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Ben Hiant

Ardgour is often overlooked as it doesn't have any Munros but what it does have is some absolutely fantastic hills with very rugged terrain. Sandy, who had joined us for the day, admitted he'd never even thought of venturing over this direction. The weather was playing ball for once, the rest of Scotland appearing to be under cloud according to the forecast. A few options were bandied about over breakfast but we decided to head far west towards Ardnamurchan Point for Ben Hiant and boy what a good decision that was. Nick Williams Pocket Mountains West Highlands was Steve's inspiration for our route but this day was more about going out and heading where we fancied.

The bay at Camas nan Geall where we started was idyllic with the coos drinking from the loch. There were a couple of enclosures one of which had a really old standing stone with a cross on it. No one is sure how old the stone is but there is a suggestion that it could be Bronze Age, more info here. Stupid here didn't bother taking a photo as she was too busy looking at the cows on the beach!! Ah well.


As you can see it was just glorious weather as we headed over towards the next bay Port a' Chamais.



We were having a great time wandering, enjoying the views and messing about with the stuff we found on the beach.





Enough messing, time to head up hill and it was a bit steep. We were treated to loads of deer on the horizon too as we wandered up. What I wasn't expecting when we reached a wee plateau just below the summit was the view out to Eigg and Rum - the photo doesn't do it justice. I was so excited that I was jumping about like a loon and the boys were wondering what I was on!!

A hazy Rum & Eigg in the background 

Over towards Ardnamurchan Point 

 
On the summit of Ben Hiant 

From the summit we were able to see the extensive cloud that was covering the rest of the country and were very glad to be where we were. The views were breathtaking. We were also able to see the path that winds it way down the north east ridge to the road, the route given in the SMC Corbett book. This was our way down and where Sandy found himself in perilous danger!! ;-)


Yet another stunning day on the hill :-D

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Comments

  1. Metric Kate9 February 2010 at 22:42

    Looks like you guys had a fab day out - good choice of weather for the weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Elaina9 February 2010 at 23:17

    Well we couldn't have gone much further west except out to Ardnamurchan Point. That's for another day

    ReplyDelete
  3. _10 February 2010 at 10:29

    I'd have been leaping around like a mad thing with that view of Rhum and Eigg too! Thanks for an inspiring post -- you've pushed a return to Ardgour higher up my "list"...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Elaina10 February 2010 at 21:52

    Thanks Paul
    Mmmm yes the "list"
    So many hills & places, not enough time. Unless of course I win the lottery ;-)

    ReplyDelete

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