Cnoc Ceislein (NH589706; 523m)

Saturday 26 August

Start Point: Fyrish Car Park (NH627715)

Distance and Ascent: 10.3k, 380m

Weather: Rain, mainly light, but with two downpours

My intention had been to take in a hill by Carrbridge today, on our way back from Alness parkrun. Then, as we sat in Erica-the-Campervan in a secluded car park on the Black Isle last night, with the rain drumming down, it occurred to me that I pass by Carrbridge far more frequently than I pass by Alness (in fact, to the best of my knowledge the only other time I’ve been on that bit of the A9 was in 2008 on a bus from John o’Groats), and thus it made sense to take in a hill up there instead.

parkrun was damp but not as wet as forecast, but as we sat in Morrison’s café afterwards it started teeming down. It was still coming down when we reached the Fyrish car park, but an amount of faffing meant it had eased by the time I set out.

I even took my jacket off at one point on the ascent, only to put it back on within two minutes.

Even in the rain, I could appreciate that the surroundings were rather pleasant, through an old, non-commercial forest on a track that is narrower than it once would have been, with greenery taking over its edges.

Track

Looks like someone thought it appropriate to take a car up there

Goodness, the ground was soggy, though, with the track soon resembling a burn more than solid ground, and with all low points having filled with water.

The most extreme water obstacle. Long and deep.

All of the puddles were easily bypassed; stepping through the wet heather got plenty of water into the shoes, but not as much as wading through the puddles would have done.

The point where I left the track to find the trodden line up the final reaches of the hill was also masquerading as a watercourse. My summit is under the cloud on the left of the shot.

Continuing the theme, the trodden line up the hill was running with water, with the bare peat threatening to be slippery on the way down.

Being in the cloud by the time I reached the trig point, there wasn’t much reason to linger … 

...until suddenly a hole appeared and I got a view down to the Cromarty Firth and a pier that I thought might be the one I’d run along earlier (I’ve since checked and it wasn’t; there are two relatively close to each other). Alas, by the time I got my camera out of its Ziplock bag, the view had become slightly obscured again, and was soon gone completely.

The descent would have been a straightforward retracing of steps, except that…

…see that track? The reason I didn’t take it on the way up was because I’d read reports that it no longer exists on the ground. I didn’t doubt those reports, but when I saw that there was a clear track at each end, I couldn’t resist taking a closer look. Whilst the track only exists for short distances at either end, its course is still reasonably clear, and there’s a trod along much of its length, but it’s so overgrown with trees that it wasn’t possible to stick to the original line for the entire distance. It probably goes without saying that the going was also excessively wet.

Looking back the way I’d just come

Looking forward

On this occasion it probably would have been faster to take the longer route, as I could happily have jogged back down the entire track, rather than meandering and fighting my way along the shorter route.

The next heavy shower hit as I made my way along there, but it eased off as I did the easy final distance down to the car park, where I arrived in a decidedly soggy state. A good time had been had, though, and another hill ticked off.