M189 |
966 m. |
3169 ft.
Translation: Big hill
Pronuncation: byn moar
The last day in Alba in May 2012 saw us climbing the only Island Munro outside Skye: Ben More on Mull.
We definitely did not want to save this hill as the last one in our first round of Munros. First, it simply did not feel right to us to do it like so many others. Second, we have neither unfit members of family nor unfit friends to accompany us to the summit of the last one so we need not pick an easy mountain for the final tour. Third, we wanted to see Mull this beautiful island in 2012 and not in 2016.
With these principal deliberations accomplished well before we left for Scotland in 2012 we had sailed to from Oban to Craignure the evening before, had spent a nice Friday evening and a relaxing night at the Craignure Inn and then had set out on the road trip to Loch na Keal. At Dhiseag we parked our car on the grass facing the sea. This being a Saturday morning we were in the company of MANY other hillwalkers: Children, men, women, grandads, grandmas, families.
We chose the easiest approach, the north-west ridge. Beside the Abhainn Dhiseig we climbed first on its right bank than beside the left bank. The going was easy on grass of only moderate steepness. Higher up the slope got steeper and considerably more rocky. It got colder, too. The wind was strong. The last 150-200 metres below the summit take the form of a skyline highway: A very broad and gritty path up the ridge. Very comfortable and good to keep up a steady walking rhythm. The summit ridge is flat and a few hundred metres long. There is a wide round stone wall on the summit which offers some protection from the wind. The views from the summit are spacious and very beautiful with all the smaller islands and other summits of Mull being in full view! Having bagged the summit and looking forward to a nice car tour of Mull we decided to head back to our car the way we had come. May there’ll be time for A’Chioch on another day. So it was down the north-west ridge for us. We were back at the beach in little more than 60 minutes. We changed into “civilian” clothes and took a tour of the island. Very beautiful!
This was a good and easy last tour to a great week of hiking in Scotland!
Description Ben More in Mull is the only island Munro outside Skye. It rises high above its neighbouring hills on the island and is a prominent landmark. It is situated above Loch na Keal not far from Salen at the isthmus where Mull is almost divided into two halves. To the north-east of Ben More a narrow ridge goes out to the pointed top of A' Chioch, and beyond it the ridge turns north to Beinn Fhada. These three tops enclose Gleann na Beinne Fada, a big grassy corrie with a rocky headwall under Ben More. The north-west ridge of Ben More is broad and smooth and gives the easiest route of ascent, but to the south and east the mountain is much rougher.The best, though not the shortest route to Ben More goes from the B8035 road beside Loch na Keal up Gleann na Beinne Fada to the col at its head between A' Chioch and Beinn Fhada. From there climb the north ridge of A' Chioch. From its top there is a good view along the narrow rocky crest to Ben More, and this gives a good scramble. From the summit of Ben More descend west-north-west by a path along a broad ridge on the south side of the Abhainn Dhiseig, stony at first, but becoming grassy lower down towards Dhiseig. A direct return to the day's starting point can be made by diverging from this ridge and bearing north below An Gearna.