A view over Rannoch

by - 16:19 on 06 May 2008

(For even more atmosphere see the clip at the end of this blog)

Something troubled my nostrils – a disconcerting whiff. There it was again. The view from the summit was amazing – a panorama rolling out across the edge of Rannoch Moor, to a northern horizon where the snows still sparkled on Ben Nevis. Nevertheless, I couldn’t concentrate on it.

‘I think there’s a dead sheep somewhere near’, I declared.

‘No’, my companion answered, ‘it’s the cheese in my sandwich. It’s pretty ripe. Very nice.’

Millie the terrier contemplates her place in the grand scheme of things and wanders what will become of her......

Ben Nevis at centre of horizon

That little cameo from the summit of Ben Achaladair as we lunched in the sunshine was perhaps the drollest moment of the day on these Rannoch hills. Some Scottish hills are famous, in their own way – Ben Lomond, Schiehallion, Lochnagar, Buchaille Etive Mor and so on. Others are taken for granted as landmarks – like the Arrochar Alps, or Ben Vorlich above Lochearnhead. But Beinn Achaladair and its companion Beinn a’ Chreachain fall into nether of these categories. Instead, they are just fine hills that overlook the peaty rolling basin of Rannoch. Road and rail probe and push their through to Lochaber and pass close by, yet they seem somehow overlooked. No one writes songs about them. And that’s just fine too.

Looking north west from Beinn Achaladair to Beinn A' Chreachain

Their northern faces are steep and rocky. Their featureless southern flanks fall to the lonely, bare passes and glens around the head of Glen Lyon. Botanically, they do not shine out. One patch of purple saxifrage noticed in a whole day’s walking is a poor result compared with the Tarmachans or Ben Lawers. Bird-wise, a peeping, squeaking group of dotterel, probably passing through, brought with them a sense of the northlands wakening up for summer. Wheatears perched prominently on the scree and ring ouzels sang in the corries. In fact, it all got desperately birdy at several points to make up for the disappointing botany. 

We followed the book – parking at Achallader Farm, up by the corrie behind it, turning east and staying with the edge of the skyline for that view that drew us on to the main summit. Then an awkward rocky drop before the slog up to Beinn a’ Chreachain, the ‘hill of the clam shell’ in Gaelic – though who can say why it has that name? 

For my companion, another two ticks on the Munro list. For my dog, the definite preference for pastrami to dubious cheese when it came to begging for tit-bits. A day of sun shadows on the Moor and far–off views, not just to Ben Nevis and the Grey Corries, but probably the Glen Affric Hills, then eastwards to bulky Ben Alder and a hint of the Cairngorms, again more distantly, with the wind from the west where Ben Cruachan guarded the pass to Oban…….Just another excursion on Scotland’s hills. Blisters and sore knees for eight hours walking? A small price to pay….

BAFTA award-winning arts critic Robert Dawson Scott
 rdawsonscott.wordpress.com/ may take curious sandwiches on the hill with him but he also has an interesting viewpoint on the cultural scene in Scotland. Check out his blog, link as above. He also drifts across the screen in the clip below.

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