crossed some more heather and a fence, and reached the track again to catch up to J before she could wave down at me from the Farragon Hill summit.
- On the way, I passed by a lochan enclosed by very sharp and steep sides; possibly a quarry or its remnants?
We followed the track for a while longer, but left it as it started heading downhill towards Loch Derculich, and crossed the heathery, boggy terrain on our right to reach the NE slopes of Farragon Hill.
- Instead of heathery and boggy, the slopes were more grassy and boggy, and got progressively steeper
For the last section of the ascent, we even had to use our hands - although this was at least partly because from maybe 750 m, the ground was covered in a thin layer of snow, making the surfaces unpleasantly slippery. For the end of April, it was cold; we watched the showers circling around from the summit as we ate our lunches, before one of them came our way - except it wasn't rain but drizzly hail, enhancing the snow coverage on the ground.
- Meall Tairneachan was dusted by snow, too; makes sense as it's 4 m higher than Farragon Hill
- Some more showers S towards Aberfeldy
- Beinn a'Ghlo had been almost completely obscured by the clag
We could descend the same way we'd come up, but it was more fun to do a circular, so we headed NW instead. Once again, the first few metres had to be taken at a very slow, careful pace - and sometimes, it was still safer to slide down than to stay upright. As we reached the NW shoulder, though, the snow had melted, and the ground turned boggy.
- The bogginess wasn't any better in this small gully, but at least we could see what we were stepping on, in contrast to the heathery slopes
- Back to Farragon Hill from beyond Allt a'Choirein
- And down the valley in search of a path
- The path was depicted on one of the maps, but we only found the track shown on the OS map
Once on the track, we jogged down, and continued running on the road back to the car in an attempt to make it back in time for J's yoga. It was futile in the end, partly due to traffic, partly because we'd set off too late as I'd slept in, but the 7-km run finishing off this walk was quite some exercise on its own, too. And the red pin of Farragon Hill won't haunt me on the bagging maps anymore.
