The boggy squelchy ramble to.....Meall Fuar-mhonaidh

Hill: Meall Fuar-mhonaidh (Cold round hill)

Type: Fiona

Height: 699m

The horrible weather forecast meant that the planned long ridge walk was cancelled. The problem was that I did not have an obvious plan B so after brekkie the computer was opened and a search began. With the weather forecast I wanted a quick up and down before the rains came so opted for this Fiona, bonus as it was only 10 minutes drive away.

An early start and 1^st car in the parking area, I thought I would be the only rambler on this remote hill, how wrong I was.

After the very cold weather yesterday I opted for a baselayer and my heavier Paramo jacket.

Hill can be seen from the start

The walk begins at the end of a tarmac road that I well remember as a section of the Great Glen Way.

Initially it is a woodland ramble and a lovely section it was. A burn gurgling away as the birds sang in the early morning light. A lovely woodland with a mixture of trees alongside lines of yellow daffodils bringing a stunning colour contrast to the greens and greys of the woodland.

It was humid and I was cursing the choice of the heavier jacket but before long I would be very glad I had it. The next section is a narrow stony track heading up to a deer fence and a very large stile. Looking at the hill I could see it was clear up top, hopeful.

Over the fence and now onto open moorland. There is a track that is both stony and boggy but at least it is there. I heard a noise and two small dogs appeared followed by the owner. Highland accent, not too chatty and presumably lives nearby as no car.

I thought I was looking at the summit but oh no

After my warm ascent I was now zipping up the jacket, it was a cool wind. Soon followed by the plip plop of individual raindrops hitting my jacket, soon to become more persistent rain.

1st false cairn can just be seen

The climb is a serious of lifts, six I think, with a short steep section followed by a short flat section and then repeating.

The route was turning into a mudfest. It has been a while since I have seen so much peaty ground turned into deep mud and in many instances it could not be avoided. The width of the track in some areas was amazingly wide where walkers tried to avoid the gloop but as it is steep ascents you are funnelled back to the mire. I am not sure what the rock is but there are steep sections that were very slippy so it became a tougher walk.

That's it closer

It is also another walk where you look up thinking that is the top but turns out not to be. It doesn't help that there are five false top cairns of various sizes and not all on the route, bit weird.

False tops are one thing in the dry when you can see them but totally different today when the rain was driving into my face, the clouds were down so every cairn looming out of the gloom held promise and then disappointment.

Looking back from summit to two other falsies

Snap better represents the conditions up top

I reached what I thought was the top cairn before realising there was yet another one in the gloom which thankfully turned out to be the real one. Once there a quick snap and no hanging about, no views, no point and I wanted my face out of the rain.

1st falsie with Loch Ness below

The return was slower as my so called top boot soles were not gripping and slipping on both the muddy sections and the rock ones, so slow careful progress.

The rain eased and looking back the top became clear but no way was I motivated to go back up through that gloop.

Cloud starting building from below and grew to a fair old size, something sinister about cloud forming ahead of me

On the descent I met a few people who all stopped for a chat, no surprise that the parking area was full when I got back.

Looked back frequently and the top was more under cloud than not but the heavy rain due at 11 had obviously came through earlier.

The level of mud made this more unpleasant than hoped but I suspect most of that does not dry out at any time. It is a very remote landscape and a ramble that had plenty of silence and the feeling of isolation, particularly on the ascent when I was mostly on my own.

Good views at times of Loch Ness but no Nessie, leave that sighting for another day.

Ascent: 575m

Distance: 9.8km

Time: 3.35

Wildlife: Red Grouse; Great Tit; Chiff Chaff; Raven (pair); Tree Pipit; Meadow Pipit; Skylark