Beinn Eighe

Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve, Scotland

The trail:

  • Location: Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve, Scotland
  • Categories: Summer / Autumn / Tundra / Highland / Mountain / Foothill / Rural / River
  • Duration: 5-6 Hours
  • Distance: 12 Miles

Walking the trail:

  • Summary: Enter the UKs first National Nature Reserve full of rugged mountain peaks and vast wild landscapes in the northern stretches of Scotlands western highlands. A well marked path (and a small scramble) will take to to the summit of the reserves feature mountain range standing at 1010m high.



Beinn Eighe (1010m) is situated in a vast national nature reserve around Torridon as you head up towards Ullapool and the north western highlands. It is a vast open quiet wilderness of mountains and open moor land. It's definitely an area that demands at least a day of exploring if you're travelling Scotland on the NC500.

Having attempted to cross the Liathach ridge in 2019 (unsuccessful due to very strong winds) I was keen to revisit the park and head up the neighbouring mountain of Beinn Eighe to once again see the amazing valley views you can enjoy in this area of Scotland.

This day adventure heads from the main road A896 (a small car park at IV22 2ET) There's quite a few variations of route up Beinn Eighe and 2 munros in the range. This walk heads up to Ruadh-stac Mor at 1010m. A second munro of Stuc Coire an Laoigh (993m) can be reached following the ridge of the range and a loop can take you back down to the main road for a full circuit. This route heads straight up to Ruadh-stac Mor and retraces the same route back to the start. Either way you go it’s a fantastic mountain adventure.

The route is very easy to follow and is just a long gradual ascending rocky path (part of the 205mile Cape Wrath Trail) from the road passing between 2 mountain ranges (Liathach ridge to the left) as you enter the national park valley. You gradually keep turning north wards and continue rising until you start ascending to the east up to Loch Coire and its many pools of water and waterfalls.

Here you can see the iconic triple buttresses of looming above the loch. The only real challenging part is the ascent (and descent) up to the main ridge leading to Ruadh-stac Mor. This section is very steep consisting of loose rocks and Scree. Much care needs to be taken ascending and descending although it never becomes a proper scramble.

Once at the top it's a straight forward northwards path along a wide ridge that takes you to the summit for you to enjoy the national park in all its glory!

Now to just retrace your steps all the way back to the start. I would highly recommend timing your walk back during the sunset golden hour window as you get incredible western views looking across to Liathach and the sun setting just beyond. The atmosphere of mist and light around the aggressive looking pinnacles of that mountain looked really cool.

 If you have any questions about this hike, please feel free to message. GPX route available.

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