Knoydart

On my walk I'm going to visit some really brilliant parts of Scotland, and one of these is the Knoydart peninsula.  These days Knoydart has a formidable reputation amongst hillwalkers as it is quite inaccessible, uninhabited (with the exception of one settlement) and the mountains themselves are big and rocky.  Knoydart hasn't always been so empty though - prior to the Highland Clearances of the mid 19th Century there were up to 1000 people living on the peninsula, many of whom either chose to emigrate or were forced off their land.

Knoydart is an area I have been desperate to visit for several years, and the hill that most excites me is Ladhar Bheinn (for reasons that the pictures on this blog sum up pretty well).  Ladhar Bheinn (hill of the hoof) is not only the most westerly munro (3000ft Scottish mountain) on the mainland, but is also one of the furthest from a public road, and normally people wishing to climb it have either got to walk huge distances over rough terrain just to get to it's foot, or make use of a boat across Loch Hourn or Loch Nevis.  I'll be coming into the area over the mountains above Glen Dessary to the South East known as the 'Rough Bounds of Knoydart', the highest and most prominent of which is called Sgurr na Ciche (peak of the breast).