Cnoc Mor and Knock Farril

About trip

Minimum Time: 2hrs 30mins Ascent: 950ft Difficulty Level: 2 - Medium Directions: From the car park, turn left down the main street towards the Ben Wyvis Hotel. Pass the hotel grounds and turn right, up a steep lane. It becomes a track; where this bends left, keep ahead up a field edge path towards the edge of the woods. Cross a stile and turn left to Touchstone Maze, Point A. The maze shows the rocks of this part of Scotland. If you’ve done Walks 40 to 46 in Wester Ross, you will find some more Torridonian sandstone here. From the top of the maze, an avenue of stones leads up and to the left. Ignore a path forking up to the right, and keep ahead to join a track at a waymarker. This runs to the left, keeping the same level through a gate with a stile where it leaves the woods. It continues level at first, then rises gently to a four-way signpost in a col. Turn left up a slope dotted with conglomerate rocks to the hill-fort of Knock Farril, Point B. The first knob of ruined stonework on the left shows the vitrified rocks, thought to be caused by a fire that destroyed the fort’s wooden palisade. Return to the four-way sign and keep ahead for Cnoc Mor. The path passes a bench and follows the ridge-line above. A sculpture with three faces was a gift from Armenia to local schoolchildren who raised money after the earthquake there in December 1988. At the next col keep ahead through a kissing gate and over a stile, signed for Cnoc Mor. Under the pines a path, with a fence on its right, leads over a preliminary knoll and up to the trig point (Point C). Go down alongside the fence for another few steps before turning left on an overgrown track. This spirals round the hill to a signpost pointing towards you. Here a path on the right contours round the hill to another signpost. Keep ahead for Jamestown on a small, overgrown path. At the forest edge, turn down left, follow a fence past felled trees and cross a stile on the right (Point D). Continue downhill just inside the wood to pass houses at the edge of Jamestown. At a waymarker the path bends right to follow the wood’s foot. After 650yds (594m) the path forks, with the right-hand branch running under pines to a car park (Point E). Walk through here to the access road and follow this out to the main road. Turn right and walk down the hill on the pavement into Strathpeffer.