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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.
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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

), 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.
Mum and dad
Lochan and Christmas tree on Fyrish
Cromarty Firth
Invergordon
Summit folly
Some sunshine to the west
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.
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.
West from Cnoc Ceislein
Fyrish and Cromarty Firth
Wyvis from Cnoc Ceislein
Carn Chuinneag and Carn Salachaidh
Yesterday's hill - Beinn Tharsuinn
Loch Morie and Strathrusdale
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

.
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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.
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.
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.
Traffic jam!
On the ridge up Stac Gorm
Ascending the eastern ridge
Across to the Monadhliath
Mum and dad on Stac Gorm
Strathnairn
Loch Ruthven
Loch Ruthven
Loch Ruthven
Creag Dhearg
N face of Stac Gorm
Western end of Loch Ruthven
SW towards Loch Lochy
Stac Gorm summit
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.
Loch Ruthven