A wee dander up Càrn Faire nan Con

[Hills4dogs]

Had my covid booster the day before and surprisingly wasn't feeling any after effects, so since it was a glorious day decided to head out and tackle another local marilyn. I had read Malky C's and Dogplodder's excellent reports and thought Càrn Faire nan Con would be a great choice. In an attempt to try a circular walk, after starting from Garve I was intending to go round the back of the hill to Ard a chulish, then up to Loch an Dubh-chairn before summiting and then making my way back to Garve. It didn't quite work out like that, because the path on the OS map has been significantly upgraded to a track (presumably for maintenance access to the electricity pylons) and I got "distracted" and missed the turn off to the lower path as you go around the back of the hill. So the walk was a bit shorter than anticipated but still a good day out.

activity_7940785275.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts

Parked off the road just before Garve in the wide entrance way to the maintenance track. There was a good track up from here (after hopping over a gate). Round the corner after gaining a bit of height the track was a bit icy which could have been quite challenging coming down if the temperature dropped but fortunately it didn't!

The track up with our goal in the background

Loch Garve looking splendid

As we went around another corner, we soon came across a view of Sgurr Marcasaidh

Sgurr Marcasaidh looks like an impressive Marilyn

We walked a bit further and could now see Loch Luichart below with a view out to the foothills of the Fannichs. I think it was at this point that I missed the path off the track!

Loch Luichart

So we soon came to the end of the main track at a pylon, looking down I could see the path we should have been on! Rather than trying to go down, I just decided to go up here instead. The journey up wasn't too tricky although I think it would be significantly more challenging in the summer because there was a lot of dead bracken to walk through.

The bracken we had to go through on the way up.

After not too much trouble we were up at the top.

Dill on one of the three tops on the very small summit

Views out to Beinn a Chaisteil (on right) and An Faochagach (on left) - I think

Sgurr Marcasaidh again

Dill in the slightly snowy heather

The way off the top, NW to Garve was relatively straight forward. It did involve going down a steepish wall of heather but relatively easy to cope with by traversing backwards and forward while holding onto the heather as we descended. After the heather we came onto a rough ATV path that led us back to the main track for the rest of the decent.

The wall of heather we had to come down

Another good day out on the little hills and certainly wetted my appetite for exploring Sgurr Marcasaidh