I awoke this morning around half seven after quite a restful night at the Dailanna guest house. The sound of birds singing and lambs bleeting first thing in the morning is not as annoying as I had imagined, though this may have been helped by my imagining the lamb done in rosemary and redcurrant jelly...Mmm. The Dailanna is set just off the road, slightly uphill, with a great view across Loch Eil from the sitting room window. Andy and Florence are the hosts and see that you get everything you need to make your stay a positive experience. There was another couple there at breakfast, up from Yorkshire visiting family in the area, and we exchanged pleasantries over our fry ups. I packed up the car with gear and drove the short distance, 5 miles or so, to the Glenfinnan visitor centre car park, then swiftly moved to the car park along the road when I found out they wanted to charge me £2 to park there!!! I have no issue with paying for parking when I know that it goes towards the upkeep of the car park or access roads for walkers, but this wasn't one of those times. The weather had changed from yesterday's glorious sunshine to a more traditional Scottish feel, overcast and threats of precipitation.
I left the car at quarter past nine and followed the tarmac path at the rear of the car park, heading towards the viaduct made famous by harry bloody potter movies!!
As I passed under the viaduct and continued on my merry way I was stopped in my tracks by a country gent, in full green tweed ensemble, on a quad bike. He was stopping everyone he met and carrying out a personal survey of what folks plans and destinations were. He informed me that I was clearly up to do some Munro's in the area as my pack was too small to see me attempt the cape wrath trail, and he didn't think I was intent on walking in to Inverey in Knoydart as my pace was too quick and purposeful. Well done that man!
I thought it only polite to ask what he was up to today, which was some sawmilling then dropping off sawdust at a friends house, collecting some manure for the garden from another friends house, then cadging a coffee off another friend before heading home again. I wished him well in his days exploits then watched him speed off on his quad.
He had informed me that there were two walkers ahead of me, one heading to Inverey with the world on his back and his dog fully loaded with saddle bags, the other was doing the same round as myself, company for two days walking in a row would be a novel experience. I soon caught the long distance walker and his canine companion and complimented him on having such a large sack...titter ye not at the back.
I had envisaged this walk taking between 9-10 hours, going by reviews I had read but was secretly hopeful of knocking some time off of that. The path continues on through forestry at either side of the glen and passes over quite a few streams feeding the river Finnan. I ignored a few turn offs to my right, heading towards the river, and kept to the tarmac track. I soon caught up with the second walker and tabbed along at his pace for a stretch, passing the time with hill walking stories. Gerald was up from Brighton for ten days walking with a mate, though they were also taking days to do their own thing as his mate has already done all the Munro's.
We crossed the Allt a Chaol-ghlinne on a small wooden bridge and negotiated our way across another stream on wooden planks. The track now became rougher and more like a hill walking path, and we passed the corryhully cottage which the Glenfinnan estate maintain as a bothy for walkers. The massive Glenfinnan lodge sits on the hillside above here and is accessible by a private road turning left across the wooden bridge. We continued on for a short while until a small waterfall coming off the slopes, at which point Gerald informed me that he was doing the route clockwise today, I had already decided to do it anticlockwise.
We said cheerio until we met, hopefully in the middle of the two Munro's, and went our separate ways. I passed the small sign for where Gerald would depart the track and continued on my merry way, alone as usual. I followed the river Finnan until it branched and I waded across the main branch to follow the path on the other side. I found a small sign informing me to turn off the main track and head uphill to my left on a boggy looking slope.
The slope was indeed as boggy as it looked and a whole lot steeper as well as I ascended the Druim Coire a'Bheithe ridge, keeping to the right of a small stream. As I gained height, painfully it must be said, I could make out Gerald on the opposite flank of Sgurr nan Coireachan, on a more meandering route. He appeared to be making good progress on his slope so I put the head down and ploughed on, I hated the thought of meeting him higher up thinking that he had covered more distance then me.
Thankfully the slope eased off around 600m and I continued on the grassy slopes as the path grew fainter with each step. I followed the faint outline of a path through the grass as it cut left and then meandered through a rocky patch and eventually crossed a minor bump just before the final pull up to Sgurr Thuilm summit. I could no longer see Gerald but assumed he was making as much progress as I had, certainly my route appeared to be the steeper one but I had no idea of the underfoot conditions he was facing. The Corbett Streap lies to my right and was cloaked in low cloud, whereas the summit ahead of me still appeared to be bathed in sunshine (the only part of the countryside that was).
There were fenceposts higher up beyond the final minor bump that lead to the main ridge connecting today's two Munro's, but the summit of Sgurr Thuilm was out on a limb from the main ridge line and still required a bit of effort to get to. I pulled onto the summit cairn at 963m following just over three hours of walking, I deserved a rest!! Jelly McBaby kept me company on the summit and willingly posed for pictures. The weather was closing in around me and I could see that surrounding areas were being lashed with rain, but thankfully not on my summit.
Gerald must have reached his summit by now, or so I thought, so would be stuck under the cloud that was forming atop Sgurr nan Coireachan. I took as many pictures of Knoydart as I could see and snapped the three lochs, Loch Arkaig, Loch Morar and Loch Shiel that flanked the area. I returned to the main ridge and could see four minor summits on route to Sgurr nan Coireachan, I wondered which one Gerald was on?? Thankfully there was an excellent path which meandered along the length of the ridge between the two Munro's, failing that it would have been just as easy to follow the line of fence posts for the majority of the way. I negotiated the first of the minor bumps on the ridge and half expected Gerald to appear around each dip in the path.
The cloud had by now risen off Sgurr nan Coireachan but had settled on Sgurr Thuilm behind me. Poor Gerald may dip out on views from either Munro at this rate, but I may get lucky and bag them both in clear conditions. The next obstacle was Bealach Leathann at 780m and it was perhaps the wettest underfoot of the four heights I passed on the ridge. Still no sign of Gerald and by now I was imagining that he had picked up an injury that had forced him to retreat, or even worse that he may have fallen, surely he should at least be in sight by now?? Between worrying about my partner at work dealing with rioting prisoners whilst I was away enjoying myself, and now Gerald, this was turning into a stressful wee jaunt. Trying not to dwell on negatives I pushed onwards to Being Garbh 825m and realised that it was finally starting to rain here as well as everywhere else I could see.
I stopped to don my waterproof jacket but thankfully it was only a few spots of rain and it passed by very quickly, unlike all the surrounding hills that were being drenched. The final bump is Meall an Tarmachain and is the steepest of the four to traverse. On a clear day the surrounding views would probably take your mind off the sweat and toil but unfortunately that wasn't an option today. Still no sign of Gerald!! I eventually started the steep final slog up to the summit of Sgurr nan Coireachan, and lo and behold who should finally appear...Gerald!! Apparently he just walks really slowly and had elected to do the route in reverse so that he didn't hold me back, which was thoughtful of him. We exchanged route information regards our respective descents and departed once more. I pulled onto the summit to find a triangulation point at 956m, took some more pictures and headed off towards the minor peak of Sgurr a Choire Riabhaich to the south east.
Now I knew why Gerald had taken so long on his ascent, the bloody path was a nightmare!! It meandered downhill in all sorts of directions, rather than direct descent. It was also just as boggy in parts as the initial climb I had up Druim Coire a' Bheithe and probably as steep in sections. I eventually picked up a stalkers path heading diagonally down the east flank that comes out at the sign I had seen earlier in the day. Now all that remained was the long walk back on the tarmac path to the car. Then it started raining and I got soaked on the return trek!! I arrived back at the car park around quarter to five, almost 7.5 hours after departing which was not too shabby at all considering I had set aside between 9-10 hours for this trip.
Before leaving Glenfinnan it would be remiss not to pay a visit to the monument that commemorates the start of the Jacobite uprising in 1745 when Bonnie Prince Charlie raised his standard on the shores of Loch Shiel.
230 down...52 to go...
I had a change of plan for Thursday due to feeling guilty about events at work and my partner covering extra shifts to help out. I decided to cancel Gulvain and leave it for another day, heading home early instead to offer some moral support as a good BF should (points in the bag for trading in at a later date lol).
