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I'm just back from my daily jogging - another bright sunny Thursday and all I could do was running up to Lovat Bridge and back
So I thought I'll update my walks diary today. A few days ago I posted the story of an accidental climb to Sgor Ruadh - now it's time for another Torridon hill just around the corner from the above mentioned
We climbed Ben Damh in October last year - the day was lovely, with blue sky and some breeze, perfect walking conditions. The most popular route up the mountain starts from the car park walk behind the Torridon Inn. Just around the corner of the road we dived to the left to follow a well-maintained path through rhododendrons. I tried to imagine how it must look in spring with all these shrubs covered in flowers...
The path goes steeply through the woods along the gorge, and at the height of about 200m we took a 5 min break to have a look at a pretty high waterfall (there is a "viewpoint" just off the main path).
- Waterfall
Once out of the woods, we could fully appreciate the scenery around us - including the familliar shapes of Beinn Alligin and Liathach:
- Beinn Allilgin
- Liathach
In good weather conditions navigation on Beinn Damh presents no challenge as there is a path all the way to the top of the ridge. The quality of the described path is another matter, though. As we charged the hill, Kevin claimed that the most appropiate name for the mountain would be Beinn DAMP, according to all the muddy and boggy ground
Still, nothing that a stubborn cat couldn't conquer and within a short time we were standing on the broad ridge between Sgurr na Bana Mhoraire and Beinn Damh itself. And I felt like meowing again!
- Loch Damh in the morning sun
- Loch Damh again - views to north west
- Kevin testing his camera :)
Once we finished all the camera-picture business
we headed straight towards the stony bulk of Beinn Damh. The path was relatively good to start with but soon it disappeared and we simply walked across the ridge, leaving the first top (868m) to our left. The route was a bit stony but still enjoyable.
- Sgurr na Bana Mhoraire from the northern slopes of Beinn Damh
After a couple of km the final target came into view:
- The target :)))
The final push uphill was rocky and quite steep, certainly not for somebody suffering from vertigo. But when we arrived on the summit, our effort was rewarded with fantastic views of Torridon around us
- Looking west from the summit
- Loch Torridon and Beinn Alligin
- Maol Chean-dearg (to the right)
- The ridge of Beinn Damh from the summit
- I felt like on top of the world... Clouds didn't bother me at alll :))
After spending about 30 minutes on the top we retraced our steps back down. We didn't hurry that much - it was such a shame to leave this magnificent torridonian world...
So beware Torridon hills - I'll be back