Ring of Steall, Beinn a Bha'ach Ard & Beinn Dorain 25-26 April 2026
Ring of Steall - Saturday 25 April
To avoid the Etape de Loch Ness, the A walk was moved to Saturday. Lucasz writes:
On Saturday, our group set out for the Ring of Steall route, meeting at 07:00 at Torvean Car Park. The team consisted of Łukasz, Emma, David, Martin, and Lindsay. We travelled in two cars and, on the way to the start near Fort William, we picked up Jan from a campsite. We reached the starting point in Glen Nevis at approximately 09:00.
From there, we began our approach along a route tentatively traversing the wire bridge in Steall Meadows and passing the impressive Steall Waterfall, the third highest waterfall in the UK. Conditions were exceptional—clear skies and unusually warm temperatures for the Highlands, making it feel more like a summer day than a typical mountain outing.
Despite the heat, there were still a few lingering patches of snow near the higher elevations, which we crossed in short sleeves—an unusual but memorable contrast.
On the second Munro, we caught up with a second group that had started earlier in the morning. We joined them for a shared lunch break, enjoying the weather and the scenery together. After lunch, both groups continued together for a while over the next summits before naturally separating, with our group moving ahead to complete the full circuit.
A special mention goes to Lindsay—huge credit to her for maintaining the pace of the faster group, despite having been running in the mountains just two days prior. A seriously strong effort.
The descent was steady, with morale kept high by one shared motivation—the promise of an ice cream van waiting at the finish. Unfortunately, despite the optimism all the way down, the ice cream van never appeared. We did get to rest our legs in the cool River Nevis though.
Overall, it was a highly enjoyable and sociable day out, combining excellent weather, strong group dynamics, and classic Highland terrain.
Taking Part: David, Emma, Jan, Lucasz, Lindsay, Martin; Gill, Karolina, Sharan and prospective member Nina.
Words: Lucasz; Photos: Lucasz, Martin
Beinn a Bha'ach Ard - – Sunday
May, Anne, Richard and Orla forelegs met at the Inchmore car park at the entrance to Strathfarrer. It was a warm day with high clouds forecast to break up to give sunny spells. We approached the hill through the birch woods to the west of Culligran intending to climb the mountain clockwise.
The first tea break was at the rather ugly power station on the disfigured Neaty Burn. We followed the relatively new and steep access road breaking from it to head up the south western flank of the hill. The recent good weather had largely turned what is usually a wet "slaister" to a firmer and easier climb. We sat down for a bite to eat on reaching the summit (862m) at about 12.30. We were soon joined by a small group from Linlithgow Ramblers and Richard was able to share common experiences and acquaintances having worked and lived in the town.
Although not too sharp we had really good views to the Strathfarrer and Affric hills to the west and the Beauly Firth to the east. It was a lovely walk along the broad ridge to Sgurr a' Phollan and down the ever disappearing south bound path to Loch na Beiste for a sit down before continuing through the deer fields back to Inchmore. Richard pointed out a thriving exclosure of native trees he had helped plant some time before while volunteering for Trees For Life.
It was an excellent outing on an underrated hill.
Taking part: Anne, May, Richard, and Orla the dog.
Words and Photos: Richard.
Beinn Dhorain
A small group convened in Glen Loth, near Brora, up a through road that warned of being impassable in winter and had grass between the potholes! The route took us up into a coire through a deer-fenced section of under-restoration woodland and wild flowers. Thankfully there were dog-flaps under the fence near to the vertical ‘stiles’. The deer fence however was doing its job with clear differences in the botany within the area. From above we took a direct line up to the SW top, up a carpet of Bearberry, moss and some signs of Cloudberry, along with a lizard catching a bit of warmth.
The main summit had a neatly mown mossy layer and views across to Assynt. Sherine and Corrie were well ahead, but were enjoying an early lunch when we arrived. A short traverse across a damp section brought us to Beinn Uige and a wind shelter with even better views to Morven, Scaraben, Ben Loyal and even Orkney. Descending into the corrie we passed through the fenced area and returned to Brora for icecream, with Honeycomb being the most popular flavour choice, followed by Raspberry ripple. An ideal Sunday walk, and for me a good leg stretch following Saturday’s Ring of Steall.
Taking Part: Carol, Martin, Mel, Sherine, Corrie the dog.
Photos: Mel; Words: Martin