Total miles: 15.5
Elevation gain: 1,689 ft
Time walking: 9:10am – 3:30pm
Miles to date: 1,113.1
They say the West Highland Way gets better and better and they aren’t wrong! Today’s scenery was just stunning, even though half of it was covered in cloud! The path was fairly easy going with only a couple of climbs which meant lots of opportunities to look around me on the way and I made good time, making it to my planned camping spot much earlier than I thought I might.
I woke up feeling well rested and looking forward to hitting the road again. The sun was trying to peek out from behind the clouds and it was forecast to stay dry until the evening. I said farewell to Lisa at the railway station and headed off at the very respectable time of just after 9am. The view was immediately glorious. Hills up ahead, a beautiful burn winding its way down the glen, glistening in the half-sun. The path skimmed the top of Tyndrum and I popped into the shop to replace my ham which had frozen in the fridge overnight! Then it was on the path for good, heading uphill flanked by steep slopes dotted with sheep and hundreds of gorgeous little streams cascading down the sides. For the most part it was an easy track, with just one rocky section going downhill where I had to pay a little more attention. Dominating the glen ahead was the massive peak of Beinn Dorain, which from this angle looked like a knife-edge ridge. Clouds were just hugging the top but its flanks were sunny and it was a spectacular sight to head towards. As I drew closer other big peaks revealed themselves further around the glen, with craggy tops and cavernous gullies, dwarfing the path I was following.
The path follows the railway and skirts the flanks of Beinn Dorain crossing the countless streams that run down its slopes. The area is very open and it makes finding a good loo spot tricky! I spy a large block of trees and am disappointed but not surprised to find that many other people have had the same idea. Unfortunately they have not been considerate or responsible and have left toilet paper all over the place! People – if you need to use toilet paper, take it away with you! Pack a little plastic bag (nappy bags or freezer bags are ideal) and carry your used paper out! Yes, theoretically it biodegrades, but when a hundred people use the same spot it is not cool to leave your dirty paper flying about!! Ughh! (Sorry, rant over!)
A little way further on I got chatting to a couple of Scottish ladies who are just out for a short day hike. They are both keen hikers and one has climbed 180 munros (Scottish mountains over 3000 feet high) but has osteoarthritis in her hip and is now waiting for a hip replacement so she can climb a few more! I walked with them for the couple of miles to Bridge of Orchy where their walk was finishing and I was surprised to find I’d covered 7 miles in a little over 2 hours. Bridge of Orchy is a little village with a pub/hotel and the bridge itself is a lovely stone thing over a very picturesque river. The mountains behind – Beinn Dorain and fellow peaks – were starting to hide their heads more fully in the clouds now but I still had sunny spells which made for a pleasant walk.
The path headed up again from the bridge, through some muddy patches among young trees and heather before heading into a short section of denser forest. As I gained height I passed, or was passed by, a couple of solo hikers both of whom I saw a couple of times as we took turns stopping for photos and breaks and overtaking each other. As we cleared the forest I suddenly had the feeling of entering somewhere remote, a feeling I haven’t had since occasions in the Borders. Lonely hills covered in heather and vibrant orange/green grass and reeds, moody clouds rolling in further down the glen, rocky outcrops and the path gradually climbing higher towards the sky. Ahhh, a beautiful place! So far the West Highland Way has been nice, with some beautiful scenery, but now it is getting much more up my street. As I pass the summit of the little hill crested by the path I get a gorgeous view down to Loch Tulla and Inveroran down below, surrounded by wild-looking mountains and glens. I pause on a well-placed rock to eat my lunch, glad that I’d replaced my ham! It was only about 1pm and I was glad I hadn’t planned to stop at Inveroran (nothing there but a hotel and a couple of houses). Until yesterday I’d been planning to walk the 19 miles to Kingshouse which I’d thought was going to be a long day, but after a bit of research online I’d decided to stop a little earlier and wild camp on Rannoch Moor to make a shorter day (and to make tomorrow, which originally was only going to be 9 miles, a little longer). It now looked like I would have been able to make Kingshouse easily but I had grown quite attached to the idea of wild camping on the moor!
There were several people camping down near the river just the other side of Inveroran. A few looked like they’d arrived in cars, one looked like a West Highland Way walker and then there were a group of younger people, I’m not sure if they were DofE students or local yobs, but either way I was glad I was heading further on! The route follows an old drovers’ road from Inveroran which sounded like it would be easy walking but I quickly discovered a lot of it is paved with something akin to cobbles – really irregular, uneven cobbles – which were actually quite tricky to walk on. Tiring for the feet and ankles, but I suppose at least it gave my muscles more variety than a flat gravel road would have! The road climbed up steadily passing through pretty meadow-like fields of young and old trees, multiple streams and views out to the mountains, although the mountains were becoming increasingly shrouded in cloud. The big bulk of the Black Mount to my left was particularly shrouded, dark grey clouds smothered it protectively. I had no idea of its height but judging by the bulk of its slopes it felt like it must be a big one. It and the peaks around it, also smothered in dark cloud, seemed to repel the brighter sky, instead hunkering down moodily on the skyline, looking both intriguing and unapproachable at the same time.
The drovers’ road leads up onto and across Rannoch Moor, a lonely, desolate and heart-achingly beautiful place. The colours are surprisingly varied; black and grey rock, brown and purple heather, the surreal but striking orange of the grass that grows ubiquitously up here, splashes of green of normal grass, lime green and red moss, white foaming waterfalls and silvery lochs, all contrasting dramatically with the moody grey sky above. The path winds gently around hummocks and dips, wide but ever dwarfed by the expansive moor and the massive hills surrounding it. A few miles in I reach the first major landmark, Ba Bridge, over the gushing Ba River which heads out across the moor, settling into lazy bends before filling a small loch to the east. My research had told me that there were some potential camping spots near the bridge, and a few more by Ba Cottage, a ruin, half a mile further on. I easily found the spots just before the bridge, there is a small hill with several small grassy patches, perfect for a small tent or two. Sadly I was once again disappointed at the human race. This idyllic spot, with lovely views out over the river, loch and hills, was utterly spoiled – not only was there toilet paper lying around, left to flutter in the breeze, and blow away across the moor, but actually piles of human excrement too! Right by the camping spots! Yuck, yuck, yuck! People hadn’t even had the decency (not to mention a basic sense of hygiene!) to walk the few metres over to the other side of the hill away from the flat pitches. I couldn’t believe it, and apologies for mentioning such unpleasantries in my otherwise happy blog today, but it makes me so cross when people don’t show even a basic level of respect for the environment or fellow enjoyers of the countryside. Ok, rant number two over! Last one, promise!
Disappointed by the state of that spot I headed on over the bridge, stopping briefly to admire the pretty rock formations over which the river flows. A solo hiker was resting by another, smaller but cleaner, flat spot just by the river and I debated asking whether they were planning to camp there but decided to head onto the cottage to see whether it had escaped the attention of unruly campers. Everywhere else was damp and/or deep with heather and moss so I was hoping the ground around the ruined cottage would prove suitable, otherwise it would be on to Kingshouse as originally planned.
I spotted the ruins up on the hillside with some promising greeny yellow patches of grass surrounding the walls and a stream running a few metres away. A rough track led up to it and happily the ground was perfect and clean, save a few bits of tissue around the back. No poo here though, phew! There were in fact several potential spots, I think you could probably fit 6-8 small tents here, a few next to each wall. I chose a side which was slightly sheltered by the walls, where someone had fashioned a low bench out of a long thin slab of stone and quickly set up my tent while it was still dry. I’d had a light shower earlier and more rain was forecasted this evening but it was currently dry. I was here much earlier than planned, and earlier than I’d really wanted to be – I had a lot of time to fill before bedtime!
With the tent up I went to collect and filter water, always a therapeutic task (unless it’s raining!), then relaxed with a big cup of tea and some biscuits, just enjoying the view. It’s amazing how it changes as you look at it, as the clouds move over and the light changes. Wisps of cloud would drift over the big peak behind me, often obscuring it completely for a while, while the peaks back the way I had come still remained more or less permanently shrouded. Even arriving so early the time gradually passed, mostly with me lost in my thoughts and gazing at the stunning view. I can’t quite believe I am here, amongst this scenery. I feel so lucky, although also a tiny bit lonely. Wild camping is more fun with two people. There is no phone signal up here let alone internet which is both very satisfying and very isolating. It has also been the first time in a while that I have had lots of time to myself to think, and thinking is a bit scary, especially getting so close to the end now! Walking is the easy part!
To break up the thinking and view-gazing I decide I might as well make dinner before it starts to get chilly. Where I am sitting I am sheltered from the wind that comes and goes but I can tell the temperature will drop rapidly later. My tent is flapping in the wind. I know that it is sturdy enough to withstand it but it is still quite unnerving to see it quiver and bend when the wind catches it. It looks like a flimsy piece of silk held down with a handful of pegs! I know it will be cosy inside though, despite the wind, even when the rain comes. With dinner (vegetable hotpot) eaten I filter another couple of litres of water so I don’t have to do it in the rain tomorrow. I feel the chill coming so make another cup of tea and decide to retreat to my tent to get warm, even though it is not yet 7pm and still light.
The rain comes and I’m glad I’m cosy in my tent, but just before dark it stops for a bit and I decide it would be sensible to have one last wee, given the multiple cups of tea! I venture out – gosh it has gotten chilly! I’m glad I ventured out though, the clouds have cleared and I can finally see all of the mountains! Wow! I can’t describe, or capture in a photograph, how impressive this place is, you need to see it for yourself! I would have loved to stay and take it all in for a while longer but the wind was rapidly trying to strip away my heat so I did my business and headed back to the warmth of my tent and sleeping bag. It is now dark and it is windy but the rain still hasn’t returned. Maybe it will stay away…that would be wonderful! Whilst I don’t really mind the rain, tomorrow of all days I would like it to be clear as I pass through the most scenic section of all, Glen Coe and the Devil’s Staircase. If it is raining it is likely I won’t see a thing!! But it will be what it will be…and I have a feeling I’ll be back here one day anyway. For now though, looks like it will be an early night!
