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Fionn Bheinn, a hill that for me was absolutely brilliant fun, and turned into a bit of a social event!
My husband was away for the day, so I picked this one as it's very easy and safe and he wouldn't worry about me falling off it or getting lost. Also it's only an hour's drive from home. I wasn't in a particular rush as the forecast was for the cloud to lift around noon, so I had a good breakfast and arrived at Achnasheen about 11 and set off through the well-marked gate..... just in case there was any doubt where to go.....
- No doubt where to go!
After passing some sheep I started to climb, up the well worn path along the burn. You can't go wrong really!
- Path by the burn
At this point it was kind of grey, but clearing - the views were certainly good and improving all the time...
- Views back down
Catching up with a couple of guys ahead...
- One of them has BAGPIPES!!
I eventually caught up with a couple of guys who had started out just before me, and as we drew level with the Graham across the other side of the burn, I decided to head out across the Uncharted Bog, in search of a path that might lead towards the summit. Actually, it wasn't too boggy due to the severe lack of rain recently!
- Setting out into Uncharted Bog
The guys decided to stick with the burn a bit longer - later on it was clear I'd found the easier route, as they arrived at the top an hour later than me and had hit some boggy ground on the way. I was lucky, and easily picked up a decent path, climbing steadily, cloud thinning, until suddenly, there I was at the edge, looking at this enormous drop and a wonderful vista, and the sun had burned through to leave a sparkling day with just the tops dipped in cloud that was thinning all the time.
- Woohoo! what a view!
Incredibly, the summit point could be seen now, up to the left - no false summits and no difficulties, and sooner than I had expected. Just two hours from the car, there I was!
- Summit ahoy!
- The summit trig point
Already there were some other folk there, a family with a picnic and a drone (not for too long, phew). Another family soon arrived, on holiday from Glasgow, with three children. I had the luxury of a photograph at the summit that I hadn't had to take myself!
- No selfies today!
We all sat around eating our picnics in the sun, plagued only by the clegs that drove us all crazy...... I was glad to be wearing my insect repellent shirt! The little horrors bite me through my leggings, my socks, but not through this shirt....
I munched my way through one of my own cucumbers, 2 duck eggs and a heap of Quorn Picnic Eggs. Cucumbers are brilliant, containing mostly water plus loads of vitamins - did you know half a cucumber contains a whole day's vitamin K?!
When we arrived, ours was the only summit not covered in a little cloud, but as we sat there all the tops eventually cleared.
After an hour, the two guys I'd seen earlier arrived, and one of them mentioned that he'd taken the pipes.... 'Get them out then?' I requested enthusiastically, wishing I had my fiddle with me. Practically, it's difficult, as fiddles are very delicate and don't like hot weather or being bumped about. Pipes are definitely more portable - after all, that's why they became so popular when they arrived in Scotland in the 1500s. It must be especially hard to blow up that bag when you've just hiked up a Munro in 24 degrees sunshine, but he gave us a few sets of tunes and it was brilliant! (Reid Piping, if you want to look him up on social media).
- Piper at the top.....
- Quite a gathering!
They then joined the picnic and we sat around identifying the surrounding mountains and telling each other stories about people who'd lost their car keys up hills etc.... I think I was there an hour and a half, it was so nice.
Nobody was sure what the wee shark-fin hill is in the centre of this photo.....
- Shark-fin shaped hill....?
It was an unusual view of Torridon, but thanks to Meall a' Ghuibhais being such a distinct outline, as soon as the cloud cleared the tops I could spot Beinn Eighe, Liathach, Slioch etc.
- Slioch, centre
- Looking back towards Strathconon
- Meall a' Ghuibhais, right, with Beinn Eighe and Liathach to the left...
Eventually both families and I set off back down, leaving the guys up there, and as I descended I could still hear the pipes... magic. I went down a slightly different way, keeping to the rim of the cliffs to savour the views before heading back to the burn. We decided we had solved the Brahan Seer's prophesy as well.... he didn't mean ravens drinking our blood for three days, he meant CLEGS!!!! Solved!
- Starting to descend
As usual I was looking for a place to dip my legs, and found my very own Infinity Pool, AKA the hydro dam! Lovely.... extremely warm for moving water, but refreshing nevertheless.
- The burn
- Mmmmmmm
Great views on the way back down, looking towards Achnasheen again.... so much better than the grey sky of the morning.
- Returning to Achnasheen
I made it back to the car, hot but happy and in good spirits after a truly enjoyable day. The walking took me about 3.5 hours, and I was sat around at the top for another 1.5 hours and maybe 30 minutes at the pool, so not a massive hill - but I should point out we'd had no rain for ages and I had no issues with boggy ground. Definitely hit it lucky there!
My review of Fionn Bheinn on TripAdvisor would be as follows: Five stars, excellent weather, your own personal piper and an infinity pool. What else could you wish for?