The Great Outdoors Spring 2019

[previous spread] Beinn Eighe and Liathach, seen from Beinn Dearg

[left] Torridonian sandstone boulders on Beinn Dearg, Liathach beyond [above] Camping wild on Beinn Dearg

Wildness has always been a greater draw to me than height alone,

making Beinn Dearg an appealing target.

We set out from the Beinn Alligin car park in perfect spring

sunshine, the excellent path along the river, Abhainn Coire Mhic

Nobuil, easing us into the day. he Scots Pine at the start of the walk

quickly thinned out and our target appeared ahead of us.

he route continued onwards, crossing a footbridge over the river

and steepening as we approached the Horns of Alligin. Here the

path turned and eventually petered out as we reached the lochans

at Suileagan a’ Bhealaich. In the summer this is an excellent place

to stop for a swim but on a chilly April day it seemed less appealing.

Instead we admired the views across to Boasbheinn and back at

the near-vertical face of the Horns. Beinn Dearg stood imposingly

above us but a hopeful inspection of the north-western lanks of the

mountain sadly revealed no easy way up. Instead we tried to spot the

easiest route through a wall of grass and rock about as steep as could

realistically be walked – at least it was direct!

APRIL 2018, and I was in Torridon to photograph some new
locations for a book of Scottish Highland landscapes. Over the
previous few years I’d managed to tick of the majority of the notable
summits in the area but there were still places to uncover. Joining
me was my friend Harsharn, a sort of fellrunning Del Boy character
with a thick London accent and an uncanny ability to make an
entertaining conversation out of the most mundane subject. In
short, he was the perfect mountain companion.
he rough plan was to spend two nights camped in the hills,
irst on the summit of Being Dearg and then at a loch behind Beinn
Alligin on the second night.
Beinn Dearg had interested me since I irst set eyes on a map of
Torridon. Its status as a Corbett immediately next to the much better
known ‘Big hree’ Munros of Beinn Alligin, Liathach and Beinn
Eighe means it is oten ignored. It’s notable that at 914m high it is just
40cm short of being classiied as a Munro, but it sees a fraction of the
visitors its neighbours do, and has no path to follow on the way up.

TORRIDON

The Great Outdoors Spring 2019 43