Mountain writers tend to be a chunk disparaging on the subject of Fionn Bheinn – “undistinguished,” “unexciting,” and “uninspiring” are some of the alternatively terrible adjectives used.
I assume this is unfair. Admittedly, the quick ascent is waded through a bog rather than a slog up grassy slopes. Still, the reward is a splendid view—easily one of the most lovely in the northwest Highlands but the whole of Scotland.
Fionn Bheinn can be climbed in four hours in the summertime – a super 1/2-day for those planning a weekend strolling in Torridon. After all, you power through Achnasheen on the A832 as you head west.
In clear weather, with a brief stop to ascend, Fionn Bheinn will monitor the hills that await inside the days to come – it’s an awe-inspiring sight.
West, the Torridon giants soar from flat sea-stage plains. First, there’s Liathach, then the gray-white monster of Beinn Eighe, and, similarly north, the unmistakable definition of Slioch. If those are your objectives in the coming days, it’s a sight that’s sure to quicken the heartbeat.
As your eyes keep hinting an arc north, they’ll find Loch Fada before descending on the jumble of peaks of the Fisherfield Forest—the most distant of Scotland’s Munros.
The 360-degree panorama keeps in your north and west, where the rest of the Fannaich mountains lie, past Loch Fannich. It’s a pretty view and one that famous itself abruptly, taking you by surprise as you method the summit from Creagan nan Laugh, specifically as for the preceding hour or so you’ve been gazing at the grass slope in front of you or stumbling through a moist, tussocky marshland.
A nice ridge leads to Fionn Bheinn’s summit, riven at the north aspect with the aid of large lorries. It’s another of the best functions and is completely unsuspected from the roadside at Achnasheen.
Mountain’s dark destiny was predicted through the prophet
The Highland seer Kenneth Mackenzie expected “the day will come when a raven, attired in plaid and bonnet, will drink his fill of human blood on Fionn-being, three instances a day, for three successive days”. It hasn’t taken place… yet.
Mackenzie, the Brahan Seer, was born at the beginning of the 17th Century. His gift of 2D sight was changed thanks to a blue stone with a hollow in its center, through which he claimed to see the future. It’s stated to have been given to his mother by the ghost of a Norwegian princess. Among other occasions, he’s said to have foretold the Clearances and Culloden.
Mackenzie was placed to death by Lady Seaforth, who had him burned as a witch in a tar barrel with metallic spikes pushed through its sides.
Guide
Pronunciation: Fee-on Ven
Meaning: white hill
Height: 933m (3061ft)
Rank: 246
OS Landranger Map: 20 & 25
Summit grid ref: NH147621 (trig point)
Nearest town: Achnasheen is 5km (3 miles) south of the summit. Facilities are very restrained. There is a railway station, and 1.6km (1 mile) west is the Ledgowan Hotel.
The hamlet has public toilets where you can get modifications.
Head back to the main road from the auto park in Achnasheen’s center.
Take the antique street over the bridge at the phone container and turn properly through a gate on music that takes you to a water remedy works.
The conventional route climbs steeply up the open hillside on the proper bank of the Allt Achadh na Sine. However, on the left bank, service music to a hydro dam and up the river has been bulldozed up the hillside. So it’s now not the prettiest of routes, but the zig-zags make for a totally easy ascent.
From the dam, head through the very boggy ground to the nostril of Creagan a Laoigh. From the small cairn, head north through a dip before mountain climbing to the ridge that ends at Fionn Bheinn’s summit, simply over 1km (zero.6 miles) away. The going is much higher quality than the bog underneath—totally on short grass and moss.
Once you’ve completed admiring the perspectives, retrace your steps for a few hundred meters before heading south to skirt Cregan a Laugh on the way lower back to the dam. Then, retrace your steps to Achnasheen.
