08.07.26 Meall Leac an Fhaobhair (NG 895 968) and Meall na Creige Moire (NG 889 973)
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| Meall Leac an Fhaobhair (NG 895 968) |
Being based in Laide gave us opportunity for a
variety of walking, but as we were staying in Mark’s home away from home there
were a number of tasks needed doing, one being pulling of invasive
thistles. Therefore, the morning was a
relatively easy affair with internet catching up including the writing of the
first draft for the Yr Wyddfa bwlch survey post, breakfast and the later
preparation of lunch and of course the pulling of those aforementioned thistles,
which John and I set about with enthusiasm, clearing a large patch of land leading
to and just beyond the front door. This
relatively leisurely start to the day also enabled the weather to improve, from
the overcast morning skies to increasingly blue, and by the time we were ready
to depart for an afternoon walk the overhead conditions were positively
sublime.
We had two small hills on our radar, each
overlooking the north-eastern part of the peninsula to the immediate north-west
of Laide. Coastal walking can be
invigorating with views out to sea and brisk breeze, and today it was just that
with the added bonus of vivid colouring to both the sea and the land.
My main walking ground is Wales, and although I’ve
been to Scotland and walked various hills over the years, I wouldn’t profess to
know either the country or its hills.
One of the aspects I enjoy about the Welsh uplands is the variety of its
hills and landscape, but during occasional forays north I was all too aware of
the shear scale of what Scotland has to offer and today the microcosm of land
we were visiting was an example of where those Welsh beauties were multiplied
tenfold when in Scotland. It is the shear
scope, variety, number and height of hills that amaze.
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| Deep blues of the sea |
We parked at the road end where a number of
tents and camper vans were positioned overlooking the most beautiful
beach. The colour was spectacular and
reminded me of past visits to Greek islands with the azure of the deep blue sea
and succulent blue sky contrasting against the light coloured sand and all
looking upon a backdrop of high hills lined up across the water. It really was a marvellous sight.
Our walk started on the beach, when seldom do in
Wales where hills are involved. I
happily crossed the outflow of a fresh water burn as it widened in to the
depths of salty water. The sands soon gave way to large and smoothed rocks
consisting of a multitude of colour. As
I headed up on to a narrow green path that was evident from the higher part of the
large rocked section Mark and John caught me up. I then followed my colleagues feeling content
whilst taking numerous photographs, as the landscape unerringly set itself
against the most stunningly beautiful view where both the foreground and
background were perfectly aligned.
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| Ben Mór Coigach |
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| Nearing the summit of our first hill of the day |
The path became slightly boggy in places, but
never so difficult to course concern. It
led in time over an intermediary bump before gaining height on its way past
Loch Dubh na Maoil before gaining height to the summit of our first hill of the
day; Meall Leac an Fhaobhair. The high
point of the hill was positioned about 4 metres from the base of a relatively
large cairn and the Trimble was soon set up gathering its first five minute
data set. As data were collected I
scribbled all necessary information in my surveying notebook as my two
colleagues stood looking out to sea and examining our next objective which was
close at hand to our north-west. Once
data were gathered and stored, I closed the equipment down, took a few
photographs and joined Mark and John as we headed down to the connecting
bealach.
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| Meall na Creige Moire from Meall Leac an Fhaobhair |
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| Gathering data at the summit of Meall Leac an Fhaobhair |
This part of the walk was especially stunning
with coastal crags immediately on our right and the sea stretching beyond to
distant islands. Again the going was
slightly boggy but not enough to hinder.
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| Mark on the path between the two hills |
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| Approaching the summit of the second hill |
On the first summit I’d collected data at
approximately quarter past the hour and wanted to collect data from the top of
our second hill; Meall na Creige Moire in the same hour range, by doing so only
one set of data would need downloading and then converting to Rinex 2 from the
Rinex 3 data now offered by Ordnance Survey.
Therefore, having crossed the bealach I was in head down and fast
plodding mode arriving at the next summit before my two companions and having
the Trimble placed on the hill’s high point and ebbing down to its 0.1m
accuracy level before data should be logged before John and then Mark joined me
for more sea views.
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| The summit of Meall na Creige Moire |
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| The Trimble set-up position at the summit of Meall na Creige Moire |
From this vantage point it seemed as if we were
positioned near the edge of the earth with islands off in the distance and blue
azured sea below. The onward part of the
walk aimed for a cairn placed atop a small rise. Between us and it was a watery
course of bog channels, again all easy to avoid and none drastic enough to
detract from the overall beauty of the walk.
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| Leaving the small cairned bump and heading down to join the outward track |
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| On the track |
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| Another good day on the hill |
A path led down from the small cairn on to a
wider track that in time swung back to rejoin our starting point. By now I was more than content to bring up
the rear and enjoy the scenery of rock and sea and those stunningly sublime
colours that were on grand display, with strings of white and grey clouds
streaming across that succulent blue sky and those deep coloured blues of the
sea, all interspersed with the varied grey coloured rock and the greenery of
the hills. Such a marvellous place to
visit and a walk I would recommend anyone doing if ever the opportunity arises.
Survey Result:
Meall Leac an Fhaobhair
Summit Height: 54.0m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH
6000) (significant height revision)
Summit Grid Reference: NG 89519 96856 (Trimble GeoXH 6000)
Bealach Height: c 19m (interpolation)
Bealach Grid Reference: NG 89162 97013 (interpolation)
Drop: c 35m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and
interpolated bealach)
Dominance: 64.84% (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and
interpolated bealach)
Meall na Creige Moire
Summit Height: 55.3m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH
6000)
Summit Grid Reference: NG 88972 97371 (Trimble GeoXH 6000)
Bealach Height: c 12m (interpolation)
Bealach Grid Reference: NG 88459 96413 (interpolation)
Drop: c 43m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and
interpolated bealach)
Dominance: 78.30% (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and
interpolated bealach)
My thanks to Alan Dawson with
help processing these data
For further details please consult the Trimble Survey Spreadsheet
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