Glen Fruin

Loop round a few Fruin hills, The Stone up to a'Mhanaich, then Chaorach and Tharsuin, a wee add on running round to Balcnock, then a tussocky drop to cross the Ballevoulin burn and up over Auchengaich hill. Runnable to a'Mhainaich and down to the start of the climb up Chaorach, walk up here then an undulating run round to Balcnock, dropped off the ridge too early and had a tussocky traverse to get along to where I wanted to descend, slow run down to cross the burn then another walk up to the quad bike track that runs up to the top of Auchengaich. Picked my way down more tussocky ground to finish at the bottom of the reservoir access road.

 

Glen Fruin , easy

Short run this weekend, two race tired , late afternoon start up The Strone, trotted out to Maol am Fheidh and on up to a'Mhanaich, on the way back dropped straight into the glen from a'Mhanaich, following the fence into the glen, found a walkers path/quad bike track back to the reservoir and along the road to the car, an easy couple of hours.   

Glen Fruin

A loop on the hills overlooking Auchengaich reservoir. Parked on the access road to the reservoir, straight up Auchengaich hill, just a steady walk, onto the ridge and the argo track, ran up Tharsuinn and over to Chaorach, good day for a run, a bit of sun and a breeze. Along the top of Chaorach followed the fence line into the glen, retrieved a couple of plastic bottles I left during LDFF then chased some deer up A'Mhanaich, they got away. Easy run down to the glen over Maol Am Fheidh and The Strone.

Auchengaich reservoir loop

Run over the hills surrounding Auchengaich reservoir, tough climb to start up the side of Auchengaich hill, on the top a quad bike track leads over more runnable ground to Tharsuin and Chaorach, steep drop into the glen then a trudge up A'Mhainach, chased a few deer in the mist, never close enough to get a picture. From A'Mhainach it's a steady run down over Maol am Fheidh and The Strone, low cloud all morning meant all I could see were the wee cairns on each hill top, easy navigation on paths, quad bike tracks or along side fences.

Glen Fruin Hill Run

Slightly longer and harder route this week, picked this route in case of snow and low cloud as there is fencing beside most of the route to aid navigation. As it turned out there was hardly any snow, a few patches here and there, ice and old rusty fence wire the only issues. To start cross the thankfully frozen bogs before a steep trudge into the clouds up Auchengaich hill, From there its runnable up and over Tharsuin and Chaorach following quad bike tracks and fence lines all the way back down into the glen. A few frozen springs to avoid off the back of Chaorach along with rusty fence wire left after the fencing was replaced a few years ago. The climb up Beinn a' Mhanaich another fenceline trudge back into the clouds, set off down the ridge with a short detour to take in the wee bump of a hill Maol am Fheidh then down the The Strone to finish, Reasonably dry and frozen turf made for good running, didn't hang about on the tops in the cold wind with little in the way of views.

Quad bike track from top of Auchengaich towards Tharsuin

Tharsuin

Cairn on Chaorach

Trig on Chaorach

A' Mhanaich ascent beside gully on the left 

Gulley further up

A'Mhanaich

Boulder points the way

Maol am Fheidh

  

Fruin horseshoe

Hadn't been to Glen Fruin for a while, started on the access road for Fruin reservoir, through the gate and turn right for a trudge straight up Auchengaich hill, from the top run up Tharsuin picking up a fence line over Chaorach and down steep grassy slopes into the glen. Another trudge by a fence takes me to the top of a Mhanaich, down hill now to the Strone with a wee detour to the minor top of Maol am Fheidh.