Creag a'Ghobhair
Creag a’Ghobhair, Bonar Bridge. Section 16D.
Height – 346 metres. Map – OS Landranger 21.
Climbed - 23 October 2011. Time taken – 1.75 hours.
Distance – 5.5 kilometres. Ascent – 280 metres.
Trip Report Details:
On this day trip I was planning to climb some of the Marilyns north of Bonar Bridge. The first one on my agenda was Creag a’Ghobhar which I considered ascending from Clashcoig to the west as the only tracks or paths my map showed involved long approach routes from the east. A check on the Scottish Hills web site revealed that a poster had successfully used a vehicle track (not shown on my map) to the south-east of the hamlet of Ardens.
I drove to the start of this vehicle track at NH636927 and parked beside the sheep pens before setting off up the track, which initially ran along the side of the Allt na h-Atha through a field of sheep. A second gate was passed through as the vehicle track headed away from the stream. Improvements had been made to the track and various rodent traps had been set above the drainage channels.
On approaching Loch a’Ghobhair I left the track and crossed Blar Lon Lochan a’Ghobhair, an area of swampy ground. From here I commenced the ascent of Creag a’Ghobhair, over heather clad slopes initially on an easy gradient. The hill-side was a bit steeper as I gained the west ridge but then it was an easy walk to the summit cairn where I had some good views from the mountains in the North-West round to the Dornoch Firth in the east.
The return was by the ascent route.
Photos taken on walk.