Hill: Beinn Mheadhoin
Date: Friday 6th July 2012
Company: Myself and Beinn
Time: 3Hrs
Distance: 13km, Ascent: 315m
Dog friendly: Yes

I drove to Dumnaglass today to ascend Beinn Mheadhoin. Beinn Mheadhoin has been on my ‘to do’ list for at least two years.

I parked beside the red telephone box, where there is room at the side of the road for a few cars.

Parking:


Click here to see a map of the route undertaken

From the telephone box, I walked a short distance along the B851 to reach the unsurfaced road leading into Dumnaglass Estate. I then followed the estate road past the gatehouse and on towards Dumnaglass Lodge.

Unsurfaced road to Dumnaglass:


Gatehouse:


One of two Eagle sculptures above the estate gates:


As I walked along the road, several curlew circled above me.

Curlew:


After passing three cottages, I stopped to take a photo of some water lilies on a wee pond. Several of them were in flower.

Water lilies on wee pond:


I then proceeded for several hundred metres to reach the track junction. I took the lower track which leads towards Beinn Mheadhoin. The upper track leads to Dumnaglass Lodge.

Track junction:


Once on the track, alongside the river, I come to three bridges. I used the first really small bridge to cross a small burn that runs over the track. I walked past the second bridge and then crossed the third bridge to continue along the track leading towards Beinn Mheadhoin. Each of the three bridges had a boxed mammal snap trap on it. Unfortunately, Beinn Mheadhoin was capped in low cloud.

Bridge over the River Farigaig:


At the bridge I could see a couple of deer fences on the WNW ridge of the hill. I therefore decided to ascend and descend via the SE ridge. From the bridge, I followed the track for a further two kilometres to reach the start of the SE ridge.

Track skirting round Beinn Mheadhoin:


Beinn returning from having a wee drink:


Track skirting round Beinn Mheadhoin:


The ascent was entirely in cloud. I opted to wear approach shoes today instead of boots. The lower part of the hill was fairly wet but somehow I managed to keep my feet dry. On the upper half of the ascent, there is a mix of grey and pink rock.

Ascending Beinn Mheadhoin:


On reaching the summit, we stopped for long enough to take a photo of Beinn at the cairn before returning via the same route. No point hanging around longer than necessary in the clag!

Beinn at the summit cairn:


As we made our way back along the track towards Dumnaglass Lodge, the low cloud started to lift. Just my luck !

Low cloud lifting on the way back:


I took a couple of zoom shots of the Lodges during the walk back.

Dumnaglass Lodge:


Old Lodge:


During the return to the car, we were again circled by Curlew. We also saw some Lapwing and an Oystercatcher.

Beinn Mheadhoin now free of cloud:


A nice short day. Bigger hills next week .