Over The Hill

The hills on the Cowal Peninsula may not reach the heights of there more northern neighbours, but they are proving to be every bit as exciting. This was my second, and for some, their third, visit to Lochgoilhead in recent months for Mike's chosen walk; and today, the snow covered crags of Cruach nam Miseag looked very inviting as we parked up at Lettermay.

The snow line reached down to the lochside, albeit, a very slushy and wet snow, which gradually turned to a good ground covering as we made our way up the forest access track that forms part of the Cowal Way, between the Struth Ban waterfall and Lettermay. Although, we would leave the track well before the waterfall, and take to a lesser, rougher and much steeper path as it climbed, generally southwards, up through the forest towards the open hillside north of Cruach nam Miseag.

The path was not without its interesting moments being blocked in places by fallen trees, some from recent high winds, others, which had obviously been there for some time. The obstacle course involved a mixture of crawling very low, sometimes with packs off, or scrambling over the fallen trunks and branches of the fallen debris.

Contouring south east around the base of some crags we entered a broad gully and swung south southwest on a steady climb up the snow clad hillside, at times having to work our way across short stretches of deep snow, whilst in other parts, the crisp, almost icy surface, required a few toe-kicks to get a good purchase up some of the steeper sections of the slope. In general, the skies stayed clear, with just a few sharp showers of hail, and the views all around were certainly well worth the effort in reaching the 606m summit of Cruach nam Miseag.

We retraced our steps from the summit, back to a broad, open area around the 540m height, and then made our descent north west between the higher ground, aiming for a point on the crags above the forest boundary from where we would make our descent down through the, now felled, and very open area, of forest to yet another forest track that would take us back towards the Cowal Way track and the footbridge which spans the Lettermay Burn, a short distance below the Struth Ban waterfall. From the footbridge, we followed the forest track that contours the lowers slopes to the east of Beinn Lochain, before dropping down towards Lettermay and a return to our start point.

An excellent day in the hills, brilliant snow walking, and great company - Thanks Mike.