Sunday 9 February 2025 - Four Small Hills

Our last day at Tigh Mor. Jessica went for a walk from Brig o'Turk and the remaining eight of us - Sue, me, Julie, David, Roger Phil, Richard and Jenny went on a 16km circuit from the Glen Sherup Forestry Commission car park, a drive of nearly an hour from Tigh Mor. Russell and Alison - on a separate booking - had gone home as planned.

The main purpose of the walk was to 'bag' Julie's last 'Donald', a Donald being a Lowland hill of over 2000 feet which may or may not fall into an assortment of other 'bagging' categories. There are currently 89 such hills.

This was the coldest day of the trip, with a cold wind to make us grateful that we weren't going much over 600 metres. We were protected from the wind until we emerged from the forest in Glen Devon.

A bench had looked an enticing resting point until we noted that it was covered in ice.

We gathered together, with the long slope up to Innerdownie, the lowest of the 89 Donalds, stretching into the distance, with the summit being some way further on than the point on the horizon in the next picture.

After a while, we gathered together at the summit of Innerdownie. It was cold.

Then it was a steady stroll up to the broad summit of Whitewisp Hill, and on to Julie's unclimbed target, Tarmangie Hill.

By now we were well and truly in a cold cloud, so whilst a celebration was in order, the bottle was stashed for the time being.

Some forestry was expected. It was shown on the map and would have provided a sheltered lunch spot. Never mind, an alternative was found and the Prosecco was opened.

A little further on, a signpost encouraged us to climb a final 100 metres to the summit of Ben Shee.

After some brief glimpses to the reservoirs below, the summit of Ben Shee was a bit anticlimactic as it revealed neither a cairn nor a view.

The descent above Glen Sherup slowly drew us out of the cloud and into the relative warmth of the valley.

We doubled back to cross the Glensherup Reservoir dam to gain the track back to the car park.

We felt we had earned a spell in the sauna and the steam room, before concocting an excellent meal from leftovers.

Here's our route - 16km, 600 metres ascent, taking around 5 hours.

Then on Monday morning we said goodbye to Tigh Mor, with its turreted wings and the view to Ben Venue.

An excellent trip. Thanks to those who organised it.