Sgurr nam Meann

After a series of grey winter days it was good to wake to find the sun appearing from behind the clouds, offering the promise of a fine day. The picture looks from the road just east of The Ferry Stores southeastwards across Kilchoan Bay to the distant mountains of Mull.

We drove to the centre of the known universe - otherwise known as Portuairk - a tiny crofting village on Ardnamurchan's northwest coast, parked in the village, and set off up the valley of the small burn that comes in to the village at its west end.

The walk as far as Bay MacNeil is a popular walk - not that we saw another human all day - but our objective was the summit of this great lump of rock, Sgurr nam Meann, the rocky peak of the young deer. Formed of a igneous rock called eucrite, a coarse variety of basalt, it stands like a great, impregnable fortress frowning out across the Atlantic Ocean.

From its western slopes we looked down onto one of West Ardnamurchan's many beautiful, deserted, white-sand beaches washed by glassy-clear water. The inlet to the right, a small cove, is Bay MacNeil, and the small island joined to the mainland by the beach is Eilean Carrach, the carrach probably being carraig, meaning the rocky island.

As we climbed higher a small bulk carrier passed Ardnamurchan Point Lighthouse, on a course north into the Minches. The low land in the distance is the island of Coll.

The climb isn't an easy one, the last few metres being up steep, bare rock with an almost vertical drop on the western side. We were fortunate that it had been dry so the rock offered safe footholds, but the wind as we neared the summit became increasingly fierce. This is not a climb to be undertaken without good equipment and a steady nerve.

A difficult climb, but worth it - this is what we were looking for, the view from the summit on a near-perfect winter's day.