Mountain landscape - Scotland

Beinn Fhionnlaidh cloud inversion

Beinn Fhionnlaidh is a Munro, which is a hill in Scotland over 3,000ft / 914.4m high. Remote by Scottish standards, over 11 kilometres from a road, it is reached either by a long walk along the very scenic Glen Affric (and then a 5km trek out and back after you’ve crossed two other Munros, Mam Sodhail and Càrn Eighe) or by a traverse of the Mullardoch Round, a fine outing which includes all eight Munros in Glen Affric and four more above Loch Mullardoch.

This photograph was captured during a backpacking trip in November, before the snows came (Beinn Fhionnlaidh would feel exceptionally remote on a snowy Winter’s day). It was the second of two wild camps I’d had in quick succession when the summit of the peak was ten or so degrees Celsius warmer than a freezing car park. (The other being a summit camp on Ben Laoigh). We were on Mam Sodhail above Glen Affric but we weren’t due to stop here - our intention was to camp on a nearby Munro, An Socach - but the fact we were above the clouds, and An Socach wasn't, easily persuaded us to pitch our tents for the night. It was still early though and neither of us had any reading material or audio for entertainment so after capturing some more photographs, then having dinner and a chat, it was a long night until morning, when we awoke to find ourselves in thick mist and drizzle.