07 · Eleven hours · from Inverness, Fort Augustus or Fort William · Best May to October
Applecross and the Bealach na Bà
5 photographs · Silent Glen
In short
The Bealach na Bà from sea level to the top in six miles of hairpins, a walk at the summit, and down the far side to the inn at Applecross for lunch on the shore. Back over the pass, or the long way round the coast.
How the day runs
Eleven hours, three stops, and none of it fixed.
Open a stop for the detail, or show it on the map. The ones marked optional are offered on the day rather than fixed into it — take them or leave them.
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Start You’ll be collected
A quarter past seven from your door, to have the pass to ourselves.
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Pass by Tornapress, the foot of the pass
Where the sign starts warning people off. It means it.
- 01
The Bealach na Bà summit 1 h
Six hundred and twenty-six metres, a car park, and a walk out along the top.
Details CloseThe pass of the cattle, built as a drove road in 1822 and still the biggest continuous ascent of any road in Britain — sea level to 626 metres in about six miles, with hairpins and stretches at one in five. There is a car park at the top and a track out to the viewpoint, and on a clear day Raasay, Skye and the whole Cuillin ridge are laid out across the Inner Sound. On a bad one you are inside a cloud and can see about nine feet, which has its own considerable atmosphere.
- 02
Applecross Bay 45 min
The shore below the village. Seals most days, and sometimes more than seals.
Details CloseCommon seals use this bay and are usually somewhere on the rocks or watching you from the water. Porpoises and dolphins go through the Inner Sound and otters work the shoreline, but none of those are on a timetable — anybody who promises you dolphins is selling you something. What is guaranteed is a beach looking straight across at Raasay and Skye with almost nobody on it.
- 03
The Applecross Inn 1 h 30
On the shore, and the reason a lot of people come over the pass at all.
Details CloseLangoustines, crab and whatever came in that morning, eaten looking at Skye. It is small and it is well known, so in summer it needs booking rather than turning up — tell us when you enquire and we will get a table for the right time of day. There is a food truck by the shore as well when the inn is full, which is often.
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Pass by The coast road to Shieldaig Optional
The other way home. Single track, no hurry, and nothing like the pass.
Details CloseNorth out of Applecross and round the coast to Shieldaig — single track the whole way, with the road hanging above the sea and Torridon coming into view at the end of it. It is slower than going back over the Bealach and it is the better drive if the top is in cloud, which is often. This is a decision made on the day, at the inn, with the sky in front of us.
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Pass by Loch Carron and home
Down the loch and east, whichever way we came off the peninsula.
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End Back at your door
Back down Loch Carron and east, in the evening.
Durations rather than times, on purpose. The order moves, stops get longer or get dropped, and the whole thing bends around the weather and around you — Dan will tell you on the morning what the day actually wants to be.
Map and imagery by Google, which sets its own cookies.
The next five days at Applecross
Met Office ·
Forecasts this far out are a shape rather than a promise, which is the whole reason the day is not fixed until the morning.
Highlights
- The Bealach na Bà, the biggest continuous road climb in Britain, driven by somebody who knows it
- A walk out along the top, where nearly everybody stays in the car park
- Skye, Raasay and the Cuillin across the Inner Sound on a clear day
- Lunch at the Applecross Inn, on the shore, booked ahead rather than queued for
- A choice of two ways home, made on the day depending on the cloud
What’s included
In the price
- Collection from your door and back to it at the end
- The car to yourselves for the whole day — one party a day, nobody else aboard
- All mileage and charging
- Free cancellation up to 48 hours before, for a full refund
Not included
- Lunch at the inn, which you settle there. We will book the table.
- Nothing else on this day is ticketed, which is unusual and rather the point of it.
The day
The road is the reason
The Bealach na Bà is a drove road from 1822 that nobody ever got round to improving. It climbs from sea level to 626 metres in about six miles, on hairpins, with stretches at one in five and passing places instead of a second lane. The sign at the bottom warns learner drivers and caravans off it, and the sign is right.
It is the biggest continuous ascent of any road in Britain. It is not the highest road in Scotland — that is the Cairnwell on the A93, and it is a duller drive by a long way. Height is not what makes this one; the fact that it starts at the sea is.
Somebody else drives it
This is the day on the list where having a driver stops being a luxury and becomes the actual product. On the Bealach, the person at the wheel sees hairpins, passing places and whatever is coming down. They do not see Skye.
There is also the small matter of the car. An electric drivetrain going up a one-in-five hairpin is doing it without a gearbox to hunt through, and coming back down it is putting the descent back into the battery instead of into the brakes. It is a better car for this road than the one you would have hired.
Two ways back, decided at lunch
Over the pass again, or north and round the coast to Shieldaig. The coast road is single track most of the way, slower, and hangs above the sea with Torridon opening up ahead.
If the top is in cloud when we come to leave — and it often is — the coast is plainly the better answer. If it is clear, the pass twice is no hardship at all. That gets decided at the table with the sky in front of us, which is how most decisions on these days get made.
Book now
Tell us the week. We’ll tell you the weather.
Every day is quoted individually — party size, pick-up point and how far you want to go. Expect a reply from Dan within a working day, and a written itinerary before you pay anything.
Thank you. Dan will reply within a working day.
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