Evening Walk up 'S Airde Beinn

'S Airde Beinn is one of my favourite walks in North Mull. It is not far from Tobermory where I live and it gives great view for not a huge amount of effort. Hadnt been up for a while and tonight seemed like a good opportunity now that the clocks have shifted to BST

Contrary to what you might read in a lot of places, SAB is NOT a volcano and the hollow in the middle is NOT a crater. It is a volcanic plug - the hollow is probably due to glacial erosion. SAB is an example of a feeder conduit for higher level lava flows which have since been eroded away. There is another similar plug called Creag a' Chrochair on the road to Glengorm, as well as two less obvious ones on the shores of Loch Frisa. All four lie on the same approximate line

There is an excellent description of it in the GCR report for the site:

GCR S Airde Beinn (click on the link)

Here are some pictures:

 Approaching from the south





















The lochan "Lochan 'S Airde Beinn"


 Beinn Hiant in the distance


 Looking north towards Rum, Eigg and Skye


 The rock is covered in pock marks and grooves as it
weathers





















Close up of the weathering



View to the south looking over the outflow from the lochan- a fault runs through there





















The lochan, looking towards Ben More covered in snow


Cairn at the north end - looking over to Ardnamurchan



 Near the outflow - Ben More again





Ben More rises above the north Mull hills  - Mishnish Lochs below




















At the outflow - sun beginning to set

The view from the top of the hill is tremendous - so much to see - much of the British Palaeogene Igneous Province can be seen to the north as well as Tiree and Coll and some of the Western Isles.

Here is a video taken from the summit: (turn the volume down - it's a bit noisy!)


One of the things I have been doing is trying to compile a list of references for my "Top 20" Geological Sites in Mull and Iona. The 'S Airde Beinn references are as follows:


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