Unexpected Views

Sometimes, when we're walking on a fine summer's day, we act on a spur-of-the-moment decision and find ourselves richly rewarded.

We've walked this stretch of Ardnamurchan's north-facing coastline to the east of Sanna many times before. The deep bay - for some unknown reason, left unnamed on OS maps - bounded on the east side by the grim promontory of Rubha Carrach, sometimes called the Cat's Face, is a favourite of ours, yet we had never climbed the hill seen to the right, another anonymous feature on the 1:25,000 map.

From the top the views are breathtaking. This one looks west, out into the Atlantic, with the only feature between here and America the tip of the Isle of Muck. It's such a panoramic view that the curvature of the Earth is visible.

Turning north, we looked along the line of the Cat's Face across the Minch to Rhum and Eigg....

....while, inland, mile upon mile of Ardnamurchan's fierce wilderness stretched before us. The rounded, lumpy peak at centre is Sgurr nan Gabhar, the rocky peak of the goat, with, to its right, Meall Clach an Daraich, the stony hill of the oak, and, beyond them, the gaunt wall formed by a continuation of the Ardnamurchan volcano's great ring dykes.