Number 239 of 282 by height · Cairngorms and Monadhliath
A' Bhuidheanach Bheag
3,071 ft (936 m)
Facts
- Grid reference
- NN 660 775
- Latitude, longitude
- 56.87036, -4.19901
- Area
- Cairngorms and Monadhliath
The walk up
- Distance, one way
- 4.7 mi (7.6 km)
- Climb
- 2,064 ft (629 m)
- Estimated time up
- 2 h 35 min
- Start
- Layby 86
Route picked by computer, not yet checked on the hill
Summit conditions
From Sunday 1 November, 17:07. Not live.
- Weather
- Clear sky
- Temperature
- 38°F (3°C)
- Wind chill
- 33°F (0°C)
- Wind
- 6 mph (10 km/h) from the northwest
- Cloud cover
- 8%
- Rain or snow, next hour
- None
- Freezing level, rough estimate
- 4,685 ft (1,428 m)
- Sunrise, sunset
- 07:25, 16:34
The way up
From Layby 86, follow the road north-east for 1300 ft, almost level. Then follow the track north-east for 0.5 mi, almost level. On the way you cross the Allt Coire Bhotie. It then turns south-east for 2.1 mi, climbing steadily from 1,350 ft to 2,950 ft. It then turns south for 1.0 mi, dropping from 2,950 ft to 2,700 ft. On the way you cross the Allt Coire Bhotie. Then follow the path south for the last 0.9 mi to the summit, climbing gently from 2,700 ft to 3,050 ft. The steepest part is between 1,800 ft and 2,400 ft, about 1.7 mi from the start. The summit is at 3,071 ft (936 m).
Written from the map, not from walking it. Paths on the ground can differ, so carry a map and compass.See it in 3D.
Getting there
By car
Layby 86. Free to park. This is where the walking route starts.
Driving directions to the A' Bhuidheanach Bheag car park56.90055,-4.24173
By train
Nearest station: Dalwhinnie, 2.4 mi (3.9 km) from the car park.
By bus
Nearest bus stop on the map: North Drumochter Lodge, 0.9 mi (1.4 km) from the car park. Check the times first: many Highland buses run only a few times a day.
Public transport directionsBus and train times on Traveline Scotland
About A' Bhuidheanach Bheag
- Means
- Little yellow place
A' Bhuidheanach Bheag sits at the southern end of the broad, rolling plateau on the east side of the Pass of Drumochter, high ground averaging over 2,600 ft (800 m) that runs about 8 miles north-east into the Gaick Forest. The hill straddles the Highland and Perth and Kinross boundary, with the summit on the Perth and Kinross side. It rises 358 ft (109 m) above the col linking it to Carn na Caim, its nearest higher neighbour 3.0 miles away.
Its finest feature is the remote Cama Choire, a steep-sided valley cut deep into the eastern flank. On the south-west side, Coire Mhic-sith is a fault-guided valley where University of Edinburgh geologists found signs of an ice-dammed lake from the last Ice Age, a smaller version of the parallel roads of Glen Roy.
The summit is a gentle rise with an OS trig point ringed by quartzite boulders and a few old iron fence posts. The highest ground is about 11 m (36 ft) west-south-west of the trig point.
Tops on A' Bhuidheanach Bheag
One lower summit in the Munro tables, not counted as separate Munros. Keen baggers tick these too.
| Top | Height | From the summit |
|---|---|---|
| Glas Mheall MorNN 680 769 | 3,044 ft (928 m) | 1.3 mi (2.1 km) |
Through the year
Hours of daylight on A' Bhuidheanach Bheag in the middle of each month. The shorter the day, the earlier you need to start.
Stag stalking season, 1 July to 20 October. On many estates, walkers are asked to keep to set routes on stalking days: check the Scottish Outdoor Access Code site's Heading for the Scottish Hills service before you go.
Nearest Munros
| Munro | Height | Straight-line distance |
|---|---|---|
| Carn na Caim | 3,087 ft (941 m) | 3.0 mi (4.8 km) |
| A' Mharconaich | 3,193 ft (973 m) | 3.6 mi (5.8 km) |
| Geal-charn | 3,009 ft (917 m) | 4.0 mi (6.4 km) |
Common questions about A' Bhuidheanach Bheag
- How high is A' Bhuidheanach Bheag?
- A' Bhuidheanach Bheag is 3,071 ft (936 m), number 239 of the 282 Munros by height, in the Cairngorms and Monadhliath.
- How long does it take to climb A' Bhuidheanach Bheag?
- About 2 h 35 min up and 1 h 40 min back down by our route from Layby 86, before stops: 4.7 mi (7.6 km) each way with 2,064 ft (629 m) of climbing. That is about average for a Munro. Most people take longer than these estimates.
- Where do you park for A' Bhuidheanach Bheag?
- Our route starts at Layby 86. It is free to park.
- Can you climb A' Bhuidheanach Bheag without a car?
- The nearest railway station is Dalwhinnie, 2.4 mi (3.9 km) from the start, and the nearest bus stop on the map is North Drumochter Lodge, 0.9 mi (1.4 km) from the start. Highland trains and buses are few, so check times on Traveline Scotland before you go.
- Is A' Bhuidheanach Bheag a hard Munro?
- By time and climbing, it is about average for a Munro, with 2,064 ft (629 m) of ascent over 4.7 mi (7.6 km). Like every Munro it reaches over 3,000 ft, where the weather can be far worse than at the car park, so take a map and compass and check the mountain forecast.
- What does A' Bhuidheanach Bheag mean?
- It is usually translated as "little yellow place".
- When is the best time to climb A' Bhuidheanach Bheag?
- Daylight runs from about 18 hours in mid June to 7 hours in mid December, so summer gives the most time. From 1 July to 20 October it is the stag stalking season, when some estates ask walkers to keep to set routes. In winter, snow and ice turn most Munros into mountaineering terrain.
A guide only. Mountain conditions change fast: carry a map and compass and know how to use them, and read the mountain forecast for the Cairngorms and Monadhliath before you go.
Questions
Where can I get a proper mountain forecast?
Read the Mountain Weather Information Service forecast for the Cairngorms and Monadhliath, written by forecasters for walkers and climbers. In winter, also read the Scottish Avalanche Information Service report for the area.
Where does the summit weather come from?
From MET Norway's forecast model, fetched for every Munro once an hour at the summit's own height. It is computer output for one point, not a forecast written for mountains, so treat it as a guide. The past hours are what the forecast said at the time. Wind chill, the freezing level and sunrise and sunset are worked out by this site from those figures; the freezing level assumes temperature drops steadily with height, so it can be well out when cold air sits in the glens.
How was this route drawn?
It follows footpaths and tracks mapped on OpenStreetMap, from a public car park to the summit, with heights from Copernicus elevation data. A computer picked the start as the car park with the quickest mapped way up, counting the climbing as well as the distance. Nobody has checked it on the hill yet, so it may not be the usual way up, and the path may be faint or missing on the ground. A line on a map is not a description of the ground.
- Walks 0.3 mi along a main road before the path starts.
- Path geometry: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), Overpass API extract fetched 2026-10-24T19:57:04.412Z. Start: the public car park nearest the usual start named on Wikipedia (Balsporan Cottages, found by grid reference NN627791) with the shortest mapped-path route to the summit.
- Elevation: Copernicus DEM GLO-30 (© DLR e.V. 2010-2014 and © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH 2014-2018, provided under COPERNICUS by the European Union and ESA), sampled every 50 m, 3-sample median, 5 m hysteresis on ascent.
- Summit position: Database of British and Irish Hills v18 (CC BY 4.0).
Built 2026-10-25.
How is the time up worked out?
With Naismith's rule, the standard hill-walking estimate: an hour for every 3.1 miles (5 km), plus an hour for every 1,969 ft (600 m) of climbing, with no stops. For this route that gives about 2 h 35 min, one way. It ignores rough ground, weather, stops and the walk back down, so most people take longer.
Where do the car parks and bus stops come from?
From OpenStreetMap. Distances are straight lines, not the way you would walk or drive. A bus stop on the map says nothing about how often a bus calls: many Highland buses run a few times a day, some only on school days or by booking, so check Traveline Scotland first. The map cannot tell whether a car park is on a public road, so a remote one may only be reachable on foot or by train.
Where do the Gaelic names and stories come from?
From the hill's article on English Wikipedia and its Wikidata entry, put into a few words of our own. Meanings and pronunciations are only given where the article states them; many Gaelic hill names are old and their meaning is uncertain. Read the full article.
Where do the height and grid reference come from?
From the Database of British and Irish Hills, the surveyed list most baggers use. A' Bhuidheanach Bheag is hill 390 there.
Sources: Database of British and Irish Hills (CC BY 4.0), OpenStreetMap (ODbL), MET Norway (CC BY 4.0), Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Wikidata, Copernicus elevation data, Sentinel-2 cloudless imagery by EOX. All credits and licences.