A Walk up Glas Bheinn

With a coral-pink dawn and hardly a breath of wind, we decided to walk up Glas Bheinn, the hill at centre left of the title photograph at the top of the Diary, which overlooks Kilchoan and stands some 860ft high. We approached it through the old manse, Meall mo Chridhe (Little Hill of my Heart), now a restaurant with rooms specialising in produce from its own garden and fields, as well as seafood from local waters.

By the time we were on the flanks of the hill the weather had already begun to turn, with a freshening southeaster which brought a thin haze across the scene - which was a great pity, as the views down to and across the village were spectacular. The photo above looks southwest, along the length of Ormsaigbeg crofting township, with the hill Maol Buidh standing above it, the village shop in the centre foreground, and the linear arrangement of the croft lands clearly evident.

Half way up we came across these large stones, organised in much the same way as Greadal Fhinn, which made us wonder whether this was another but less well-known Norse burial chamber. It stands in a cup of the hill, a perfect viewpoint for someone who might wish to lie looking out across the seas he had sailed.

From the same point we looked down on Mingary Castle, once the seat of the Clan MacIain, with the Ardnamurchan Estate house, painted white, to its right, and the farm steading buildings in the foreground.

With the wind increasingly bitter, we did not linger at the summit but, as we hurried down, a peregrine passed us, working its way along the ridge line. Later he passed again, high over us as we walked home along the Ormsaigbeg road, his sickle-shaped outline sending the small birds scattering for cover.