Qualla: Bealach na Bà

Bealach na Bà: Introduction

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Glen Wallace from Inverness, Scotland, CC BY-SA 2.0. Sea level to 626 metres in six kilometres. There is no road in the United Kingdom with a longer continuous ascent, and very few in Europe that match its hairpin density. The Bealach na Ba climbs out of Loch Kishorn on the west coast of Scotland, switchbacks up the headwall of a glacial corrie at gradients approaching one in five, and then drops down the other side to the remote village of Applecross. In Gaelic the name means simply Pass of the Cattle. It was built in 1822 to move livestock - shaggy black cattle, mostly - down to the great drovers' markets at Muir of Ord and Falkirk, and on as far as London. The cyclists who toil up it now and the tour buses that, against all advice, try to get to the top, are following a path laid down for hooves.

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Image: Glen Wallace from Inverness, Scotland | CC BY-SA 2.0

Bealach na Bà: Building the Pass

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit ronnie leask, CC BY-SA 2.0. There had been a track over the bealach since Saint Maelrubha's monks first walked it in the seventh century. A proper road was a different matter. Construction of the engineered road began in May 1818 - and immediately ran into trouble. The first contractor lasted three months b...

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Image: ronnie leask | CC BY-SA 2.0

Bealach na Bà: What It Feels Like

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rchillyard, CC BY-SA 3.0. From Tornapress at the eastern end the road runs gently along the head of Loch Kishorn for a few kilometres, lulling you. Then it lifts. The first hairpin shows up as a wall and you understand you should have shifted down two gears already. The next mile climbs through low rock a...

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Image: Rchillyard | CC BY-SA 3.0

Bealach na Bà: The Top

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bewahrerderwerte, CC BY-SA 4.0. At 626 metres the road levels onto a high plateau with parking and a small viewpoint. On a clear day - which is uncommon - the view runs across the Inner Sound to the Cuillin of Skye, with Raasay and South Rona below. On a typical day there is cloud, and the wind is doing whateve...

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Image: Bewahrerderwerte | CC BY-SA 4.0

Bealach na Bà: Sheep, Movies, and Bikes

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bewahrerderwerte, CC BY-SA 4.0. The 1995 BBC comedy-drama Hamish Macbeth, most of which was filmed nearby at Plockton, includes a sign on the bealach that reads "Narrow road - no more than three sheep abreast." The sign was a joke; the conditions are not. The road also appeared in the 1953 film Laxdale Hall (pr...

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Image: Bewahrerderwerte | CC BY-SA 4.0