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I don't know if anyone else is like this but I can go for years with no inclination to go to a particular place and then suddenly find myself going there twice - and loving it.
First time up Fyrish was in the 1990s during a family holiday when we swapped houses with a family living in Alness. We had imagined a typical Highland village, if a bit further east than I'd have liked, and were surprised to find ourselves living on the edge of a housing scheme like the one we worked in back in Dundee... We had a few laughs about that and still had a good holiday. A number of years later I was back up with a friend visiting from Australia but after that had no further urge to go again. Or if I did there was always somewhere else had a stronger pull. That is until 18th January 2017 when Moira and I wanted a walk that didn't involve a long drive and would only take a couple of hours. It was a bright sunny day but with a fierce wind that made walking difficult and we returned by an alternative path slightly to the west of the ridge and headed for Storehouse afterwards.
I didn't expect to be back again a few weeks later but when other plans fell through and the weather looking best in Easter Ross I was off to Fyrish again - this time with Ian, James, Lean and grandson Jonny, with the plan to walk over Cnoc Fyrish to Cnoc Ceislein, a Sub 2000 I hadn't previously climbed. It was raining and dreich when we left Inverness but by the time we crossed the Black Isle we could see blue sky and everywhere there was a fresh coat of snow. The minor road to Boath had a covering of untreated snow and ice, so we drove carefully up to the car park at the start of the Jublilee path.
Thin covering of snow on path from the start
With birds singing around us, and a brilliant blue sky, it felt like spring.
The lochan drew us off the path and we spread out along its edge, my 13 year old grandson itching to test the strength of the ice.... but had the good sense not to.
Frozen lochan
A month earlier on a milder day it had looked rather different.
Lochan a couple of weeks earlier
Back on the track we continued uphill to the monument which if you didn't know it was there would come as a surprise and seem rather random perched as it is on this otherwise unremarkable Easter Ross hill.
Grandson and the Fyrish monument
The monument was built in 1782 under the direction of Sir Hector Munro, 8th laird of Novar and a British soldier who served in India and became Commander in Chief of India from 1764 -1765. Munro was a native of Easter Ross and wanted to help those undergoing hardship during the infamous Clearances, a time when people were driven off their traditional crofting land to poorer areas which were difficult to make a living from and resulted for many in deportation.
The design of the monument represents the gate of Negapatam, a port in Madras, which the General had taken for the British in 1781 after returning to India. Part of the reason for it was probably Munro's own vanity and sense of importance that made him want to build a monument to himself! But to be fair to him it seems he deliberately prolonged the time it took to finish the construction so he could legitimately pay the workers for longer. It may also have been a visual protest against the harsh treatment of poor crofters by some of his fellow landowners.
After a wee wander round we continued on the track heading down towards the forestry planted in the lower ground between Cnoc Fyrish and Cnoc Ceislein.
The track and distant Ben Wyvis
Ben Wyvis a bit closer
To show the difference a covering of white stuff makes to the landscape here's a photo I took of Ben Tharsuinn from the same spot on 18th January.
Beinn Tharsuinn
The path was slippy with a thin layer of fresh snow sitting on a layer of ice so my microspikes came in handy. I knew from the map that once into the trees we were looking for a right turn and from Black Panther's report there was the possibility of taking a wrong turn. So when we came to a path going off right I had a gut feeling it wasn't the one and we kept going. This proved correct as the right turn we needed to take was obvious when we reached it and for the benefit of others doing this route I took a photo of it.
The correct right turn for Cnoc Ceislein
Cnoc Ceislein isn't a pointy hill with a fairly flat top reached by its gently rising north ridge.
Cnoc Ceislein's north ridge
The wind was building in strength and remembering how cold it was when we stopped for food at the top of Geal-charn Mor a few weeks earlier I suggested we stop before we got any higher and still had some shelter from the north.
A seat in the sun
As the track neared its highest point we could see the line of a narrow path heading off to the left, although it wasn't so obvious where it left the track. It was kind of lost in a broken peat haggy area but we soon picked it up as we got going. It was easy walking through heather and the only footprints ahead of us were made by a small quadruped, which interestingly stuck to the path all the way up.
Cnoc Fyrish from lower slopes of Cnoc Ceislein
Narrow path to Cnoc Ceislein summit
West to Meall Mor (Graham) and Carn Chuinneag (Corbett)
Zoomed to Carn Chuinneag a few weeks earlier
Cnoc Ceislein summit
Beside the trig point is a tiny lochan which was frozen solid. At least I hope it was frozen solid as this time there was no stopping the grandson walking across it.
We couldn't believe quite how beautiful it was even on a little hill like this in the unspectacular part of the Highlands that is Easter Ross! As a walker that isn't winter equipped (no axe and crampons) and doesn't 'do' hills in winter I got a wee glimpse of why people do it. To get snow, blue sky and sun is like a touch of heaven!
View south from summit
Zoomed to turbines on Meall Mor's shoulder against backdrop of mighty Ben Wyvis
Looking back we could see the track wending its way down from Cnoc Fyrish and the way we would return.
Cnoc Fyrish and Cromarty Firth from summit
There were other return routes we could have taken but I figured the sun would be in a better position for photos of the monument by the time we got back there.
Fyrish monument on return
Storm brewing on the Cromarty Firth
Sun on Hill of Nigg
The Sutors and rigs a few weeks earlier
Adding on Cnoc Ceislein was a good extension to Cnoc Fyrish, the views were magical and we were home in time for my grandson to watch the football - so a popular choice all round!
