Friday 22 – Sunday 24 August 2025
A new location for DMC, we stayed at the Applecross bunkhouse in Hartfield House which is very comfortable. Some people arrived a few days early, staying at the bothy around the coast, enjoying the beautiful west coast weather and local hills. Others arrived in time for tea at the nearby Walled Garden (very good, and had live music). The lovely weekend weather forecast turned out to be wrong but it didn’t put us off covering all the hills in a wide area, including running 50km over all of Applecross, an epic on Beinn Eighe and other hills near Torridon, exploring the local ridges, The Glen, and the coast. Special thanks to the Free Coffee at the art gallery for getting us going in the morning! Before tea we went for a swim in the sea at the aptly-named Sand Beach. Ruth and co whipped up a wonderful vege peanut curry, with freshly picked bramble crumble for dessert. The next day dawned with low cloud so some people headed elsewhere for their hills, rock climbing cliffs and mountain bike epics. Others hung around in Applecross and had a great day on Beinn Bhan, awed by it’s cliffs, including scrambling up one of its ridges and even doing the full end-to-end traverse. Another great DMC weekend!
- Report by Andrew
It was pleasing to actually stay in Applecross after a few previous day through trips to enjoy a long weekend and join DMC at the Hartfield House Bunkhouse.
We enjoyed fine dining, deer in the bay and covering new ground but less so the midges and Saturday morning clag which curtailed several walk plans.
Remember – there’s no such thing as a free coffee.
- Report by Greg
An ode to Purgatory….
Never was a 25yr old Mountain Bike so aptly named… as I embarked on a reprise of my 2023 effort to cycle round Applecross (although excluding the hills this time). It’s a hard slog but lower gears swapped for more weight and made it in about the same time overall. Discovering that “The Hill” (Bealach na Ba) is actually slightly shorter and steeper (on average) from the west than from the east (according to Strava). The Free Coffee was a welcome sight on my return as I wandered down to the Pier at Toscaig nursing blisters, aching calves, cables stretched and brake blocks mangled….
- Report by Iain
