free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
Beautiful blue skies and a warm start for the first day of (nearly) a week's holiday on Mull. This was the first time either of us had visited the island apart from a day trip to Tobermory, so we were hoping to get some decent walks done. Unfortunately the forecast for the rest of the week was pants, so we jumped straight into the deep end with Ben More.
After a few minutes' walk along the road, we followed the Scarisdale River upstream to meet the north-west ridge of Beinn Fhada. This very soon became quite tricky going, with some wet ground, tall grass and annoying flies. Once on the ridge it was steeper but drier, with the reappearance of a welcome breeze. Lovely views back over the bay, with Ulva in the distance:
Head of Loch na Keal:
Beinn a' Ghraig looked very tempting over to the left:
The broad ridge gradually gets less steep, and from 500 metres or so it's relatively easy going. View ahead:
The ridge descends slightly (with a faint path at times) past a lochan before a steep section onto the next section of ridge. Looking back:
Despite all the blue sky so far, trouble was brewing on Ben More:
Anyway, still plenty of time for it to clear. The last ascent to the summit Beinn Fhada's summit is a bit craggy and easiest tackled from the west / front (rather than south / right) side:
Excellent views from the summit:
After unsuccessfully attempting to descend directly towards Beinn More, we instead headed back off the summit by the ascent route, than branching off left to the bealach. Ahead, A' Chioch was cloud free but Ben More still had a hat on:
Any scrambling while ascending A' Chioch was easier than expected. Glen Clachaig to the left:
View back from near the summit - just underneath the cloud:
We hung around the summit area for a while despite a few midges, hoping the cloud on Ben More would clear. It was one of those days when the hill seemed to be creating its own weather system despite blue sky in all the surrounding glens. For now it wasn't looking too promising:
Unidentified (for now) bird of prey:
Ben More's impressive northern coire:
Meanwhile the cloud was definitely lifting a little - finally the summit was visible:
The clearance didn't last, but the ridge was beckoning us on now. We'd been just a little apprehensive about the scrambling ahead, but in actual fact it's all very easy thanks to paths on the left side which bypass presumably trickier sections of ridge. Looking back:
Back on the crest further up and we were in and out of the cloud:
The top appeared very suddenly, with a huge cairn and... well,
kind of a view:
With cloud in the coires on all sides we were sitting in an odd pocket of summit sunshine:
After the narrow paths on ascent, the motorway leading downhill came as a shock!
It was very busy now, with lots of people still ascending even though it was approaching mid-afternoon. This is the sort of place where it would be unfortunate to need the toilet. No cover and lots of people...
Lower down the path comes close to the Abhainn Dhiseig, with some lovely waterfalls and clear plunge pools:
The path braids around here and we probably crossed the burn too early, ending up on some quite faint and boggy paths. Anyway, they all seem to lead downhill in roughly the same direction; as long as you cross the stream before it becomes a gorge then you'll probably end up in the right place. Lower slopes:
After reaching the (heaving) main car park for Ben More, we still had a scenic but fairly long road walk back to our own car:
This definitely seemed like a much more interesting way to climb Ben More than just to head up and down the same path. The lower slopes of Beinn Fhada were hard work, but it's almost all excellent ridge walking from there onwards - and the scrambling was all straightforward so no problems there. 7 hours was also shorter than we were expecting, this even despite hanging around on A' Chioch. The views from higher up started to reveal what a (to us) surprisingly big island Mull really is - a recurring theme for the rest of the week!
Mull 2017>> Next day: Iona