We leave the excellent Bridge of Orchy Hotel with packed lunches supplied by the very friendly staff and set off. As ever, it’s up the hill out of the valley and onto a track. We cross the Allt Orain and Allt Tolaghan rivers at the tiny hamlet of Inveroran then follow an unclassified road and cross the Abhainn Shira. This leads us to the old drovers’ road to Glencoe.
In 1803, Thomas Telford was commissioned by parliament to improve the roads and bridges in the highlands. He insisted that a good level of gravel was used to prevent damage to the livestock’s hooves and constructed bridges rather than cobbled fords to protect carriage springs. The drovers’ road was still used as a public road until 1933. He also designed the new roads to have gentler gradients. The way, therefore, forms a good walkers’ route, but it also feels a bit like a procession as all the West Highland Way faithful traipse along it over Rannoch Moor.
We stop for a break but are soon beset by midges, so move on to a breezier spot. Midges are not our only infestation. Rich has managed to acquire another tick - his third of the trip - which I quickly remove. He also found another one crawling over his rucksack. Ticks are spiders and there are over twenty species in the UK. Most do not attack humans but those that live on deer do and between 1-5% carry Lyme disease. Fortunately, both ticks and midges are repulsed by DEET so we smother on insect repellent.
Finally, we round the corner and get our first glimpse of Glencoe and Glen Etive. We now can definitely see Creise and our previous route up it. Schiehallion was hidden by clouds earlier in the day but as we progress, we can see more of the mountains we have climbed including Buachaille Etive Mor, seemingly guarding both glens, Bidean nam Bian and the two peaks with Aonach Eagach between them. I am filled with joy at seeing all these old friends from a different angle, savouring each change of view. I might love these mountains but that affection is unrequited. The mountains sit immutable.
We stop at Kingshouse to eat our lunch, the slight waft of wind mostly keeping the midges at bay, then it’s off into the glen. We can see the easy route we took up the Buachaille years ago, but it looks pretty hellish from this angle. We were young and fit then.
The path now goes up the ‘ Devil’s Staircase’. Although this attains 584 metres (1916 feet), it’s still lower than our highest point at Killhope Cross, the pass between County Durham and Cumbria. It’s steep but there’s no difficulty and we’re soon gently descending. We can now see The Mamores, with their soaring ridges. One of these is called the ‘Devil’s Ridge’ but, like the ‘Devil’s Staircase’, it holds no terrors (that I can remember anyway).
It’s a long, if beautiful, trudge down to Kinlochleven, passing an old aluminium smelting plant powered by damming the reservoir higher up. We’re staying at the Highland Getaway Inn, with lovely food complete with a view of two stags paddling in the river below.
Total distance so far: 657 miles
PS new photos now added for days 50 and 51
Comments