Ben Rinnes ( gd, Beinn Ruaidhneis) is a

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited Summit (topography), summit area, and ...

Banffshire Banffshire ; sco, Coontie o Banffshire; gd, Siorrachd Bhanbh) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. The county town is Banff, although the largest settlement is Buckie to the west. It borders the Moray ...

, in northern Scotland. The mountain is popular with hikers. The mountain is 20 km² in total and is located 8 km southwest of

Dufftown Dufftown ( gd, Baile Bhainidh ) is a burgh in Moray, Scotland. While the town is part of the historic Mortlach parish, the town was established and laid out in the early 19th century as part of a planned new town settlement. The town has several ...

. The mountain has one main path and can be easily accessed from the nearby car park. The ''Friends of Ben Rinnes'' program has been working on the paths to make it more accessible to the public and to prevent further erosion of the fragile ecosystem on the steep slopes and has been rather successful.

View aspects

From the summit it is possible to see 8 counties (

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...

, Banffshire,

Morayshire Moray; ( gd, Moireibh ) or Morayshire, called Elginshire until 1919, is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland, bordering Nairnshire to the west, Inverness-shire to the south, and Banffshire to the east. It w ...

Nairnshire The County of Nairn (also called Nairnshire) ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Narann) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. The county was used for local administration until the county council, based at the county t ...

Inverness-shire Inverness-shire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Nis) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. Covering much of the Highlands and Outer Hebrides, it is Scotland's largest county, though one of the smallest in populatio ...

Ross and Cromarty Ross and Cromarty ( gd, Ros agus Cromba), sometimes referred to as Ross-shire and Cromartyshire, is a variously defined area in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. There is a registration county and a lieutenancy area in current use, the latt ...

Sutherland Sutherland ( gd, Cataibh) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in the Highlands of Scotland. Its county town is Dornoch. Sutherland borders Caithness and Moray Firth to the east, Ross-shire and Cromartyshire (later ...

, and

Caithness Caithness ( gd, Gallaibh ; sco, Caitnes; non, Katanes) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. Caithness has a land boundary with the historic county of Sutherland to the west and is otherwise bounded by ...

) and on a clear day even the Moray coast. Another draw for the hiker are the waterfalls from the many rivers that flow down the mountain such as Linn of Ruthrie.

Ben Rinnes hill race

A hill race has been held on Ben Rinnes for a number of years, as part of the Dufftown Highland Games. This race begins at the games field, goes over the neighbouring hills of Little Conval and Meikle Conval, then up to the summit of Ben Rinnes. Runners return by the same route. The race is 22 km long, with over 1500 m of ascent. The current records are 1:53:47 by Eoin Lennon and 2:18:12 by Jill Stephen, both set in 2018.

Line notes

References

* Aberlour: Ben Rinnes (2008
Description of Ben Rinnes
* C.Michael Hogan (2008) ''Longman Hill'', Modern Antiquaria

External links

{{commons category, Ben Rinnes
Friends of Ben Rinnes Website
Corbetts Mountains and hills of the Eastern Highlands Marilyns of Scotland Mountains and hills of Moray