ACTIVE OUTDOORS: Heat is on for walk in hills above Loch Ness
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Don’t take us up a massive hill again, they pleaded. So I didn’t. I took them up a little hill instead!
An Leacainn sits in the moors above Loch Ness, and its 414m summit is easily enough accessed once you’ve driven up the steep hill to Blackfold.
There’s a small unsigned parking area just a short distance east of the farm at Blackfold. The walk starts here and follows a short path that leads from the parking area up to the Great Glen Way path.
A couple of winters ago, my daughter Clara and I had battled through deep snow and driving winds on this same circuit. At that time, her little brother Matthew had hardly got round the first corner before he’d given up with cold and tiredness and gone back to the car with his mum.
How times change! This time he was leading the charge, running and dancing his way up the path while Clara and I walked and chatted behind. It was a good job – as there were only the three of us here this time.
The route goes left onto the Great Glen Way path then right at a crossroads of paths to climb up through the pine trees and past a gate. Keep straight on at a couple of junctions to stay on the main track, which can get pretty boggy in places.
Even in the midst of the recent heatwave, parts of the track were like a burn and others required detours to keep clear of the mud and water.
We do like to do this walk in extremes – last time it was freezing cold and this time during an unprecedented September summer season.
It was hot in the sun, but thankfully this section is sheltered and shady under the trees. Down to the right you can catch a glimpse of Loch Dionach, which glimmered nicely in the sunshine, but it would be too much of a battle through the undergrowth to reach it from here.
After this, the track rises slightly to a fork. Take the left-hand path to continue climbing and follow this nice little section until you come close to another, smaller lochan. This one is much easier to reach, and one or two clear little paths lead to the water’s edge.
Matthew spotted one of the paths and I told him we could go to the rock just before the lochan. Last time, the ice had been so thick that a curling sheet had been cleared on the surface and there was evidence of skiing all across the frozen lochan.
This body of water is unnamed on the OS maps, though it appears to have been damned at its eastern end.
We returned to the main path and continued for a short way until we found an eroded route up to the left. There is no cairn or marker here to direct you, but it is easy enough to spot if you are looking out for it.
It leads steeply up, now out of the shade and leading onto the open hillside. Matthew loved this little path and was racing ahead – at least until he reached the lean-to gate in the deer fence. That gave Clara and me a chance to catch up, at least.
Before we’d set off from home, I’d drawn a picture of the trig point and told Matthew that he had to find it on our walk. Through the gate, he powered on through this rocky and heather-covered landscape, following a path through the peat, until he finally saw it.
“I think I can see the thing in your picture,” he said to me. That is possibly the biggest compliment I’ve ever had for one of my drawings – that it is actually recognisable as the thing it was supposed to be!
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We stopped for a snack just behind the trig point, where a nice big rock meant we all had somewhere to sit, if not to shelter from the strong wind.
The path continues across the summit plateau to meet an old route marked on the map. It drops down through a couple of easy crags and it’s quite clear when you hit the old route, although not much of it seems to remain on the ground elsewhere.
We attempted to follow the marked path left, round the front of the higher ground then down to meet the Great Glen Way path, thinking it would be easier without the snow complicating matters. However, any sign of the path soon disappeared into the tussocky grass and heather, and we attempted to find our own way to the bottom.
You can make out the large gate in the fence at Easter Altourie, which at least gives you something to aim for, but don’t expect an easy descent to it! Next time I’m up here I will try again to unearth the mysteries of the missing path…
Finally we reached the gate and pushed through to the well-made path that would lead us all the way back to Blackfold. Heading left, we made our way along here, then Matthew decided he was going to run – in his welly boots!
There was no keeping up with him, either. Some American tourists on the long-distance route enjoyed the spectacle of a five-year-old sprinting past with his dad and sister lagging behind! “How does he make you feel?” one of them asked. “Knackered!” I confessed.
But it meant that we were back at the car in no time, and ready to face the rest of the day – after heading for a coffee at least!
Route details
An Leacainn
Distance 3 miles / 5 km
Terrain Forestry track and vague paths on open hill, very boggy in places
Start/finish Blackfold
Map OS Landranger 26; OS Explorer 416
A short climb to a trig point in the moors above Loch Ness
Click here to see the route in OS Maps
