Stairway to Heaven

Photoessay. Applecross, Bealach na Ba, Scotland. August 2018.

After a stormy night in Applecross I wanted to pass the famous Bealach na Ba (meaning: Pass of the cattle) through the mountains of the Applecross peninsula.

There were some warning signs at the beginning of the singletrack road.
Road to Applecross (Bealach na Ba). This road rises to a height of 2’053 ft, with gradients 1 in 5 and hairpin bends. Not advised for learner drivers, very large vehicles or caravans after first mile.
Another warning sign mentioned that this road is impassable in wintry conditions.

I wanted to find out why and deciced to drive it.

Where is it?

Spectacular

To keep it short: I couldn’t drive the road all in one piece, I had to stop nearly every 50 m in order to make a photograph. I was blown away by the beauty of the scenery and the course of the road.

After one mile or so and a few bends the road didn’t follow the contour lines anymore but climbed directly and straight up to the top of the pass with a few hairpin bends on top.

Bealach na Ba

Stairway to Heaven

The road over Bealach na Ba reminds me on ‘Stairway to Heaven’, the epic rock balad of Led Zeppelin, composed in 1970 and first performend in 1971.

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Images: Ricoh GR II, GR Lens f=18.3 mm 1:2.8. .DNG RAW format. Edited in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.

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