On the way back up from England, I decided to swing past a hill and not miss Moffat's offering to the Corbetts.
I had decided to do the Blackcraigs horseshoe but didn't get to the car park until 1300 - I'd need to motor it if I was to get roon aboot. The view up to Saddle Yoke was quite spectacular and I couldn't wait to get high - yeah man...groovy.
Heading back along the road for 200m, I began the walk up towards a large cleft in the hillside - a faint path skirted this and by god, it made for a lung-bursting ascent. By the top of this I was sweating buckets but the views across to Saddle Yoke were stunning. Geologically, also quite an interesting hill and almost Torridon-like. As I continued up on towards Swatte Fell, I stumbled across about 10-12 mountain goats, the first time I'd ever seen these on a hill. Curious creatures but they had a couple of kids with them so I took a wide berth. At this point, the views really open up and I was slightly surprised to find that Hart Fell was still some distance away. That old illusion of it'll just be over this brow - no, the plateau offered some nice contours around the corrie but it was still at least an hour's walk. A most enjoyable jaunt takes you down a 100m descent before a re-ascent and up on towards the trigpoint, which is cocooned by a nice cairned shelter. I stopped for lunch and took in the views across to White Coomb - leaving late in the day meant I hadn't passed a single person - however, the silence was shattered when a large group plodded their way towards the summit - obviously, reversing my route. Or was I reversing their route - philosophical conundrums entered my brain as I had time to cogitate and digest the meanderings of the mind. It was time to turn and burn. I passed them and bade 'fitlikes' before swinging around some large cornices and on and up to Saddle Yoke. As the afternoon sun dropped, so did the temperature and I had to don the fleece - ah, sheepy goodness ye cannae bleat it. The final up and down over Saddle Yoke was quite spectacular and reminded me of the double peaks of Ben More and Stob Binnein - a nice sense of exposure was had up here and by this point, you're not actually that far from the car park - I made a quick, quad-crunching return to the land rover track and timed it as a 4 hour jaunt. It could be done in a lot more relaxing time and should be but I was keen to get home and see my lovely. Once again, I am blown away by the Corbetts and what they offer - this excursion is very dramatic, scenic and offers everything to the hillwalker. Much recommended.
- Looking over to Saddle Yoke - White Coomb in the background
- New kids on the block
- Hart Fell across the plateau
- Yon summit trigpoint
- Looking over to Saddle Yoke or Stob Binnein?
