A rough wee ramble for the good views.....Carn na Dubh Collie

Hill: Carn na Dubh Choille (might be hill of the dark forest/wood)

Type: Sub2k

Height: 479m

Unfortunately I was still nursing a painful knee so I wanted a relatively low level walk and opted for this Sub2k.

Wakened by noise I looked out of my window and the rain was battering down but a patch or two of blue sky could also be seen, be positive was my mantra today.

A short drive to the start where thankfully the rain had eased. Nevertheless at the parking area I had donned a proper waterproof jacket, waterproof trousers and gaiters. There was humid air and I suspected that I would be more damp from the inside rather than the exterior.

Proper salmon leaping spot

I had a short wander along a track located beside the road until the overgrowth defeated me. A short road hop led me to the bridge over the Black Water. This looked a proper spot for salmon but none spotted today.

Somethings had a bite

Next was a tree lined forest track for a mile or so. Lots of bird calling and an amazing variety of fungi, I suppose we are now in the growing season.

But more interestingly on the track I was following regular scat droppings which are most likely from a Pine Martin. At one point there was an obvious scat marking zone with at least half a dozen different droppings. One very fresh, probably dropped this morning. If I lived here a camera trap would be installed.

I exited the main forest and crossed an overgrown cattle grid. Some reports deviated from the track at this point using the deer fence beside the trees but this looked well overgrown so not for me today.

Not very appealing but here goes

I continued up the track to where another report recommended going through the newly planted trees via an obvious track. It didn’t look that obvious but in I ploughed.

Squelchy underfoot

In fairness there was a track of sorts. It was well overgrown but passable. It was also absolutely water saturated with minimal opportunities to avoid these sections so despite the gaiters very wet boots and socks.

On my way up a single roe deer alert bark in the new trees which was the only sign of wildlife in this section on the way up. It was only about 20 minutes to get through but it felt much longer but I was still relieved to break out onto the moor.

Relief was short lived as I was once again in really crap terrain. Deep grass and heather concealing tree planting holes, very slow going. The most recent report I read was from 2022 and as I suspected a lot of growth has taken place in those 4 years.

I came across a muddy deer trail/water course which took me away from my direct ascent to the top but well worth taking as walking was much easier.

Finally I left this and took a direct line to the summit. I thought the going would be easier and it was, but only partially. The only missing thing were the tree holes all else still very awkward. My knee was protesting but not painful.

Sphagnum moss everywhere some patches dried out enough to walk over but others very wet and to be avoided.

Love the way the light is clear through the rainbow

A heavy shower blew in from Ullapool direction bringing with it a wild wind for a few minutes before relenting and giving me a pretty rainbow. Luckily there was a large erratic to shelter behind.

The summit in sight

I thought I had reached the top until I spotted a trig on the next height. The last section threw in its last problem with a waterlogged terrain which meant water hopping/jumping and a short climb to the trig.

View to ullapool

Looking back to Ben Wyvis where the rain has now arrived

I took a 360deg video which was mostly of low clouds hiding the tops of all the higher hills nearby. Sadly size restrictions mean it will not upload to this site.

Another one on the descent

Brightened up and Loch Glascarnoch now clear

Brighter so more insects in wet area a quicker pace

For my return I thought about going more direct but just descended the same way. Through the wet section I had to put my hood up to escape the buzzing insects which fancied my ears, thankfully it worked.

Fox Moth caterpillar

All in all a fine little ramble which tested my knee. More awkward ground than I would have liked but seemed to be the norm recently. A lot of these hills would be best done late winter/early spring with harder ground and much lower vegetation.

Still when the views could be seen they were well worth the effort particularly towards Loch Broom and the Beinn Dearg range.

Back in the forest i found at least half a dozen Scottish woodland red ant hills absolutely teeming with life. Been ages since I have seen mounds like this. It was worth spending time and watching an ant colony at work.

Ascent: 361m

Distance: 8.6km

Time: 3.14

Wildlife: Common Frog; Blue Tit; Wren; Chaffinch; Siskin; Goldcrest; Meadow Pipit; Red Crossbill; Robin;

Slate quarries and turbines.....Hill of Tillymorgan

Hill: Hill of Tillymorgan

Type: Sub2k

Height: 381m

I parked up on a dirt section off the interestingly named Cadgers’ Road. I always thought of a ‘cadger’ as someone who tried to get something from you without paying, 'can I cadge a fag' frequently heard in Glasgow growing up. So in this case who was the cadger?

From the dirt layby I walked down the road for a short section before turning left and heading up a dirt track.

Not a lot to say about a short climb through the trees. I had read that the track is used by Cross country motorbikes and the track was cut up in places by deep bike tyre marks. However, overall the track was mainly ok and I did not encounter any bikes. I could hear the 'whoosh whoosh' of turbine blades and then one came into view.

My track met up with the formal construction road which led up to to the turbines. Reports suggested there was a barrier of new fence and a locked gate at the first turbine. As it turned out there was a new fence and gate but the gate was open. The fence looked climbable so not an issue either way.

A large turbine was directly ahead and beyond the turbine I noticed a track heading up to the slate quarries.

Abandoned slate quarry

Followed the rough and progressively narrowing track until I reached the bowl of a derelict quarry abandoned many years ago. This also coincided with the end of anything being called a track. Crossed the rough heather which led to a barbed wire fence. Walked up a bit and found a neat section to leg over where the barbed wire had been folded under the plain wire so thankfully no ripped trousers.

This man made waste bing was not the top 

Ahead was an overgrown slate dump which was obviously not the top I was looking for. I headed for it across a strange undulating ground formation which turned out to be the covered remains of two excavation trenches. I then skirted around the side which led onto flatter grass and lo and behold I could see the trig. I hadn't researched it properly and was just expecting a small cairn so a trig was nice.

It had been a grey day and just as I reached the trig surprise, surprise the rain came on.

The mast on Hill of Foudland another hill bagged on this trip

Knock Hill pokes up seems to be seen from all hills around here

The view was nothing special under these conditions so it was a case of taking a couple of snaps, getting waterproof trousers donned and move on.

I moved quickly to get back down the track and get into the trees which sheltered me from the worst of the rain.

A sad end was coming across a dead badger at the side of the road. It looked in perfect condition, so sad. Seen quite a few roadkill badgers recently maybe youngsters who have been moved on looking for there own place.

Objective achieved, a short ramble but never mind the cadger who/what the hell was Tillymorgan? There are reports of a nearby Battle of Tillyangus, so Tilly (or Tillie as also found) does seem to represent a place rather than a person.

A short ramble but another northern Sub2k bagged.

Some historical data from Aberdeenshire Council:

The remains of slate quarries lie around the summit of Hill of Tillymorgan. A few small bothies associated with them lie close by. The quarries were established in 18th Century, and continued to operate into the late 19th Century. The slate was found in veins, inclining to north on the top, running generally from east to west, and is in the early to mid-19th Centuries there were 8 quarries in full operation on the hill. Between 2 and 10 men were employed in each quarry as quarriers, splitters, barrowmen and labourers. The best slates were found at a depth of 4.5m to 9.1m. Blue and grey slate was often to be found in the same quarry, occasionally with beds of grey slate between two of blue, although blue is the dominant colour. In the early 19th Century, the average quantity of slates quarried and sold in Tillymorgan was around 300,000, at a price of 50s per thousand (around £215 in today's money).

Ascent: 180m

Distance: 4.1km

Time: 1.05

Wildlife: Blue Tit; Goldcrest: Robin; Coal Tit;

A wild and windy summit.....Carn Faire nan Con

Hill: Carn Faire nan Con (Cairn of the dogs)

Type: Sub2k

Height: 370m

As always the weather forecast is numero uno for all hillwalkers, at least for those with a sense of self preservation. Today’s forecast was for a dry start with heavy rain arriving by 2-3pm depending on which forecast you believe in, but at least reasonable consistency. So the objective was to get this over and done with by lunchtime.

An early warning as I drove to the starting point in Garve. The roads were wet and the hills were covered in low cloud along with bands of showers around me. The positive was that none of these had forced my wipers to activate.

Parked in just off the main road at the entrance for the maintenance track hopefully leaving enough room on the off chance something actually needed maintained.

Switched on my GPS and nothing happened. Prodded a few buttons as you do, still dead. Opened the back to find zero batteries, still sitting in the charger at my hotel. I always give them a boost on the morning of a walk so I have full batteries. I think this has happened once before so I need to set a reminder on my phone or something. Luckily I had created my route on OS maps so that was on my phone. The map shown on the blog is that track.

Climbed the gate and wandered up the track. I presume this track is for pylon repairs but judging by the small trees that were growing in the middle of track no vehicle had been up here for a long time.

I was dressed for the rain but it was really muggy so all sorts of beasties were attracted to my carbon monoxide breathing face and of course I did not have a midge/fly hood with me.

On the lower slopes views were few and far between but a lot of bird activity kept me interested.

Slightly higher I was getting views of Loch Garve, the roadworks and the sound of the two carriage train from Inverness to Lochalsh.

Despite the good vibes the clouds were lowering not a good omen.

Then without any real warning the views opened up and I was looking down over the stunning waters of Loch Luichart.

Down below a vivid green open space with a large building caught my eye. It is named on the map as Arrieleitrach which was a remote settlement and township much of which became underwater when the loch was created. Historical records recorded tenants from 1700. No obvious road so presumably unseen hill tracks are the only way to it.

I knew that the Sub2k of Sgurr Marcasaidh was the slopes above this but the top section was under cloud.

Walk on a bit further

Back to reality and things were about to change big time. I reached the point where I planned to cut off and go cross country but I carried on for a bit further as there was too much bracken on that direct path.

Rain coming from the NW over the loch, about to get wild for a while.

When I cut off the heavens opened and the rain was biblical. After my experience earlier in the year with my phone (see Wisp Hill blog) I was taking no chances. So it was put in a waterproof bag, into another waterproof bag and was not touched for another hour until the rain had gone off.

The next 30 minutes was only 100m of ascent but it was brutal. Solid heather and bracken bad enough in the dry but with the rain horrendous, even worse than Saturdays ramble.

Went a bit sideways under some small outcrops found a gap where a bit of mild hands on took me to the small cairn. A historical lookout spot but not for me today. No hanging about I was immediately off. I wish I had snow goggles to protect my eyes as hail mixed in.

Having no desire to go back through that horrible stuff I took a different route. I had read another report who had descended via steep heather to reconnect with the upward track. For once today I was lucky as his report mentioned clinging to the heather on steep slopes. I must have came down a different slope as I had reasonable heather which became boggy moor but no bracken.

I descended to the right of the snap over the humps as the left is a big drop and new plantings

Unexpected, but so grateful, the rain stopped. Near the trees I spotted an eroded, sodden but still usable ATV track which led me back to the main track.

As I descended the clouds began to lift. The ariel towers on Little Wyviss had cloud behind them but within 15 minutes the cloud had lifted and I could also see the slopes of Ben Wyviss.

This flew out of the trees at first I thought buzzard but immediately it looked bigger, eagle I suspect

Scotch Argus

After those exertions I was happy to take a slow wander back down listening and spotting the birds and butterflies.

For a small hill that had a brutal final section no doubt a lot easier in the early spring. Unlikely to be back and if I did I would go straight up my descent route but I enjoyed sections of the ramble if not the summit. 

Ascent: 239m

Distance: 5.12

Time: 2.16

Wildlife: Chaffinch; Meadow Pipit; Scotch Argus; Golden Eagle?; Blue Tit; 

Another case of find the trig.....Fourman Hill

Hill: Fourman Hill (The joining point of 4 landowners)

Type: Sub2k

Height: 344m

Bagging Sub2k’s don’t really get more straightforward than this.

I originally intended to bag a different hill today but with heavy rain forecast I chose an easier and quicker option. If I had more time I would have started at Bogniebrae where there is parking across from the Bognie Arms hotel.

Instead I drove up the single track to its end at the abandoned cottage just after Wellbog. Who doesn’t like a white walled cottage with a red roof? The word bog seems to be a common feature around here.

The map shows the route going through a wood but in reality it was an open deforested section and then flanked the new plantings.

This was an interesting sign at the beginning, had there been an accident or was it a local dispute?

After the first section there was a choice of grass tracks and after sum humming and hawing including having a look at one section that looked like a deforested fire break, not attractive. I chose the right hand one which proved to be the correct option.

Climbing up the track there were good views down to the river Deveron, I wonder how many salmon have been caught in there this year? Definitely none today as no fishing on a Sunday.

Beside the track I noticed a deer fence had been erected to surround the newly planted stuff but what was more interesting was just how many trees had grown on the other side of the fence, natural woodland regeneration! Save the government subsidies and savings for us tax payers if more natural regeneration was encouraged.

The vehicle track came to an abrupt stop at a fence but to my right I spotted a narrow trail in the heather. Following it I spotted the trig, outside of the fence but slowly being hidden by the growing trees. In a few years it will be a case of find the trig but at least it was not inside the deer fence. There was meant to be a small cairn around marking the historical boundary between the parishes of Huntly and Rothiemay but I couldn’t find it.

I also liked the following description:

A pretty eminent hill so called from the fact that it is the property of four Proprietors all of which, it is said, could dine on one table on the top of the hill and each proprietor seated on his own land.

This switched on the lightbulb and got me wondering if that was where it got it's name from in which case it would have been called something else at the time of the Roman Fort located nearby. Another case of an OS changing the name of our landscape.

Knock Hill on right

The views were described as one of the best views NE of Huntly. On a grey day like this they were extensive but lacked detail with another and different perspective of Knock Hill for me today.

The descent was a better viewing experience particularly over the green countryside patchworked with fields of cut straw. I don’t think I have ever seen so many bales of hay spread over a countryside. With the droughts down south these farmers will be making a fortune for this winter feed.

Another short ramble and another bag. Only disappointment was the minimal wildlife.

Raindrops are now being felt on my head so good timing.

Ascent: 123m

Distance: 2.6km

Time: .45

Wildlife: Meadow Pipit; Robin

There was meant to be a hill track but where did it go?.....Carn nan Iomairean

Hill: Càrn nan Iomairean (Cairn of the Ridges)

Type: Sub2k

Height: 485m

Walkhighlands description: Càrn nan Iomairean is a sprawling hill on the south side of Loch Carron. Its northern slopes regularly throw down rocks and damage the A890 along its base.

With the horrible wet and windy weather I was now on Plan C. My original planned bike/hikes were no goes so I looked for something that had a track/path for a good bit. The OS map showed a path bypassing the hill and indeed I saw the Hill Path sign for the start when I drove past yesterday. Oh boy what a mistake!!!

Just along from the walk start there is a small quarry and a layby which surprise, surprise was occupied by 3 foreign campervans. I squeezed in, got changed in the rain and walked the short distance along the road to the sign for said Hill path to Glen Udalain.

First sign that things might not be to plan was the lack of track to the visible gate in the deer fence. A wee scramble up a muddy slope and through overgrown stuff to get to the gate.

The gate to pathless terrain

Through the gate then along a slight path before it headed into overgrown bracken trying to trip me up. 

The end of the track at the dilapidated fence

The beginning of the poor section

Reached an old gate where there was a very faint path uphill alongside a burn.

The next section was just hellish. Any semblance of a path disappeared in the overgrown terrain. Additionally there had been recent tree planting. The trees were planted on mounds of dirt and they seemed to be doing fine. But my problem was the digger had scooped out holes to provide these piles leaving holes now hidden by grass, bracken and heather. Trying to get uphill was very slow going.

Found the track or watercourse

Almost greeting when I was I relieved to find a section of the hill track even if it was flowing water. 

Spotted the gate in deer fence just need to get there

I could see a deer fence above me when I took the occasional glance upwards. Then more relief when I spotted a gate in the fence so headed to it. The rain was more on than off and every step, path or not, was a wet squelch.

Through the gate I found the odd section of track but mostly I was just route finding by eye and trying to find the easiest terrain. At this point I did have thoughts of turning back. OS maps suggested I was only half way there, I thought I was much further on and felt a lack of motivation.

Pep talk time to self.  Decision made and on I went and reach a dilapidated iron fence with the gate to nowhere. Shortly after I reconnected with the hill track which although it was like walking in a cascading burn it was so much better than everything beforehand.

With just the sound of running water there was more remote terrain to be plodded and then Loch nan Gillean appeared, bloody hell about time.

Tussocky slopes been in worse

Brief view towards the Attadale Munros

Not long after I passed it I left the track and took a direct line towards the summit. Deep tussocky grass and slightly boggy but I could live with it. Four stags appeared on the horizon, looked at me and just as quickly disappeared.

Skye should be in view from the summit but not today

Heading back to Loch Gillean just visible

As always a few false dawns before I finally reached the summit. A brief dry spell with the cloud lifted had shown me the summit but now I was here it was back to showers. The few views would be called atmospheric. Skye was not far away but I could not spot it.

Scotch Argus been a good year for them countrywide

Large Heath

All that was left was to head back the same way.  At least I had the track in my favour for this section. The rain and the humidity had me soaked inside and out but the warm humid atmosphere had butterflies flying. I suppose their survival instincts kick in regardless.  Also on a wet section I saw what looked like a legless pink newt. Later research suggested a Slow worm, if so my first sighting.

Another stand alone gate

I was more involved with the improving light and views although the camera does a great job of making it look dry when it was not. 

In the hellish terrain

But when I lost the track and slowly negotiated the awful tree planted section my enthusiasm dropped significantly as it was no better on the descent. Normally descending a better line can be found but not here.

Lochcarron over the water with Sgurr a'Gharaidh behind

After the tree plantation debacle I regained the outward rough track and progressed reasonably smoothly back to the start.

For sure not a hill I will return to as that was a real struggle on the lower slopes. If doing it I would suggest a spring walk when all the growth had died back and route finding might be a tad easier than today. Oh and pick a dry day!!

Ascent: 549m

Distance: 9.8km

Time: 4.21

Wildlife: Meadow Pipit; Red deer stag x4; Common Frog; Scotch Argus; Large Heath; Snipe x 2; Slow worm;