Bealach na Bà, on the Applecross peninsula: Travelling the steepest road in Britain

Bealach na Bà is as unforgettable and beautiful as it is nerve wracking.

Aerial view of Bealach na Ba pass on Applecross Peninsula in Wester Ross, Scotland.
Aerial view of Bealach na Ba pass on Applecross Peninsula in Wester Ross, Scotland.
(Image credit: Alamy)

An extraordinary, winding mountain pass, built in 1822, Bealach na Bà makes for a nail-bitingly beautiful drive, offering views from its 2,054ft summit over to the Isles of Skye, Rum, Raasay, Rona, Harris and Lewis.

The historic Bealach na Bà, is a twisting, single-track mountain road that almost defies photography.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

The single-track, historic drovers’ lane travels up, down and around hairpins through the mountains of the remote Applecross peninsula as if they were the Alps and, at Bealach na Bà (‘pass of the cattle’), features the steepest ascent of any road in the UK.

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Annunciata is director of contemporary art gallery TIN MAN ART and an award-winning journalist specialising in art, culture and property. Previously, she was Country Life’s News & Property Editor. Before that, she worked at The Sunday Times Travel Magazine, researched for a historical biographer and co-founded a literary, art and music festival in Oxfordshire. Lancashire-born, she lives in Hampshire with a husband, two daughters and a mischievous pug.