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Ninety seconds on Bealach na Bà
Climbing the steep one of the only two roads into Applecross is the reason to come, and on a clear day the summit shows you Skye, Raasay and the Outer Hebrides.
There is no visitor centre on the Bealach na Bà and no facilities at the top, only a parking area and the view. What you come for is the road itself, single track all the way from the A896 at Tornapress and climbing steadily through mountain country to the summit.
On the eastern side the road turns back on itself in tight hairpins above a steep-sided valley. It was built in 1822 on the pattern of the great Alpine passes, which is why the climb winds the way it does.
The Gaelic name, Pass of the Cattle, comes from the drovers who brought livestock over it. Beyond the top the road drops more gently down the western side. The view then opens ahead of you across the Inner Sound, the stretch of sea between the Applecross shore and the islands.
Before the climb, read the sign where the road leaves the A896 at Tornapress: it spells out which vehicles should turn back. From there you drive the single track uphill, pulling into passing places on the left to let faster cars by.
Stop for photographs only where a passing place is large enough, and pull as far in as you can. The parking area at the summit is on the left. Walk a few hundred metres back down the road from it, then left up the track to the transmitter station.
From the summit, the descent to Applecross village takes about fifteen minutes. The Applecross Heritage Centre there generally opens from April to October, from noon until four.
Drop into a low gear early and stay in it, and do not try to change down on the steep sections. Keep the low gear for the way down too, because the descents on both sides are long and continuous and brakes can fade.
If you cannot reverse a long way on narrow single track, or low cloud has cut visibility at the summit to a few metres, take the Shieldaig route under Getting there instead.
Avoid the climb between about 11am and 3pm in July and August, when traffic backs up at the hairpins. Go before 10am or in late afternoon, when the light falls on the western descent.
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