Hill: Breabag
Date: 9th May 2006
Company: Just me


Breabag is possibly not the most shapely hill in Assynt but from its summit you get fine views of the other Assynt hills and you pass some great scenery and interesting geological features en-route.

It is a straight-forward hill with no scrambling and it is very dog-friendly. Park at the Salmon Hatchery car park circa 4km South of Inchnadamph and follow the path alongside the Allt nan Uamh. Before long you pass a fine waterfall.



Continuing along this path you will see on your map the word "spring". I was expecting a trickle of water coming out of the ground. How wrong could I have been. An entire stream appears from nowhere. Real great-tasting spring-water.

Spring source:


A wee bit further along the path you will find a completely dry river bed. This stream must have changed course and now travels underground instead of over-ground.



A kilometre or two further on and you come to another interesting and quite famous geological feature - Inchnadamph Bone Caves. I paid the caves a visit and recommend it being well worth the effort.

Looking out from the Bone caves:




Excavations at these caves have revealed bones of the animals that inhabited this part of Scotland during the last ice age, 11,000 years ago. They include brown bear, polar bear, artic fox, reindeer, lynx and lemming. After descending back to the path from the Caves, I continued along the path and took a photo looking back to the Caves.



Now the ascent of Breabag begins initially up steep and then more gentle grassy slopes. There is an escarpment of rocks/stones higher up but there is an easy way through it.



Looking back down the Allt nan Uamh valley with Canisp in the centre and Suilven just visible to its left.



Doesn't take long before you reach the summit of Breabag. With fine views of Cul Beag, Cul Mor, Suilven, Canisp, Conival and Ben More Assynt.

Cul Beag and Cul Mor from summit of Breabag:


If you wanted to extend this short day it is quite straight-forward to ascend Breabag's 715m top and then ascend Conival (and Ben More Assynt). An ascent of Breabag is well worth the effort.