Hill: Struie
Date: Saturday 4th December 2010
Company: Just me
Time: 1Hr 25Mins
Dog friendly: Yes

I parked in the Cadha Mor viewpoint layby on the B9176.
From the layby, I walked along the B9176 to the road high-point, before taking to the hillside.

Struie from B9176:


From the moment I left the road, the ascent was arduous. The snow was mostly soft but with a hard layer on top. The hard layer wasn't strong enough to support my weight and was a bit of a nuisance to break through every step. The depth at best was shin-deep and at worst was thigh-deep.

Struie:


Deep snow:


Without snow, this hill would take perhaps 20 minutes to ascend. Today it took me a few minutes short of one hour to reach the summit.

Ascending Struie:


Looking back towards start and Dornoch Firth:


Dornoch Firth from Struie:


Was nice to reach the summit.

Approaching summit cairn:


The descent was thankfully much quicker than the ascent .

Reflections:


On getting back to the car, I decided to ascend another nearby Sub2000ft Marilyn.

I drove to Edderton to ascend Cnoc an t-Sabhail.
There are two Marilyns called Cnoc an t-Sabhail situated next to each other. This was an ascent of the Northerly one.


Hill: Cnoc an t-Sabhail
Date: Saturday 4th December 2010
Company: Just me
Time: 2 Hours
Dog friendly: Yes

I drove up the track past Edderton Mains and parked at the start of the track into the forest.

Parking beyond Edderton Mains:


I followed the tracks through the forest as far as a clearing in the trees, beside some water works.

Track through forest:


Track through forest:


Looking across to Struie from Cnoc an t-Sabhail:


Dornoch Firth:


Beyond the water works, I was a bit confused by multiple forest tracks. On reaching a gate, I went through it and then made my way to the edge of the forest. I had to negotiate a few fallen trees in this section of forest.

Gate:


Fallen trees across path:


Was great to get out of the forest and see the summit approximately 1km in the distance. The 1km of snow to cross to get there was hard-going and a bit tedious .

Out of the trees, looking towards summit:


Looking back along edge of forest:


Looking towards summit:


Dornoch Firth bridge:


Can't recall the last time I had jelly-legs - not used to wading through deep snow.
The thought "I wish I had snow shoes" entered my head quite a few times .

Summit trig point:


I returned to the car via the same route.

Nice to ascend another couple of Marilyns but I hope some of the snow shifts soon.
Roll on summer .