Morangie Forest near Tain boasts 3 Marylins,
unfortunately all are protected by conifer plantations which results in the runs up them being either on forest tracks or bashing through forest or knee deep tussocks. From the road-head at Rhanich (NH708 811) the footpaths marked on the OS no longer exist on the ground and the forestry tracks are a bit confusing to say the least. Recent felling has also altered the map so our route up Cnoc an t-Sabhail was not the most direct. Once through the trees we ended up on a boggy nightmare that is the hill top. From the cairn though the views were great and depite the bitter wind the sunshine was very pleasant. In an attempt to get in 
the miles we were aiming to go a long way round on tracks back to the car. However, we quickly discovered that all of the tracks were covered in sheet ice. Discretion was definetly the better part of valour and we decided to cut the run short and explored some of the ruins, including a pub, left over when the area was far more busy with droving traffic. There are also some great ravines left over from the melt-water of the last ice age.
unfortunately all are protected by conifer plantations which results in the runs up them being either on forest tracks or bashing through forest or knee deep tussocks. From the road-head at Rhanich (NH708 811) the footpaths marked on the OS no longer exist on the ground and the forestry tracks are a bit confusing to say the least. Recent felling has also altered the map so our route up Cnoc an t-Sabhail was not the most direct. Once through the trees we ended up on a boggy nightmare that is the hill top. From the cairn though the views were great and depite the bitter wind the sunshine was very pleasant. In an attempt to get in 
the miles we were aiming to go a long way round on tracks back to the car. However, we quickly discovered that all of the tracks were covered in sheet ice. Discretion was definetly the better part of valour and we decided to cut the run short and explored some of the ruins, including a pub, left over when the area was far more busy with droving traffic. There are also some great ravines left over from the melt-water of the last ice age. Definetly an area for trail running rather than hill running, saying that the track due west of the road-head is a cracker.
Time: 2h20 Distance: 12.5M Av HR: 139 Max HR: 171
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