Foss Mine Corbetts

[Gavin99]

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I met up with Pigeon for this walk ,one I was looking forward to with the promise of some interesting exploration. We got parked up in the layby just north of the mine track and were off walking for 8 o'clock .

The route up through the trees is pretty steep , thankfully the snowplough had been in action and a few tracked vehicles had been up and down making a nice corrugated surface to walk on . I haven't been out as much as I would have liked recently and found this a bit of a struggle , I was glad of a few ' photo breaks ' , the Sacred One looking amazing in the early morning light .

Schiehallion

Mine track with Meall Tairneachan on the left

Once the track leaves the trees it levels out and gives much easier going as it traverses up the side of Meall Tairneachan to just below the summit , we decided to leave this for later in the day and continue towards the baryte mine .

Mine entrance /adit

Compared to the bitterly cold outside the air in the tunnel was surprisingly warm and humid , this had the effect of instantly blinding me as my glasses steamed up , my camera didn't like it either .This working follows a seam of baryte bearing rock deep under the hill , though I'm not sure if this part of the mine is still active . After a good look around we left the shelter and warmth of the tunnel to continue towards Farragon Hill .

After passing the opencast part of the mine we took a cross country route towards our first Corbett of the day (sorry P , my idea ), encountering deeper snow and a strengthening wind which made for slow going .

A lack of hill days recently and soft drifted snow made the final ascent of Farragon Hill a bit of a slog , thankfully Pigeon was feeling it too so I didn't feel too bad .

Are we there yet ?

Farragon Hill

Summit

Beinn a'Ghlo and Blair Atholl hills

The views from the summit were grand but the snell wind drove us down to seek shelter behind a friendly boulder for lunch and a much needed rest before heading back west . On our return route we followed the track back to the mine , although this was still quite hard going underfoot it was definitely easier than our outward one.

Return route , opencast mine to left , Meall Tairneachan behind

We stopped at the tunnel for another wee sit down and a bit more exploring before setting off towards our second Corbett of the day . After about 5 minutes of plodding uphill Pigeon decided that he was so impressed with the tunnel he wanted to go back for yet another look ( he'd also left his map there )

From the high point of the track it's only a few minutes to the summit of Meall Tairneachan , another fine viewpoint .

Summit trig looking towards Farragon Hill

Back down on the track it was a quick descent back towards the road , stopping for a look at some of the excellent toys they have on site .

A great day out

[mrssanta]

really feeling extremely jealous reading all this trs of lovely snowy mountains and great views - off to sulk now and knit another pair of gloves

[The Rodmiester]

Hi Gavin, you made it out then . Tough going in the snow between the two hills in particular. I doubt I would have strayed much from the track around the mine workings, there are lots of DEEP holes filled with water around that area, I would not fancy falling in one of them. Glad to see your out and about.

[Bod]

A fine effort there, well done guys. We were thinking of you from just a little further north

[pigeon]

A smashing day Gavin,even kind of enjoyed the wee detour you took us

[Johnny Corbett]

Looks and sounds very familiar to when i did these two

[Gavin99]

really feeling extremely jealous reading all this trs of lovely snowy mountains and great views - off to sulk now and knit another pair of gloves

It certainly was lovely weather for walking MrsS, a few nice TRs from the day though I suppose we'll soon be back to cloud and rain again

Hi Rod , sure was a bit of a slog between the two , even taking the sensible route on the track

A fine effort there, well done guys. We were thinking of you from just a little further north

Cheers Bod , you'll need to bring Ritchie here to show him the tunnels , he'd love it

A smashing day Gavin,even kind of enjoyed the wee detour you took us

All part of the service

Looks and sounds very familiar to when i did these two

Aye Johnny , had a look at your report , very similar conditions . We thought it would be a handy enough day but it was a bit of a slog , still an enjoyable walk though

[rockhopper]

yup - Saturday was certainly a great day - looks like you both had a great time - cheers

[mountain thyme]

nice one... been finding these winter corbetts a slog myself

[Gavin99]

yup - Saturday was certainly a great day - looks like you both had a great time - cheers

Cheers RH

nice one... been finding these winter corbetts a slog myself

Yep , nothing easy about them , plenty of wee sit doons needed

[Yorjick]

This working follows a seam of baryte bearing rock deep under the hill , though I'm not sure if this part of the mine is still active .

When I passed this tunnel on Tuesday, There was a rope across the opening of the tunnel and a "No unauthorised persons beyond this point" sign. There was a constant sound coming from within so it seems that it is still active. I think they would probably close it off otherwise.

Great walk report and interesting to see the inside of the tunnel.