Ben Hee - Images and Opinions

We were staying in Ullapool for a mountaineering club dinner and it looked like a typical dreich November day. Low cloud and no sign of a break in the sky. We debated what to do and my pal Dave said that one of the Corbetts that he had still to do was Ben Hee in Sutherland. Others decided on a low-level walk to keep below the clouds but four of us decided to head north to Ben Hee.

It was a longer drive than I anticipated from Ullapool. We passed through the fabulous Assynt countryside and saw very little of the hills. Eventually (by about 11.30) we arrived at Loch Merkland and took the path heading north east from the loch. There was some early snow on the ground but we made good progress to the summit, with a path most of the way. I guess it took us about 90 minutes to get to the summit.

We took the obligatory summit photo, ate some lunch and discussed if we should just head back down the same way.

Dave, Mary and Liz in the mist on the summit of Ben Hee

And then the magic happened. In the space of a few minutes, the clouds completely cleared and we had superb views over the northern hills. The pictures tell their own story.

The first hint that the clouds were starting to break up, was a sparkle of light on Loch Shin.

A few minutes later, the loch was revealed. the mist cleared completely, although there were still some clouds in the sky.

The shoulder of Ben Hee that we followed to the summit now became obvious. The improvement continued.

After a few more minutes, we had blue sky and uninterrupted hill views in all directions. Ben Hope to the north-east.

Instead of spending 20 minutes on the top as we had envisaged, we spent well over an hour enjoying the sunshire and the views. One of the best hill days that I’ve had. We headed back down with frequent stops to enjoy the view before the long drive in the dark back to Ullapool.