Western Heather

We walked into the hills to the west of Ormsaigbeg this morning, partly to enjoy the heather continuing display but also to see if we could find some white heather, something we've done before on the top Maol Buidhe.

The day started cloudy - we've had a prolonged spell of very grey weather - but by the time we had our first view of the twin lochans from the top of the ridge at the back of Ormsaigbeg, Druim na Gearr Leacainn, the sun was trying to come out.

Frustratingly, the sky to the west of Ardnamurchan Point was a glorious blue, and the sea the colour of the Mediterranean.  This picture looks towards the lighthouse, with the height of Beinn nan Ord to the right.  The area has some of our favourite walking - wild, lonely and, at times, challenging.

By the time we'd crossed the glen that separates Druim na Gearr Leacainn from Maol Buidhe, and climbed high enough to look along the coast towards Rubhan a' Chall, the sun had finally come out, and....

....the effect of its bright light on the heather was stunning.  This view looks back towards Kilchoan, with Ben Hiant in the right distance.

All the heather varieties are past their best, with many of the flowers now brown, but there are patches, particularly in sheltered hollows like this one, where the flowers are still vibrant with colour.

Our search for white heather was disappointing.  All we found, towards the end of our walk, was one white cross-leaved heath.

By the time we started to descend towards home the sky was filled with fine weather cumulus and the wind steady in the north, the direction from which most of our best weather seems to come.