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Cycling into the Awful Hand

Cycling into the Awful Hand


Postby McMole » Fri Aug 18, 2017 5:42 pm

Corbetts included on this walk: Shalloch on Minnoch

Donalds included on this walk: Kirriereoch Hill, Shalloch on Minnoch, Tarfessock

Date walked: 13/08/2017

Time taken: 8.3 hours

Distance: 23.8 km

Ascent: 985m

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A early morning start saw me arrive after a two and a quarter hour drive from west of Edinburgh at the Kirriereoch picnic site. It just happens to lie beyond a 'No admittance' sign which Jaywizz, who been walking there earlier in the month, told me should be ignored. I was first in the car park and had reattached the front wheel on my bike and set off up the forestry track just after 10am. My informant had told me that the track was in good condition and suitable for a very occasional cyclist such as I. It was my second excursion this millennium. A short pedal later I stopped to reconnect my front brake! Perhaps that contributed to me taking the wrong route at the next junction. By the time I corrected that I'd added 2.2km and fifteen minutes to my day. Despite that I was at the end of the 4km track within an hour. I had dismounted and used the cycle as a luggage trolley on a couple of the steeper sections when I ran out of gears.
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Route in red for bike and green for boots
I left my bike padlocked to a tree and took the path I could see heading straight up to the Tarfessock ridge through a gap in the forest.
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Starting the ascent to Tarfessock
When I reached 620m I contoured across to Nick of Carclach - the col below Shallow on Minnoch.
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At Nick of Carclach looking south at Tarfessock with Kirriereoch Hill and Merrick beyond.
Another easy ascent took me to the undistinguished summit rock and its accompanying small cairn.
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Shalloch on Minnoch summit coming into view
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Summit rock and cairn with trig point 330m away
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Shalloch on Minnoch trig point with Kirriereoch Hill and Merrick in the distance.
There was a cool breeze blowing so I walked the 330m to the trig point to shelter in its ring cairn and eat my lunch. It was occupied by a very inactive wasp also sheltering and, no doubt, feeling frozen. It was now about quarter to one. I had agreed to meet Jaywizz, who'd expected to arrive in the car park at midday, on the summit of Kirriereock. She'd done Shallock and Tarfessock already and was returning with bike to complete the set. I had sent her a couple of texts about my progress but with no reply. There had been no mobile signal when I was in the forest, so I assumed that she was probably making her way through it. I had thought of visiting the north top of Shalloch on Minnoch which would add another hour to my walk. I calculated that would either give Jaywizz a long wait on Kirriereock or I'd have to run. The decision was easy - I headed for Tarfessock.
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Tarfessock summit cairn looking north to Shalloch on Minnoch
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Looking north from Tarfessock South Top
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Kirriereoch from Tarfessock South Top
The route over Tarfessock, its south top and on to Kirriereoch wasn't difficult. It just seemed comparatively untravelled. Without a clear path my route wandered a bit as I followed first one short section of path then another. One stretch eventually led to a climb over a fence then up to the cairn marked on the 1:25,000 map below the final climb of the day up Kirriereoch.
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Cairn on col below Kirriereoch Hill
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View of col looking north from the cairn.
Wondering where Jaywizz was now I sent another text and this time received a reply a few minutes later. She was on her way up Kirriereoch having 'enjoyed' the tussocks lower down. From the cairn I followed a bit of a path to the steep climb up Kirriereoch, but I was never confident that I was following a main ascent/descent route. The way I took wasn't difficult, just that I was expecting something very obvious. I have, however, learnt that Donalds, with a few exceptions, do not have anything like the traffic of Munros and hence lack the effects of popularity such as deeply eroded footpaths.
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Nearing the top of the climb up Kirriereoch
Nearing the summit I scanned along the wall running down the ridge for Jaywizz but didn't see her. Possibly she was hidden in a dip because I'd only been at the summit rock for a few minutes when she appeared over the horizon a few hundred metres away.
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Jaywizz approaching!
We spent some time at the summit looking at the comparative crowd on top of The Merrick (ie more than two) and contemplating a future attempt on the Mullwharchar to Craignaw traverse. The cool breeze was strengthening, but with a clear sunny day the views were great.
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Kirriereoch summit rock with Merrick in the distance
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Zooming in to the top of Merrick
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Mullwharchar
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Dungeon Hill and Loch Enoch
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and Craignaw
After half an hour we started the long descent retracing Jaywizz's ascent route back down the ridge then across some moderately boggy terrain to the Cross Burn.
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Looking down the ridge with Ailsa Craig on the right
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Descent route to Cross Burn and through forest to the clearing in the middle of the picture
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Along the fire-break back to the bikes
After the burn her GPS track led us easily through the forest to and past a substantial dry stone sheepfold to reach the clearing and firebreak visible on Google Earth and my photograph. About 2/3 km of firebreak later and back on our bikes we made short work of the mostly downhill 4km back to the cars - 23 minutes including a five minute chat to a walker who had just started to ascend Tarfessock for the nth time and perhaps enjoy a sunset. During our ride we surprised a couple of foxes crossing in front of us as we swooped fairly silently down the moss-covered middle of the track. Most of the track wasn't so smooth and neither bike having any suspension we stood on our pedals almost the entire way as we rattled down the track.
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A gravity-assisted ride through the forest back to the cars
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Tally-ho! foxes beware!
Back at the cars we compared notes and agreed that bikes definitely made the day more enjoyable. They might not have greatly reduced the time and effort to go in but were incomparably better for the return when legs were at their most tired. It had been a fine walk and, from reading other reports, seemed to me to be a much better route than any of the alternatives, especially with a bike.
McMole
Walker
 
Posts: 183
Munros:141   Corbetts:50
Fionas:40   Donalds:89
Sub 2000:149   Hewitts:25
Wainwrights:4   
Joined: Mar 25, 2016

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