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It's not that Little

It's not that Little


Postby thepigguy » Fri Dec 06, 2019 5:54 pm

Corbetts included on this walk: Little Wyvis

Date walked: 27/09/2019

Time taken: 4 hours

Distance: 10 km

Ascent: 692m

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Day Two of the slow road from Orkney to Skye.

Having had immense fun on my first Graham (Beinn Dhorain) and a lot less fun on the sub-2000ft Meall Dola, I edged a wee bit further west the next day, eventually deciding over a long breakfast to head up my first Corbett Little Wyvis which has a nice track to the top - after all the sodden shenanigans of the day before that would make a fine change.

I got to the car park at Silverbridge around 11am and spent five minutes wondering if I should press on and tackle Ben Wyvis instead, but basically I chickened out, not sure if my legs were ready even for a straightforward Munro.

I set off over the bridge past the falls and over the (very busy) road, walking up the driveway to where a sign on the gate set me on the track which should have taken me all the way to the top. WH describes the track as "bulldozed", but I think it's fair to say there are bulldozed tracks and bulldozed tracks - this one was just grand.

LW1JPG.jpg
Silverbridge Falls. A grand start.

LW2.jpg
Just squeeze around the gatepost

LW3.jpg
Disused stables near the start

LW4.jpg
Or maybe not that disused.

LW5a.jpg
Zoomed over to the Fannichs

LW7.jpg
Looking west


It's a lovely walk, but straightforward and pretty uneventful so I spent a good while daydreaming about all sorts so map-checking was the furthest thing from my mind and I realised after a bit that I was walking around the hill, not up it. :roll:

I took a belated squint at the map and realised I could press on to the end of the track and then take my chances heading steeply up the side of the hill. The track was pretty soggy by the end, but the slopes weren't too bad at all and picking out a reasonably dry route up proved easy enough.

LW9.jpg
Wrong track

LW10.jpg
Getting muddier, but a way up the hill is fairly easy to pick out

LW12.jpg
Looking back down, south east


After about 30 minutes I regained the track and - sweating nicely - strolled up to the summit to chat with a couple from London who had been "stalked off" their planned walk in Strathcarron. Views from the top were good, with just enough cloud to add a little atmosphere.

LW13.jpg
Little Wyvis summit looking west

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Little Wyvis summit looking towards "big brother" Ben Wyvis

rsz_lw14a.jpg
Looking east to the rigs in the Cromarty Firth


With the weather starting to look threatening to the west, I headed down after 20 minutes at the top, sticking to the track this time, getting back to the car just as the first spots of rain appeared.

LW15.jpg
Heading down
Last edited by thepigguy on Mon Apr 13, 2020 6:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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thepigguy
Walker
 
Posts: 123
Munros:3   Corbetts:5
Fionas:10   Donalds:27+11
Sub 2000:68   Hewitts:5
Islands:24
Joined: Jul 7, 2017
Location: Westray, Orkney

Re: It's not that Little

Postby PeteR » Sat Dec 07, 2019 8:01 am

It's not a bad hill Little Wyvis, in my view. And your route is a good alternative to the more usual route from the car park for it's bigger brother. Glad you seemed to enjoy your day.
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PeteR
Munro compleatist
 
Posts: 2107
Munros:282   Corbetts:173
Fionas:120   Donalds:89+52
Sub 2000:200   Hewitts:3
Islands:9
Joined: Jan 27, 2010
Location: North Ayrshire

Re: It's not that Little

Postby AHillTooFar » Sat Dec 07, 2019 9:40 pm

I think little Wyvis might be one of these better viewed than climbed although if I am up that way again I might try it. Quite a good looking hill.

I can understand not wanting to tackle Ben Wyvis if the legs are tired. Whoever decided that was the best route was a bit of a sadist. That said when I was coming down from it, a mad couple were attempting to run up it.

Also a shame you have the Cromarty Firth one way and wind farms the other.
AHillTooFar
Mountaineer
 
Posts: 82
Munros:29   Corbetts:14
Fionas:4   Donalds:9
Sub 2000:1   
Joined: Oct 29, 2017

Re: It's not that Little

Postby thepigguy » Wed Dec 11, 2019 1:30 pm

PeteR wrote:It's not a bad hill Little Wyvis, in my view. And your route is a good alternative to the more usual route from the car park for it's bigger brother. Glad you seemed to enjoy your day.


My accidental detour made the whole thing a lot more fun than it might have been. In the fairly unlikely event of me going up again I'd follow the WH route. It does look more interesting.
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thepigguy
Walker
 
Posts: 123
Munros:3   Corbetts:5
Fionas:10   Donalds:27+11
Sub 2000:68   Hewitts:5
Islands:24
Joined: Jul 7, 2017
Location: Westray, Orkney

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