MARHOFN 171.09

Hall of Shame

Hall of Shame: Heather Terrors

Torr Achilty (12A, LR26)

Jimmy White: Serious under-estimation here, of both terrain and time. My route from the house at NH454553 looked like a quick sprint through a narrow margin of deciduous trees. What the map doesn't show is the hidden Jurassic jungle on the ENE ridge all the way to the summit. Audrey Litterick's description of the terrain on Mullach Mor, Rum (Marhofn 153) sums it up nicely. Fortunately, there is a better descent route south over fairly open, stony ground to the power station. Ascend this hill any other way but north and you do so at your peril.

John Ward: This proved to be a tough summit for its height. I have an orienteering map of the area but had left it at home. I followed the track on the southern side of the loch. Much of the forest here has recently been felled. Once I had left the track the walk involved high, wet autumn bracken. I soon found a fence, which separates the area of semi-open forest to the east from the plantation to the west. The fence eventually drops down towards the power station. At this point a small wooded valley has to be crossed before the final walk up to the summit. Here I sat reading comments left in a bottle by earlier summitteers, whilst a stag roared from somewhere near the dam.

Beinn Bhreac (19A, LR 50/55)

Jimmy White: Beguiled by the short road walk and the apparently easy forest tracks, I started from Malt Land just north of Inveraray. After clearing the forest I knew I would be walking against the grain of the country, and so it proved, in spades. No tracks, just purgatory moorland with knee-deep heather and bracken, and endless roller-coaster ups and downs. I'm sure that an expedition (that's what it was for me) could be better taken from Three Bridges on the A819, following the grain of the country via Sron Reithe to the summit.