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We
woke on next Morning to a fine day, no sign of rain and the promise of
some sunshine. The improvement in the weather was accompanied by the
arrival of the midges, they were real pests as we packed the tents.
Last
night we had seen what looked like the promise of a track running parallel
to the waters edge, so we had high hopes of being able to make good
progress, but these were soon dashed. The terrain was a jumble of bog and peat
haggs and lots of humps and hollows
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no obvious route to follow we decided that rather than climb each obstacle
and descend the other side we would try and weave a way between them,
climbing over hillocks with heavy pack saps the strength. |
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yesterday evening the dam had been in view and as we progressed it loomed
ever larger. The water in the reservoir was low and so a large area of the
dam was exposed. The water was fringed with a very pale beach varying in
texture from a coarse sand in places to large sun bleached boulders, too
large to scramble over. We did use the beach to make progress at times but
it was an unreliable route. Sometimes tracks were evident for a while but
these were made by animals, almost certainly deer, they would only last
for a hundred yards or so and then disappear altogether. |
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many watercourses feeding down to the reservoir did not give us the
trouble that I was expecting, there had been no rain for about twelve
hours now and although they raced eagerly down to the loch the burns had
lost their angry air of recent days. The final mile to the dam looked a
tough one. We could see that the ground fell very steeply down to the
water from several hundred feet and was riven by at least one deep gorge
carrying a burn, it looked a tough climb to go up and round above the
area, the alternative was to try and work our way along the beach and ford
the watercourses at the point where they met the Loch. |
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Both
exhausted we spread ourselves out for an hour on the grass where the
tarmac service road met the dam. Looking at the map we decided we could
probably make it to Dingwall
about
twelve miles away, but there was am alternative. At Marybank we would be about
two miles from Contin, if necessary we could break our journey there and
complete it the next day,
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views looking back from the Orrin dam were excellent, the high hills out
to the west had of snow on the tops still, and seen across the water of
the loch they look wonderful, Rain prompted us tonext
pack our gear and get on the move once more. We stormed down the tarmac
for the four or five miles to Fairburn House. In the grounds we asked the
way to the Marybank road, as among the trees and shrubs it was hard to
work out exactly where we were. Once clear of the trees at Fairburn we
could see the villages in the Contin area, now we really were back into
civilization, Our next objective was a good rest at Marybank and there we
would decide on going for Dingwall or stopping off at Contin. |
The
shop at Marybank has tables and chairs outside, it's lucky for us that the
proprietor leaves them in the rain. We were able to sit there eating ice
cream, while the locals passing frequently to collect their infants from the school
gave us curios glances. |
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After
half hour we decided to head for Dingwall about six miles distant, we
followed the verge of the busy A835 but it suited us quite nicely as we
had been in the wild for a good length of time, this last hour or so we
would have to share with the motor car. We
pressing
on to Dingwall from where I phoned Jimmy to report our arrival, and
explained... that we were to wander down beyond the hospital to try and
find the shore. 'Ferry Road" Jimmy confirmed, and Promised to meet us
near the water.
Had
I been alone I would have Probably called It a day at the phone box. My
legs were really tired and I felt cramp in my, left thigh, but Paul
insisted that we go the other few hundred yards (which looked miles to
me).
So
off we went down Ferry Rd soon, accompanied by Jimmy in his Volvo who
arrived almost as soon as I put the phone down.
The
tide was out in the Cromarty Firth but we went down below the high water
mark, threw our pebbles into the mud that remained, of course
we then posed for Jimmy to take our photo.
We
had walked ACROSS ROSS.
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