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Last Thursday I did Meall Mor in Glen Isla (as I have not been working Thursdays for the past few weeks). I had also intended to add on another of the Sub2K hills further into Glen Isla proper, but Lucy was toiling a bit so I ditched those plans and headed home. I will be back to working Thursdays as per normal from next week, so this would be my last chance for a cheeky wee Thursday walk outside of school holiday time. It was also the first of the traditional two back to back November INSET training days. I was understandably gutted to be missing this so had to console myself by heading for the hills.
I stopped briefly in Blairgowrie for lunch stuff before driving up the ski road and onto the minor road signed for Drumore and Blachlunans. I drove past Meall Mor and dodged the kamikaze pheasants before crossing the bridge over the River Isla and heading through Kirkton of Glenisla and onto the wee road to Freuchies, where I was parked in the big car park and away from the car by 11.40.
Freuchies car park
Scottish Rights of Way Society signageAs with Meall Mor, there isn't a lot of clear and definitive route info on this one. It is plagued by forestry on all sides, something that I could clearly see from Meall Mor last week. However, most reports I had managed to track down suggested following the track past Loch Shandra to a clearing just beyond Tulloch where "a small cairn marks the start of the ascent" and "follows the edge of the forestry" before eventually entering a "tree corridor to the open summit area".
Well, following the track to just beyond Tulloch would clearly have presented no problems to anyone other than those with almost total visual impairment. After that however, it was an altogether different matter. I stopped for a wee bit of exploring around the outflow of Loch Shandra but otherwise there was nothing of interest to see until that point.
A typical scene en route to Loch Shandra
Arriving at Loch Shandra
You have been warned!
Crock above Loch Shandra
Surface like glassBeyond Loch Shandra, the views open up to Mount Blair and Badandun Hill, with Meall na Letter later putting in a low key appearance between the two.
Back to Shandra
Tulloch and Mount BlairJust beyond Tulloch, there was a clearing of sorts before the forestry closed in on both sides of the track, but no sign of a cairn as such. There was what looked it it might be the scattered remnants of a small cairn at the foot of a firebreak, but I walked on to see if anything more clear cut would materialise.
After another 700-800 metres or so, I reached a broad break in the trees where there had clearly been recent felling activity. It didn't look like an appealing prospect at all and if this had been where the aforementioned ascent route had been, it was clearly obliterated now.
Something tells me that tree felling has been going on here!I walked on a bit further, the mechanical noises of forestry operations becoming louder and louder with every step.
Badandun HillAs the track began to descend and bend right, I could see a number of machines at work amongst the trees
and guys wandering about in high-vis clothing. This looked even less appealing so I decided to back track to the original firebreak and give it some closer scrutiny, although I found myself back at the gate almost at Tulloch without having noticed the firebreak in question. Oh for the love of ......... These Sub2Ks can be more trouble than they are worth, one way or another.
I turned around again and this time I found it - must be much more obvious from the south than coming from the north. There seemed little else for it but to give it a go.
I went up here......
Looking back downThe ascent was easy enough (certainly easier and less rough than Meall Mor) but after a couple of hundred metres, the firebreak suddenly stopped at a dead end. Ahead and to either side was an impenetrable looking curtain of spruce. I dug the OS print out from my breast pocket and gave it a look. It suggested that the trees covered a distance of no more than 500 metres from the track to the island of forestry-free zone on the summit, and I'd probably done half of that already, so I hunched my shoulders up, got my head down and ploughed into the dark world of the trees.
Views may be somewhat limited for the next wee while!Other than the fear of getting an eye poked out, it wasn't too bad and I soon emerged onto a wide grassy path with another dense wall of trees beyond it. Should I plough on into the trees again or make the most of the path? I decided to try my luck with the path but which way. Toss a coin? The map wasn't giving much away so I opted for left as I had a hunch this was the direction in which the previously mentioned ascent route lay.
Grassy pathThis soon brought me out into the wide tract of felled trees. Oh well, as I'm probably about half way up it now, I might as well use it. Besides, it looked like easy enough going close in to the edge, where the newly exposed stumps ran down the hillside as far as I could see, creating an effect oddly similar to the Giants Causeway!
Looking up.....
Looking down.....Again, the break in the trees did not punch through all the way to the clear summit but from where it ended at another wall of trees, I could see clear daylight through the trees. It couldn't have been more than 40 or 50 metres or so before I emerged onto the heathery summit ridge with the tiny pile of stones which serve as a summit cairn a short walk away.
From here there were reasonable views to the aforementioned Grahams to the west and north west as well as to the neighbouring Sub2K of Hare Cairn across the Newton Burn to the east.
Meall Mor and Mount Blair from between the tree line and the summit
Meall na Letter and Badandun Hill
Meall Mor and Mount Blair from the summit
Hare Cairn
Oops - camera went over just before taking the shot!
Take 2 - that's better!
Crock 'n' roll brother!Now I wasn't sure about the best way to descend. I remember reading (in Norman Grieve's report if I recall correctly) that there was a clear descent route (apparently favoured by mountain bikers seemingly) through the trees from the southern end of the summit island. So, after having lunch by the cairn and popping over to take a look down to Glenmarkie Lodge, I picked up the narrow, worn path through the heather and followed it to the trees at the far southeastern extremity of the open summit area.
Glenmarkie LodgeFrom here a wide grasy path ran down through the trees before reaching a hard right turn just after coming alongside an old drystane dyke.
Junction by the drystane dykeI suspected a right hand turn here (as opposed to heading straight ahead into another area of felled trees which would no doubt lead me out onto the Glenmarkie road) would take me back to where I emerged from the trees onto the grassy path earlier. However, after a short distance, another track went sharp left and lead into an area of fairly well spaced out larch, which eventually led down to the original forestry track at the norther end of Loch Shandra.
Final descent back towards Loch ShandraWell, a classic it was not but it was another useful work out ahead of Glencoe next weekend, and certainly better for the soul and the spirit than sitting through an INSET day.
