Beinn Bhan

[BlackPanther]

We did this hill over a month ago, in fantastic weather conditions. After visiting my parents in September I was eager to move from mountains of food (my mum doesn't believe in small portions) to something more inspiring Applecross hills were on my to-do list and even though it was a long-ish drive, my husband was more than happy to test his new car.

We started from the bridge over the River Kishorn. The ridge of Beinn Bhan is 8 km long and we assumed that to get the best view of its corries would be to walk along the bottom of the hill first, instead of climbing straight to the top.

The eastern corries of Beinn Bhan

There is a good path all the way to the small loch (Loch Gaineamhach), but as we continued walking along, the path disappeared and the ground became a bit boggy...

Loch Gaineamhach

Again, we passed the most recommended ascent by Coire an Fhamair (at least it is supposed to be the easiest way - in my humble opinion, this hill is painfully steep no matter how you approach it). After jumping over some small streams and manouvering among puddles I said enough - and headed straight up the unfriendly-looking wall.

Up we go :)

Half way up the hill

It actually looks worse than it is. There were a few moments of easy scrambling, but nothing really difficult if you picked your way carefully. When we took a short break half way up, what we saw was the best reward for our sweat and sore muscles

Looking north...

Torridon from the distance

Eventually we reached the top of the ridge. I sat down on a rock, feeling every single calorie from my mum's steaks and cheesecakes burning away...

Resting on the top of the ridge

Walking to the main top of Beinn Bhan was now a piece of cake and the breathtaking views down to Coire na Poite were the icing on it Such a shame about the shadows as the sun was already on the western side...

The return route is easy compare to the ascent one, with some more splendid views of the rocky cliffs at first, then down the wide slopes facing the beautiful panorama of Loch Kishorn:

Loch Kishorn (in the distance) and Loch Coire nan Arr (to the right)

Once we got back to the parking, my husband ran to check if his beloved four wheels haven't been scratched or "decorated" by seagulls... Car-madness. That's the one thing I wll never understand about men...

To sum up, it was a lovely walk. Highly recommended, not only for crazy cats

[rockhopper]

Nice report and some fine pictures there bp

he breathtaking views down to Coire na Poite were the icing on it Such a shame about the shadows as the sun was already on the western side.

sometimes as in your photo the shadows can make it look more menacing and steep

[malky_c]

Brilliant hill - looking over from the Torridon mountains, it doesn't look that exciting, but the corries on the east side are some of the most spectacular in the country

Need to go back here in better weather and explore a bit more

[mountain coward]

Great report and pics! I'd definitely agree that the way to do that one is to go underneath first and admire all the corries (not that I've done it yet!). Hope I get on okay with that very steep looking ascent - I don't mind from an effort point of view, just whether I think it looks 'orrid when I look back down part-way up!