Dwarfing the railway and road at its foot, Beinn Dorain is an iconic landmark of the Southern Highlands. Seen from the south its symmetrical cone looks vaguely volcanic, and could be Scotland’s answer to Fuji-san or Cotopaxi. Anyone who’s walked the West Highland Way beneath its sweeping slopes and felt shrunken to ant-like status will be familiar with Dorain’s massive presence. But this isn’t a mountain just for looking at; it’s great to climb too, and combines well with Beinn an Dothaidh, an impressive lump in its own right with a stupendous view out over the crags to the expanse of Rannoch Moor.
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Height Profile
metres / Distance
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Detailed description
1
NN2971739510 Cross the A82 and walk east up the road opposite the Bridge of Orchy Hotel. Go through a railway underpass by the station, then take a path on the left, past a telecom transmitter. Climb steadily eastwards through grassy hummocks, beside the cutting of the Allt Coire an Dothaidh. The path ascends into the bowl of Coire an Dothaidh. At the head of the corrie the path climbs steeply and stonily between two large crags to reach the 744m spot height shown on the 1:50000 map, at a saddle marked by a cairn.
2
NN3251839856 If you're first heading for Beinn Dorain, turn hard right on a stony path up a spur. Pass a pool on a flatter area before climbing more steeply again, weaving up onto the broad north ridge. The first summit you reach, Carn Sasunnaich, is marked with two big cairns, and thus easily mistaken for the true summit. The highest point is actually a little further south across a notch. A promontory ringed by steep craggy slopes, it feels like a genuine mountain top.
3
NN3255937854 Return to the 744m col, then continue uphill, trending generally north-northeast up stony ground to reach Beinn an Dothaidh's west top, a great viewpoint overlooking the mountain's big northern crags. Of Dothaidh's three summits, the middle is the highest (though not by much); follow the broad ridge eastwards to the cairn marking the main summit, before continuing south along the ridge to the southeast top.
4
NN3330040566 Descent southwest across the broad open slopes of Coire Reidh (in poor conditions take care not to drift south onto steeper ground), to rejoin the ascent path just above the 744m col. Now go back down the way you came to Bridge of Orchy.
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Difficulty: ModerateDistance: 8.57 miles (13.80 km)
Total ascent: 1,146m
Time: 5 – 6 hours (Walking)
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Additional Information
Start/Finish:Public car park by Bridge of Orchy Hotel, NN296395
Nearest town:
Killin
Terrain:
Mostly clear paths - in places boggy, elsewhere eroded and stony.
Seasonal variations:
With steep crags nearby on many aspects, these big hills can feel serious in hostile winter weather, though the ground on the route itself is fairly moderate. The northern crags of Beinn an Dothaidh can be heavily corniced, so give them a wide berth in poor visibility.
Weather and Hill Conditions: mwis: West Highlands – Met Office: West Highlands
Public transport:
This is a good Munro round for car-free walkers, with access to Bridge of Orchy by bus or train from Glasgow and Forth William.
Guidebooks:
The Munros (SMC)
Maps:
OS Explorer 377 (1:25,000), Harvey/BMC Ben Nevis (1:40,000), OS Landranger 50 (1:50,000) Directory Listings:
Find more Listings near this route Tourist info:
Tyndrum (08452 255 121)
Further Routes
by Dan Bailey UKH
- A' Chralaig and Mullach Fraoch-choire 4 Dec, 2023
- Meall na Teanga & Sron a' Choire Ghairbh - The Loch Lochy Munros 6 Nov, 2023
- Bynack More 19 Oct, 2023
- Beinn a' Mhuinidh 4 Oct, 2023
- Loch Ossian round - Seven Munros by Train 15 Sep, 2023
They are great viewpoints particularly in winter
.Beinn Dorain is also noteworthy as being the subject of one of the greatest long poems of Gaelic literature- Duncan Ban MacIntyre's "In Praise of Beinn Dorain" - written around the mid 18th Century.
I'd love to read a translation of that (yes I know it won't be the same...)
I've never seen an English translation of the full poem (its quite long) but have read translated extracts, possibly in an anthology of Scottish poetry.
There are translations by Iain Crichton Smith and more recently Alan Riach of Glasgow university. I can also highly recommend Garry Mackenzie's 2021 book, Ben Dorain -- a conversation with a mountain which takes an interesting approach to the poem
Thanks, I'll have a look for that book