walkhighlands

Share your personal walking route experiences in Scotland, and comment on other peoples' reports.
Warning Please note that hillwalking when there is snow lying requires an ice-axe, crampons and the knowledge, experience and skill to use them correctly. Summer routes may not be viable or appropriate in winter. See winter information on our skills and safety pages for more information.

Christmas 2018 - Inverness local walks

Christmas 2018 - Inverness local walks


Postby malky_c » Sat Dec 29, 2018 12:41 am

Sub 2000' hills included on this walk: Cnoc Ceislein, Stac Gorm

Date walked: 27/12/2018

Time taken: 5.1 hours

Distance: 13.5 km

Ascent: 680m

3 people think this report is great.
Register or Login
free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).

Sub 2k Marilyns: Cnoc Ceislein, Stac Gorm.
Date: 25 and 27/12/2018.
Distance: 10km + 3.5km.
Ascent: 460m + 220m.
Time taken: 2 hours, 50 minutes + 2 hours, 20 minutes.
Weather: Overcast, mild, breezy on summit, some sun on Stac Gorm.

Christmas at home this year, with my parents visiting. As is now traditional when that happens, we try and get out for a walk or two. This year, the weather was looking fairly mild over the Christmas period, and I'd already had a lovely day out on Christmas eve.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Christmas Day - Cnoc Fyrish and Cnoc Ceislein.
10km, 460m ascent, 2 hours 50 minutes.

Cnoc Fyrish seemed like a handy family walk for Christmas Day - good path, not too long, and fairly close to home. Since we weren't starting too late in the day (well, before 1pm is early for my family :roll: ), there was also the chance to add on Cnoc Ceislein.

The carpark was almost full when we set off, and there were plenty of people to say 'Merry Christmas' to on the way up. Although there was a little sunshine when we set off, this had disappeared as we got higher up. The temperature was fairly mild for Christmas though, and the views never disappeared completely.


Map.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts


Image
Mum and dad

Image
Lochan and Christmas tree on Fyrish

Image
Cromarty Firth

Image
Invergordon

Image
Summit folly

Image
Some sunshine to the west

Image
SW from Cnoc Fyrish

We thought we'd take a longer way back to the car, so dropped down towards Cnoc Ceislein and the Big Burn. Halfway down, mum and dad decided that they'd prefer to take a more leisurely stroll back the way we had come. I opted to carry on as I thought I'd have no problem getting to the summit of Cnoc Ceislein in the time it took them to get back.

Image
Track down to the Big Burn

I was going to follow the marked track to the closest point to the summit, but before that, some quad bike ruts headed off into the heather, which didn't look too hard going, so I followed these onto the summit ridge. Although the cloud was partly down on the higher hills, there is a great view of Glen Glass and Ben Wyvis from here, plus some better light behind the hills to the west.

Image
West from Cnoc Ceislein

Image
Fyrish and Cromarty Firth

Image
Wyvis from Cnoc Ceislein

Image
Carn Chuinneag and Carn Salachaidh

Image
Yesterday's hill - Beinn Tharsuinn

Image
Loch Morie and Strathrusdale

Image
Summit of Cnoc Ceislein

I dropped back down the way that I had intended to come up, hitting the vehicle track into the forest. There are two options here, and I took the one that appeared shorter on the map. This got a bit vague in the trees, and I was off piste for a short while before hitting the track that would lead me back to the car. Then it was just an easy downhill stroll through forestry to the car, where mum and dad had arrived a few minutes before me. A good bit of fresh air before Christmas Dinner :D .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thursday 27th December- Stac Gorm.
3.5km, 220m ascent, 2 hours 20 minutes.

Mum and dad headed off to Strathpeffer on Boxing Day, and I opted to go out on the bike instead, but the following day, some sunshine was forecast, so I went out to Loch Ruthven with them to go up Stac Gorm.


our_route.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts


Image
Brin Rock

There isn't much to this, but it is a pretty impressive miniature hill, and well worth a visit if you're in the area - it's like a small chunk of the Trossachs placed alongside Loch Ness. From the Loch Ruthven Nature Reserve carpark, there's a faint path through the heather aiming up the main spine of the hill. It's a bit boggy in places, and higher up where large slabs of rock are crossed, it's a bit greasy. A short way from the carpark, we passed the Ruthven Boulder, which is popular with climbers. There were a few out today, hopeful of some dry rock on the overhanging side, but it appeared they were out of luck.

Image
Dad on the ascent

We passed a group of 4 descending, and were on the summit before too long. There was a bit of a breeze so we didn't really hang around, but the scenery was varied. You don't get any long-range views from here, but what you do see is pretty impressive. You can continue along the ridge from here, then back along the shore of the loch, but that was all a bit heathery and trackless for my mum, so we dropped back down the same way.

Image
Traffic jam!

Image
On the ridge up Stac Gorm

Image
Ascending the eastern ridge

Image
Across to the Monadhliath

Image
Mum and dad on Stac Gorm

Image
Strathnairn

Image
Loch Ruthven

Image
Loch Ruthven

Image
Loch Ruthven

Image
Creag Dhearg

Image
N face of Stac Gorm

Image
Western end of Loch Ruthven

Image
SW towards Loch Lochy

Image
Stac Gorm summit

Image
Descending Stac Gorm

Before heading home, we followed the path out to the bird hide on the shores of Loch Ruthven for a bit of a nosy.

Image
Loch Ruthven
User avatar
malky_c
 
Posts: 6434
Munros:282   Corbetts:222
Fionas:219   Donalds:80+37
Sub 2000:336   Hewitts:281
Wainwrights:140   Islands:43
Joined: Nov 22, 2009
Location: Inverness

3 people think this report is great.
Register or Login
free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).



Can you help support Walkhighlands?


Our forum is free from adverts - your generosity keeps it running.
Can you help support Walkhighlands and this community by donating by direct debit?



Return to Walk reports - Scotland

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 13 guests