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We've wanted to visit Mull for a good number of years, really just to explore some of the quieter bits and find out about some of its history.
We booked a cottage last October for a week near Bunessan on the Ross of Mull, three of us, Denise and I and daughter Louise. We decided on this part of the Island because of its close proximity to Fionnphort and access to Iona, somewhere we've wanted to go and find out about for a while.
Arming ourselves with plenty of ideas from this site we could easily fill a weeks worth of interesting things to do,
a trip to Iona and Staffa was arranged, we wanted to visit Erraid, Lochbuie and the castle, Duart Castle, Tobermory, Salen and have a couple of quiet afternoons in a small bay somewhere in the hope of spotting Otters in their natural habitat, Denise and I wanted to do Ben More of course, all we needed was some decent weather
Under the present climate we weren't sure about going ahead with our trip so we made a few enquiries with CalMac, the cottage owners and the owners of the campsite we were on the week prior to our Mull visit to find out if we could still visit, we were told that, if we were fit and healthy and showing none of the symptoms of the virus we were ok to go.
We made sure we had all the requirements asked of us (we've more face coverings that you can shake a stick at
) sanitiser etc etc, so off we went.
Well, as it turned out the cottage was pretty remote, the owners had supplied the necessary safe guards they included even more face coverings and sanitiser (and a host of other precautions) and, to cap it all we were lucky, we had one of the best weeks weather wise we've ever had in Scotland
We were watching the weather forecast for the week ahead to pick a decent day for Ben More, there was no need for that as the whole week was looking brilliant, we decided to go for Monday.
Having Louise and her car with us we planned for her to drop us off in the little car park marked on the map at NM519298 so we could approach Ben More from the south, Louise wanted to visit places further round the coast on the B8035 going as far as Salen if she felt like it and then meeting us at the end of our walk at Dhiseig on her way back.
An early start Monday, Lou dropped us off in the carpark at 08:30, after agreeing to meet up again at around 3pm
we went our separate ways.
Looking at the map for the best way to approach Ben More from this side I decided to keep as close to Easting 52 and travel North aiming for the lochans on Maol nan Damh. I knew it would be fairly steep and it was but, to be honest, it wasn't that bad, the only problem really was the initial climb through the bracken, once over this it improved and became a steep heathery/grassy hillside, there's no path but using the little outcrops, the Allt Eas an Ime and Am Binnein as navigational aids we made steady progress uphill.
The views were getting better all the time, it was a bit hazy but with frequent photo stops(should that be rest stops
)
GPS and compass checks even the haze was improving as time went by.
Between the outcrops it levels off slightly which was nice, we could spot breaks in the rocks so used them to progress, this helped to make things interesting and soon we were looking at the little lochans and the steep scree climb up to the cairn at the end of the south ridge on Ben More.
The climb up to the cairn is loose, the path zigs and zags but is pretty much direct, you gain 200m abruptly but once at the cairn the views are fantastic and the way onward to the summit is a nice steady ridge walk giving great views into
Coire Odhar over to A' Chioch and to Loch Scridain behind us.
We could see the Paps of Jura, just, away in the distance, the haze was playing havoc with me piccies
From here it's a fifteen minute walk to the summit
Where we met the first people we'd seen up to now, if it's solitude you want, approaching from the south will probably guarantee you that
We stayed a while just looking at the views, we could see the path coming up from A' Chioch, I think the next time we come to Mull we're going to do that route it looks quite interesting
After a quick snack we set off down the path to Dhiseig.
There were quite a few people coming up, taking full advantage of the lovely weather, we had originally planned to do
Ben More this way but I'm glad we came up the way we did I think it's a bit more entertaining
We stopped for some lunch on the way down, by now it was 12:50pm so we had a bit of time to kill before meeting up with Louise, the haze was a lot less by now so we chose a nice little spot away from the path and ate our lunch looking down to Loch na Keal and Eorsa island.
We could just make out the carpark by the Loch and estimated about an hour at a steady pace would be about right to get down with a bit of time to spare, so we took it easy and then continued on our way at about 1:30 pm.
Looking back to Ben More from this side, it's quite a climb.
Getting closer
Nice waterfalls, photo doesn't do them justice
Good views of Dunan nan Nighean
and Loch na Keal
Then we were down, Louise was already there, she'd got to the car park ten minutes before us, it was 2:15 pm so it had worked out pretty well not much hangin' about for either of us
We had a great day, the weather made sure of that, doing Ben More from the south was one little ambition of mine and it paid off, it's an enjoyable way to do it. We spent a little time by the loch side then, with one last look at the mountain we set off back to Bunessan.
.
We went to Iona the day after, we had a wander to the Abbey but all the touristy stuff was closed so we didn't get to find out much more about it than we already knew, that's a good enough excuse to return me thinks, next year,
all being well
We did get to Staffa though, now that was an enjoyable thing to do