Beinn nan Losgann

There are few hills on West Ardnamurchan that we haven't climbed but Beinn nan Losgann, the hill of the frog or toad, was one.  It stands between the Kilmory crossroads and Ben Hiant, and the reason we hadn't climbed it was that, although the summit is clear, it's surrounded by a plantation of conifers.

We prefer not to walk through trees, and densely-packed conifers are probably our least favourite.  There's a sense of being hemmed in, of walking through a silent suffocation. Although we could hear some birds singing, any wildlife was difficult to see.  And the views we should have been enjoying as we climbed were obscured.

We've tried to find the summit once before, on a bitter winter's day, and gave up as we couldn't fight our way from the forestry track onto the open summit.  This time, having looked at a satellite image of the area, we entered from the Loch Mudle end, climbing a high metal gate in the deer fence to get in.  The devastation wrought by the winter gales of the last few years was all around; in one place three fallen trees completely blocked the track.  However, just past them we found the one point where it's possible to get from the track....

....onto the more open land that leads up to the summit.

The summit is approached by a series of knolls, each separated by a scattering of pine trees.  As we came to one of them we saw the only serious wildlife of the day, a red deer hind feeding at the edge of the trees.

However, we did find a recently-shed antler, sitting rather forlornly in the middle of a patch of grass.

Once through the trees, the views are good.  This one looks south-westwards towards the Sound of Mull, with Kilchoan Bay visible in the mid-distance on the right and Caliach Point at the northwest tip of Mull away in the left distance.  Despite the grey day, Tiree was just visible along the horizon.

The views to the north are down the valley of the Achateny Water and across the Minches to Eigg, Rum and, in the distance, the Cuillins of Skye.

As we came down the hill there may have been some sense of achievement at having succeeded at the second attempt at reaching the summit, but it's not a hill we'll hurry back to.