Hill 403

This is Hill 403, so called because, in military style, its twin summits are both at 403m OD.  There was a time when every hill, every knoll and hollow, every tiny burn and every distinctive rock outcrop on West Ardnamurchan had a name.  In the past, a lost sheep couldn't be located using GPS, a group of wandering cattle couldn't be found by referring to the grid reference where they were last seen.  It's sad that most of these names are now lost, sadder still when substantial features, like Hill 403, aren't named in the only place where they stand any chance of being preserved - the Ordnance Survey's maps.

We set off this morning to climb Hill 403, which lies just to the southwest of Coire Mam a Ghaill.  Translating this name is difficult, mam having several meanings, but it may mean the corrie of the stormy gap, referring to the bleak little valley that lies between Hill 403 and the heights of Meall nan Con.

Our route up Hill 403 started at Ardnamurchan Estate's big cattle sheds at Caim and followed the Allt na Mi-Chomhdhail.  Comhdhail means a meeting.  This may refer to the confluence of the two main burns which drain the areas on each side of Hill 403, or to a place where humans might once have met.  We followed the valley of the western burn to the summit, and came back down the eastern burn.  This view looks back down the main valley towards Ben Hiant.

This elongated pile of stones might well have been the burial place of someone of some importance in the past.  It lies in a small hollow on the hillside, with the head end slightly raised so its occupant would have looked out on a wonderful view towards the Sound of Mull.

The last section is fairly steep, but we were pushed up it by an increasingly strong southeasterly wind.  Some summits are spectacular, often crowned with a substantial cairn.  Hill 403's is as forgotten as its name, a marshy, broken area with stagnant pools and two small knolls, both of which happen to be at 403m.

Even the sun had forgotten it: all around us it was breaking out, including at Sanna, but we remained in cloud almost until the moment we returned to the car.

On our way down we passed an erratic, a two metre wide rock moved by the glaciers that covered this area some 10,000 years ago, perched precariously above a steep slope....

....and, on top of a mound in the low ground in the valley, five blobs of gelatinous matter, each 5 to 10cm across, along with some faeces.  The jelly-like matter looked very like frogspawn, but thicker, and it was in the open air and very exposed.  Has anyone any idea what it is?

An interactive map of this area is here.