Hill: Meall na h-Eilrig
Date: Saturday 10th December 2011
Company: Myself and Beinn
Time: 2Hrs 45Mins
I set out today to ascend Meall na h-Eilrig - a Sub2000ft Marilyn located above Drumnadrochit.
Driving up the steep icy road towards Abriachan was “interesting”.
I parked in the large car park for the Abriachan Cycle Trails.
Click here to see a map of the route undertaken
Car park:
From the car park, I followed the track leading towards Achpopuli.
Track leading towards Achpopuli:
On reaching Achpopuli, I couldn't find a way to get Beinn over a barbed-wire fence. We therefore returned to the Great Glen Way track, which we followed into the forest.
Great Glen Way:
On reaching a track junction, we took the track leading towards Drumnadrochit.
Beinn waiting at the track junction:
We soon reached the track high point, which is marked by a sign stating, “Footpath Highest Point”.
Ascending towards the track high point:
We then continued to follow the track for a few hundred metres until I found what looked like a small gap through the trees.
Meall na h-Eilrig in distance:
Small gap through the trees:
On reaching the gap, we left the track to make our way through about 50m of trees. This was a little tricky as there were three fallen trees lying across the gap. On exiting the trees, we stepped over a small fence and began to make our way through snow-covered heather towards Meall na h-Eilrig.
Looking towards Meall na h-Eilrig:
Beinn breaking trail:
About 0.5km after exiting the forest, we reached another barbed wire fence. There was no way of getting Beinn over the fence so we began to walk alongside the fence looking for a chink in its armour. After walking about 300m, alongside the fence, we reached a section of fence that was flattened by the snow – superb
!
A gap through the fence:
From here on it was just a straight-forward plod through snow to reach the summit.
Looking back towards forest:
As we made our way up the hill, the views to the North/North-West were quite superb.
I must admit to not being able to recognise a good number of the snow-covered hills – although I guess I was looking at the Fannichs, Ben Wyvis, etc.
Snow-covered hills (zoomed):
More snow-covered hills (zoomed):
Great views:
More hills:
More hills (zoomed):
Loch Ness:
We reached the summit about 1Hr 40Mins after setting off.
Approaching the summit trig point:
Beinn waiting at the summit:
The views from the summit were really good – this hill is a great viewpoint.
Loch Ness from summit of Meall na h-Eilrig:
View from summit:
View from summit:
View from summit:
View from summit:
Loch Glanaidh:
Loch Glanaidh:
Stitched panorama (Click on image for larger image):
Loch Ness:
From the summit, we made our way back via the same route.
Beinn:
Looking back to Meall na h-Eilrig:
A superb Sub2000ft Marilyn
.