The one in a land far far away!!
Introduction - Ben Hope
Ben Hope is the farthest north munro, it is also the one farthest away from my home in Stirling at a whopping 235 miles! Given the last 60 of those are on very windy single track roads, this was a mammoth drive of over 6 hours. Luckily, not many people visit here in the autumn and the roads were very quiet. I'm sure the same cannot be said of the summer. We were staying in Bettyhill, a wee village on the NC500.
The NC500 is a tourist loop around the north, east and west highlands favoured by campervans. It's been an official route for 11 years now. The blurb on the NC500 webpage explains all - North Coast 500 - The ultimate road trip around the North of Scotland
"Scotland’s ultimate road trip! Bringing together a route of just over 500 miles (516 to be exact…) of stunning coastal scenery, white sandy beaches, rugged mountains, remote fishing villages, hidden gems, and a wealth of unforgettable experiences; the North Coast 500 is one of the world’s most beautiful road trips.
Whether you’re looking for an action-packed break, a chance to relax or simply want to see more of the North Highlands’ breath-taking scenery, you will find it on the NC500. Start planning your next adventure today."
The route is controversial with the locals as many of the roads and infrastructure are not suitable for the amount of traffic that arrives every summer. In addition, many campervans simply park in laybys and do not use the campsites and therefore do not add to the highland economy.
We had first hand experience of the unsuitable roads where single track roads have been "widened" to allow campervans to pass each other. However, this widening is simply an addition of some aggregate and gravel on soft verges and results in dangerous off road passing places. Single track roads have been adapted to two way, but in reality they are still single track, and official passing places should still be used.
On the other hand, the popularity of the route has led to the establishment of better dining and accomodation options and some cracking wee independent coffee shops.
Ben Hope is located in Sutherland, which is also known as the Flow Country. The Flow Country is an incredibly important landscape and is protected, it is the first peatland World Heritage Site established in July 2024. Why is this vast expanse of peatland so important?
"The Flow Country in northern Scotland is home to Europe’s largest blanket bog, storing over 400 million tonnes of carbon—more than twice the amount in all of Britain’s woodlands. This area plays a critical role in conserving biodiversity and mitigating climate change. However, extensive degradation threatens its carbon-storing capacity, underscoring the urgent need for restoration and sustainable management."
"The biodiversity found across The Flow Country reflects the internationally rare and important assemblage of habitats, flora and fauna. It is home to a bird assemblage not seen anywhere else in the world and supports over 10% of the global Sphagnum bog moss flora." The Flow Country - The Flow Country The Flow Country
Please log into this website, it is an excellent source of all the information you could need on the Flow Country, its history, its importance and its future.
Onto the main event then, below you'll find my stats, the route, and information you will hopefully enjoy and find useful.
Stats and stuff - munros; maps & timings
Munro number: 33 to go!
Munro name(s): Ben Hope 927m (3041ft)
Area: Cape Wrath, Durness & Scourie
Maps: Foinaven & Ben Hope, Ben Klibreck, Ben Loyal; OS Map of Cape Wrath | Landranger 9 Map | Ordnance Survey Shop
Distance: 5.2 miles (8.3km)
Ascent: 902m (2961ft)
Moving time: 3 hours 5 mins
Total time: 4 hours 10 mins
Ratings
Bogginess ☹️☹️☹️☹️
Effort 😅😅😅
Navigation 🤔🤔
Enjoyment 😍😍😍
Local information
Eating: HOME | Bettyhill Hotel; Welcome to The Store Cafe, Bettyhill
We ate an evening meal in the Bettyhill Hotel which was simple pub grub. The best food, coffee and atmosphere we had was at the Store Bistro & Bar, the lobster baguette was divine!
Accommodation: HOME | Bettyhill Hotel; Luxury Hotel in Altnaharra, Sutherland | Althaharra Hotel There are lots of places to stay around the NC500 but all are a wee drive to get to the mountain. We stayed in Bettyhill which was around 25 miles to the start of the climb. Altnaharra (15 miles) and Tongue (16 miles) are closer.
Facilities: Welcome to The Store Cafe, Bettyhill; Bettyhill General Merchants - shop and petrol.
Don't miss: Strathnaver Museum at Bettyhill; Smoo Cave, Durness – Caves | VisitScotland
The route
The day dawned dry and bright in Bettyhill, and that was the last I was to see of the sunshine! Bill had a lovely day walking on the beautiful golden sands, eating lobster baguettes and drinking sublime coffee. Although, to be fair, he did save half of his baguette for me ❤️
The journey to Ben Hope was west along the NC500 through Tongue to Hope. The views of the Flow Country were amazing, vast expanses of wilderness dotted with small lochans and peat haggs. Large, bold and dramatic mountains looming from the flat landscape, touching the clouds. The Vikings must have loved it here.
Ben Loyal is a wonderful rugged mountain with sheer cliffs and a jagged skyline, one of the best Corbetts in Scotland.
At Hope you leave the A836 and turn south onto the B873. Now I was bought up in Ardnamurchan, I know single track roads, I learnt to drive on them, this was something else though, maybe a contender for a "C" road. The underbelly of the car got an excellent clean from the grass growing in the middle of the road, and I don't think they had heard of passing places when this road was built. Having said that I didn't meet another car either coming or going, and it was only 9 miles to the start of the climb. A wonderful example of rewilding.
The road travels the length of Loch Hope and the car park is 3km past the end of the loch. There is ample parking and the steep path is obvious from the start. No messing about on this one, straight up and down.
At this stage I was still hopeful of the cloud lifting or even an inversion at the top. It wasn't the first and won't be the last mountain I've climbed in the cloud. There's always hope, especially on Ben Hope!
The Allt na Caillich was flowing well and treated me to some wonderful waterfalls and pools. I could imagine sinking into these on a hot summers day, or standing under the waterfall for a cooling shower. Not today though.
The path was very clear and rocky in places, but also very boggy. Lots of dark peat bogs sparkling with worn down quartz. The climb up to the ridge for the first 400m is unforgiving, especially adding the energy sapping slippery bog.
Once on the ridge the going is still steep but the boggy path gives way to a harder quartz rocky path which is a little easier to navigate. The path is marked with numerous cairns, quite useful in the mist, but the path never really disappears.
Needless to say my hope on Ben Hope was dashed and the cloud did not lift or provide me with an awe inspiring inversion. In fact, in the cloud the rain and wind increased and it was altogether a damp experience. I've heard the views from the top are astounding, another time maybe.
There was a nice wee open cairn on the top allowing me to snuggle down out of the wind and refuel. I didn't hang around on the summit and after an update from Bill on his coffee and baguette experience, I was keen to join him on the warm sands in Bettyhill.
It was a long way down! When climbing in the clouds you do tend to be unaware of the ascents steepness and length. Ben Hope is all up, and then all down. At one point I stopped to rest my weary knees and there was a Ptarmigan stood within a few meters of me, obviously curious as to why this orange apparition was standing on its mountain. We exchanged glances for a few minutes and then I trundled on my way, leaving the changeling to continue their shift into full winter plumage.
Further evidence of said Ptarmigan soon showed itself.
The Inuit call Ptarmigan poop urumiit and it is a culinary necessity for them. The droppings are collected when they have dried out during the winter months (fresh droppings in the summer are thought to be unpleasant to eat!). Once collected, the small, pellet-shaped droppings are often cooked. They are usually prepared in aged seal fat. Sometimes, seal or ptarmigan meat or blood is mixed in with the urumiit during cooking. The smell of cooked Urumiit in aged fat has been compared to strong cheeses like Gorgonzola. In the old days, the seal meat was masticated by one’s spouse before being spat into the cooking pot.....I'll get Bill onto that straight away!
By the way, the brown slimy poop is called cecal poop. It is produced in a different part of the large intestine in small structures called ceca. The ceca are believed to be involved with the fermentation of cellulose.
Sorry, along with clouds and rocks, poop interests me.
Soon I dropped back below the cloud and could see the extent of my remaining descent laid before me. The Strathmore River winding itself almost due south.
I met a few walkers heading up the hill filled with the optimism of seeing an amazing view from the top. It wasn't in me to dash their faint hopes, so we passed exchanging pleasantries and the universal sign for luck, fingers crossed. I really hope the cloud lifted for them but I fear it didn't.
Claire's top tip....
Listen to the landscape around you, the silence speaks volumes....
As this was a wet and fairly quiet climb in terms of views (none!), fauna and flora, I thought I would share a bit of history of the highlands with you.
Ben Hope comes from the Norse word ‘hob’, meaning ‘bay’. Its translation is ‘hill of the bay’ which could refer to the sea lochs that extend southwards from the Atlantic on Ben Hope’s northern side. These would have made ideal harbours for any Viking invaders.
The first Vikings to settle in Sutherland came from Norway and probably arrived in the area around 850 AD by way of Orkney, and then Caithness. Raids continued for a few hundred years and eventually gave way to coexistence in the 12th century and a farming way of life. More Scottish families were moving north diluting Norse society and introducing a new language and customs. By 1375 Norse superiority and authority ended with the resignation of the Earldom of Caithness to the Scottish crown. Clan politics began to take a stronghold again across the country now the Norse threat had been neutralised and a new threat from England beckoned.
The Wars of Scottish Independence in the late 13th and early 14th centuries galvanized clan identities, as clans united against a common enemy, reinforcing their social cohesion and political significance. As Scotland began to grow as a nation in the 14th and 15th centuries, so the clan system became more formalized, with established laws and customs governing clan behaviour, land ownership, and loyalty.
Clan leaders controlled the agricultural land, with its distribution generally being achieved through leases to tacksmen, who sublet to the peasant farmers. The basic farming unit was the baile or township, consisting of a few (anything from 4 to 20 or more) families working arable land on the run rig system, and grazing livestock on common land. The Clan Chiefs and their tenants had a pretty stable time of it between the 13th and 17th centuries with only inter-clan wars to worry about.
When James VI of Scotland became James 1st of England in 1603 he began to exert more power over the Clan Chiefs and the Highlands. He forced rich highlanders to send their children south to be educated and the Clan Chiefs had to appear annually in front of the Privy Council in Edinburgh. They paid sureties to guarantee the good behaviour of their clans in exchange for charters and favours. The Chiefs were gradually changing from leaders of their people, to landowners.
More wars in the 17th and 18th centuries meant clan members were once again called upon to fight for their clans, and the Chiefs political leanings dictated which side they ended up fighting for. It was not unusual for clans to fight each other, as in the past, but this time, it was as either Jacobites or Loyalists.
The disastrous campaign waged in the name of Bonnie Prince Charlie culminated with a heavy defeat for the Jacobites at the Battle of Culloden in April 1746. The subsequent social and economic consequences of defeat were far-reaching. The Clan system was ultimately destroyed, reduced to a mere family history with acquaintances, no power and little direction. Tartan was banned and enemies of the Crown were hunted and killed. The Clan Chiefs were in name only. As landlords, however, they now looked to themselves, and ways to increase their wealth in this post war era.
The introduction of sheep over black cattle, principally, and crop rotation, became widespread. Essentially, Highland estates were being re-drawn along commercial lines. Something needed to change, there were too many people and not enough profit. The ‘first wave’ of clearances began as early as the 1780s and continued in some form or another for 80 years.
The Sutherland clearances of 1809 to 1821 have become notorious for their barbarity and sheer volume, moving over 15,000 people to make way for sheep. The main instigators of this terror were the Countess of Sutherland, her husband the Marquess of Stafford and their factor, Patrick Sellar.
A 'second wave' of clearances followed between 1825 and 1855 with the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the collapse of the kelp industry and potato famines in 1836 and 1846. These clearances were more of a necessity to stay alive, rather than being forced evictions.
My own family left the Ross of Mull, on the Isle of Mull between 1825 and 1831 for Canada. My Great Great Great Grandfathers were a blacksmith called Robert MacLachlan, and a cottar called Duncan MacEachern. The choice was stark, stay and die, or leave and hopefully make it across the Atlantic and start a new life. Thankfully for me, they made it.
For more information on the Highland Clearances please visit this website. It is a comprehensive and easy to read summary of the history of the clearances.
Coming next......
Mount Keen
Thank you for reading ❤️ xx
