Beinn na h-Imeilte

The end of the Ardnamurchan Peninsula is a cross-section of the guts of the great volcano that erupted there some 60 million years ago. Glaciers removed what lay above, exposing what may have been a magma chamber, but it was a complex affair, with the magma intruding in a series of concentric rings which cooled to form ring dykes. The magma was of a basaltic composition called eucrite.

While the snow was still clearing from the tops, we walked from the Sanna road at NM472665 northwestwards along the ridge crest formed by the eucrite ring dyke, until we reached the summit of Beinn na h-Imeilte, the hill of many streams. Despite the thaw and the name of the hill, it was dry, if rough walking. There are fine, all-round views from there. Looking south, there's a twenty-five miles view, across Lochan an Aodainn and Kilchoan Bay to the Sound of Mull and the mountains of Ben Talla and Ben More.

Looking northwest, the round lump of Meall Sanna forms part of the ring dyke. In the photo (above) it partly obscures the Island of Muck, with snow-covered Rhum to the right and flat Canna to the left in the distance.

To the north lies the tiny crofting settlement of Achnaha, sitting in the centre of the great Ardnamurchan volcano's magma chamber. The island of Eigg is in the background, beyond the northern part of the ring dyke, whose main feature, to the right, is Meall Clach an Daraich.

Finally, looking east, the ridge of the Great Eucrite swings northwards, with Creag an Airgid, the silver rock, to the right of the photo. In 1518, in the broken, boggy lands clearly visible this side of the crag, John MacIain and two of his sons were killed in a fierce battle with Sir Donald MacDonald of Lochalsh, a fight from which Clan MacIain never recovered.

A map showing the area of the walk is here.