Beinn an Leathaid

Another sudden, vivid memory picture came this morning, flashing into my consciousness and then slowly fading. It was of Beinn an Leathaid, an elongate hill on Ardnamurchan, not a very special one, and the picture was of its bare hillside. In this photo, the hillside is to the right while the Allt Rath a' Bheulain, the burn than cuts the very open glen to its west, is also shown.

Both ben and hillside show signs of human activity - there's a low stone wall at centre of the picture - mostly relating to extensive drainage works carried out in the 18th century, but a feature which....

....for years we thought was a shepherd's hut turned out to be the remains of an illicit 19th century whisky distillery, built at a time when local whiskies were highly sought-after. We found two others on western Ardnamurchan, and all were sited below waterfalls and well away from habitation in secluded glens.

It's perhaps unkind to suggest that Beinn an Leathaid isn't in any way special: just about everywhere we walked on Ardnamurchan is crammed with memories from our 21 years there. In August 2015 we were making our way up the Allt Rath a' Bheulain towards the saddle, from which there are fine views north across the Minches to Rum, Muck and Skye, when we came across the largest herd of red deer stags we'd ever seen, some hundred of the beasts.