After days of rain, wind, and more rain, we finally had a break in the weather last Sunday for a wild camp below Beinn Dearg, the highest point of the broader “Beinn Dearg massif” just south of Ullapool near Loch Broom.
We didn’t go to the top that day, but did get a chance to wander up to some of its impressive valleys and corries and have a delightful camp in Cnoc a’ Mhoraire (“hill of the lord”) by the River Lael.
We took this drone video to capture our wild camp, but what it really shows off is the amazing geology of Beinn Dearg, particularly after the 57 second mark. You can pick out the high lochans left behind from glaciers of yore.
The whole area is an SSSI for its geology and biology. Cnoc a’ Mhoraire provides some of the clearest evidence in the north of Scotland of the last major glacial advance that occurred during the last Ice Age. This evidence is in the form of large moraines, piles of rocks, dirt and debris left by the moving glacier as it retreated.
It also made for a beautiful place to camp and test out some new gear (more on that in a future post!).
Learn more in the SSSI citation.
Dig deeper in this interesting paper: Evidence for ice cap glaciation of the Beinn Dearg massif, northern Scotland.
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