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We discovered an unexpected benefit of doing the round of Loch an Eilein in March is the free parking.
From the car park we went straight to the toilet block behind the information centre - not so much for the obvious reason but because we wanted to climb Ord Ban and had read in a WH report there was a stile over the deer fence behind it.
There was a photo of said substantial stile attached to the report but when we looked there was no sign of it. We walked up and down the fence but definitely no stile.
Information centre
So we headed back to the car and found a gate behind a building on the north edge of the parking area. There was a sign on the gate saying 'keep closed' - not that we had much choice as it was held firmly shut with chain and padlock. But to the side of the gate was a ladder type section to the fence so over we went. I didn't have the dogs with me but there would have been room for them to squeeze through a gap between gate and gate post.
From there we picked up a faint path going left and diagonally up through the trees.
Loch an Eilein
Once clear of the trees we came to a line of crags which the path navigated us round involving just a short clamber over rock to top out on the summit ridge. The final part of the walk was on a narrow path through heather towards the visible trig point marking the summit of Ord Ban.
Approaching the summit
Summit rock and trig (Moira's pic)
Moira, Rob and Mary
It was a bracing wind at the top so we found shelter a little below the summit and sat chatting and enjoying the view.
Cloud flattening tops of Cairngorm block
Meall a' Bhuachaille and Shepherd's Ridge
Aviemore
Loch Insh
To illustrate what a wee hill this is it was only 20 minutes from the top back to the car park. But the views made it a great addition to the classic round of the loch which we set off to do clockwise because for some reason we usually do it anticlockwise.
Loch an Eilein with its island castle which in the poor light here is barely visible.
Same spot on a previous walk with Tess doing what she loves to do - pose in water.
Castle taken on another day (Moira's photo)
The castle was originally built in the 1200s as an island defence surrounded by the loch. In 1745 after the battle of Culloden, a well known Jacobite's widow, Grizel Mhor, sheltered fugitives in the castle. In the 1770s a sluice was built to enable felled timber to be floated down the Spey and raised the water level, reducing the size of the island and obscuring the zigzag causeway which once connected the castle to the shore. The most recent fugitives taking refuge on the island were nesting ospreys - before they were driven to extinction by the Victorians. Since returning to the Highlands they so far haven't taken up their old nesting site but hopefully one day they will.
Loch Gamhna - an optional add on to the round of Loch an Eilein
Casualties from winter storms
After an overcast morning the sun broke through and we ended the walk in sunshine.
