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Our first trip to Ardnamurchan started with a short wander up Ben Hiant. It's the highest hill on the peninsula, but the main road goes right round the base and there's a short path all the way to the top. Our first proper view of the hill was from the roadside viewpoint above Camas nan Geall just to the east.
The road then swings round to the north and heads over a low pass a couple of miles away. Handily the path to the summit starts from the summit of the pass, reducing the ascent to an easy 350 metres. Setting off from the roadside, we were the only car at the parking area.
The path follows the hill's east "ridge", which is always fairly broad although narrow enough to give views off both sides. From the lower section, the best views are to the north over attractively-named Loch Mudle, backed by Eigg and Rum:
A couple of deer wandered away across the northern slopes:
Heading up the lower part of the ridge:
The path is excellent - fairly narrow but clear and rarely boggy. At about 350 metres the summit comes into view again (background):
View east over eastern Ardnamurchan:
After another short, steeper pull to 450 metres the rest of the ridge can be seen. The summit still looked quite far away but it's actually only another 80 metres of vertical or so:
The ridge swings directly east with good views over Loch Sunart:
South-east into the sun and towards Morvern:
The path climbs up round the back of the summit area to reach the trig point - a wonderful viewpoint.
There was a fellow walker on the summit, and we met several more groups of people on descent. The parking area was nearly full on return - not helped by us having parked sideways - this seems to be a surprisingly popular walk. A lovely intro to Ardnamurchan, before we carried on west to explore the tip of the peninsula. I suspect most of the other hills in this area aren't quite so straightforward...
