A short hike for outstanding views.....Craig Varr

Hill: Craig Varr

Type: n/a

Height: 515m

I had permission to escape the family holiday for a morning so the short, steep but scenic viewpoint of Craig Varr was my choice. Walkhighlands describes the views as sensational so I looked forward to seeing them for myself.

I began my ramble from the attractive small village of Kinloch Rannoch from which I planned a clockwise circuit.

The old signpost showed a choice of routes thankfully including mine. Sadly this is another hill which is covered in bracken and I assumed/hoped that there would be a track through it.

Almost missed the cut off at the hydro building. The waterfall might be spectacular at other times but was a just a trickle today. Although the track narrowed in places it was mostly clear but brushing against the bracken I mentally noted to check for ticks later.

A zig zag pattern made it a bit easier but even though I was getting good views over Loch Rannoch I was glad when I came out of the trees and met the other end of the hydro track. I later found out that I could have extended my walk at the beginning to reach this point.

I now had a good view of my destination just a short tramp away across the moor. As I walked alongside a broken dyke I could see a higher ridge on the left of Craig Varr that had a few large cairns which I decided I would explore later.

En route I passed a style which I would use for my descent track.

An eroded narrow track took me up to to the crags of Craig Varr and time to take in the views but before doing so it was gilet time as a cool wind was blowing.

The views certainly did not disappoint for a small amount of effort I could see far and wide.

The obvious starting point was looking down on the village the layout very interesting. Then the eye is led on to Loch Rannoch with the peaks of Glencoe beyond and even Ben Nevis.

I took a short stroll across the top where I had now had views of Schiehallion (summit in cloud), Dunalastair Water and in the distance Loch Tummel.

Intrigued by the cairns I crossed the rough ground of the ridge to find four of them dotted along the ridge, the last being the highest point of the ramble. 

It looked like they had been built with the stones from another degraded stone dyke. One might have been a shepherds marker cairn but it made no sense to have 4 of them in such a short space.

From up here I could see the cairn/trig on top of Beinn a’ Chuallaich, a Corbett I bagged a couple of years ago. I could also see the estate track that I used for a good bit of that ascent. I remembered seeing a herd of red deer that day but none today.

Then the big fright of the day as a pair of Euro fighter jets suddenly appeared and flew low directly over my head, what a noise head pounding but as quickly as they appeared they were gone. There has been much low flying this week, preparing for the Russkies!!

As I was heading down the estates sheep population were on the move and heading in my direction. After the noise of the jets I now had the lesser but constant bleating of sheep, hundreds of them. There were half a dozen shepherds and I counted 8 dogs so this was a major round up. It was fascinating to sit for 10 minutes and watch it unfold although I am not convinced just how much control the handlers had of the dogs. There was a lot of shouting and a few confused dogs but still it was a countryside spectacle worth watching.

Back and over the style a short grassy track led me to the woods. A couple of sheepdogs started following me before angry voices turned them back up the hill where plenty more sheep were waiting to be gathered.

Although the final section was through the birch woods where I had lost the views I had some wildlife interest with two species who not that long ago were scarce in Scotland. I had noticed fresh pine martin scat, bilberry berries the main component. Most were on the grassy track but several were scent markers on stones. Sadly did not see any probably sleeping.

Speckled Wood

Next I had speckled wood butterflies enjoying the warmth of the sun that had now arrived as well as rising to see off rivals or attract a mate. These were almost unknown in Highland Scotland until the 1990’s. Sadly the only live for a week at most so these ones are long since departed.

Shortly after that when turning a corner on the zig zag I came across 8 sheep staring up at me, the dogs had been on the right track after all.

Although this was a short ramble it delivered everything I wanted. A workout, great views and wildlife.

Ascent: 481m

Distance: 6.1

Time: 2.17

Wildlife: Raven; Buzzard; Wheatear; Meadow Pipit; Chaffinch; Speckled Wood;