Mount Eagle, a pointless Marilyn (and a lot of cake)

[Jaxter]

Not very much walking, but a lot of cycling - 76km, 810m ascent & 5 hours

On our way north for our Cape Wrath adventure we drank far too much tea before leaving and had to stop waaay sooner than we'd like to admit to pee - the stop of choice was the Storehouse of Foulis which I had never heard of but Malky assured me was a good place to go for lunch. So once we were back I suggested making it into a cycle trip - the weather looked decent on Friday, so why not?!

We set off from Inverness way later than we had planned as we waited out a rain shower so it was just after 11 when we set off - easy cycling got us up over the hill and we could see across to Beinn Wyvis where there was some fresh snow on the tops!
Fresh snow on Wyvis

We reached Dingwall and we had a high choice and a low choice - I figured Malky was trying to bluff me into wussing out of the hill, so I got my own back and took us uphill It was worth it though, because the views were good
Cromarty Bridge ahead

Looking back to Dingwall

From the high road we dropped steeply down a track and across a level crossing
Level crossing!

At the Storehouse we enjoyed a wonderful lunch and way more cake than we needed (but we ate it anyway )
Far more food than required!

We had about a mile along the A9 before reaching the bridge and hopping onto the pavement - it was pretty windy but not as bad as the Kessock Bridge earlier, and at least we were able to move in a straight line unlike on our way back from Durness
Windy on the Cromarty Bridge

Evening light on Cromarty Firth

We climbed up the hill towards Culbokie - I was definitely feeling too full of cake which wasn't really helping A wee bit further up the hill we passed the radio mast and turned off down a forest track
Off-roading

At the small masts we dumped the bikes and bashed through some dense forestry for a while - I was glad that I'd left my helmet on as Malky was getting attacked by branches

Finally the trip point was in sight - unfortunately it was surrounded by gorse. I let Malky go first in his shorts
This is going to hurt....

What a ridiculous summit
Mount Eagle

Summit views....

Gorse we have to go back through

Malky looks thrilled

Back into the forest we got a bit confused and ended up going in the wrong direction for a while - it all felt very adventurous
Looks like an assault course

Back at the bikes it was time for lights as we made our way back down the forest tracks and onto the road
Radio mast - time for lights

It was a bit chilly now it was dark and we got moving - a big hill out of Munlochy got us warmed up eventually and the run down to Inverness was largely downhill from there.
Kessock Bridge

The last 5km up the hill to the house were into the wind and I was really not in the mood, but soon enough we were back, the kettle was on and we were almost ready for some more food....

[gld73]

My god, why on earth would you want to spoil a perfectly nice day of cycling and cake with a detour to the Mount Eagle summit trig?!? ...

[malky_c]

My god, why on earth would you want to spoil a perfectly nice day of cycling and cake with a detour to the Mount Eagle summit trig?!? ...

The worst bit is that I've been up there before

[PeteR]

Some say there's no such thing as a bad hill........ they've clearly never been to Mount Eagle then

Such a grand name for such a gorse covered b*gger.......And I certainly wouldn't head for the summit in shorts either

[Jaxter]

My god, why on earth would you want to spoil a perfectly nice day of cycling and cake with a detour to the Mount Eagle summit trig?!? ...

That's what I was thinking the whole time

Some say there's no such thing as a bad hill........ they've clearly never been to Mount Eagle then

Such a grand name for such a gorse covered b*gger.......And I certainly wouldn't head for the summit in shorts either

I definitely had the upper hand when we got to the gorse, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't laughing at him

[Mal Grey]

OK, I give in. I'm going to stop trying to understand the term "Why the...?"

(Actually I heartily approve of such madness, as its arguably still saner than carrying a canoe across the moors of Assynt).

[Sgurr]

Obviously a very tricky bike route. We met a lady waiting near Mount Eagle for husband to discover he had taken the car keys, as she was supposed to pick him up on the way back to Alness. We left her with some cereal bars just in case, and drove after him for her, but he had vanished. The gorse was quite tolerable then.

[Jaxter]

OK, I give in. I'm going to stop trying to understand the term "Why the...?"

(Actually I heartily approve of such madness, as its arguably still saner than carrying a canoe across the moors of Assynt).

Until I saw the second half of your comment I was going to suggest that you've done equally daft things

Obviously a very tricky bike route. We met a lady waiting near Mount Eagle for husband to discover he had taken the car keys, as she was supposed to pick him up on the way back to Alness. We left her with some cereal bars just in case, and drove after him for her, but he had vanished. The gorse was quite tolerable then.

Oh no I always have a bit of a thing for keys, having heard so many horror stories