Glen Etive

Alive with the shhh-ing, sighing sound of the wind and the rushing, tumbling, tinkling percussion of water; and, when it is time, the bellow of the stag and the clash of warring antlers.  Animated, too, with the soaring, circling, swooping of golden eagles; the constant bustle of ever-hungry buzzards; the pretty progress of grazing deer along the valley floor; the silent dashing and darting of fish in still, placid pools. Kissed, by the sea.  This is Glen Etive.

 Beach At Loch Etive

Scotland has two types of lochs – fresh water inland lakes and salt water sea inlets – bays and fiords.  Loch Etive is the latter, a fiord.  It is 20 miles long, stretching all the way to Connel, just north of  Oban.  So much fresh water flows into it from surrounding glens and mountains that, with fresh water being less dense, it floats on top of the salt water.  In places, the top two inches of water is potable.  Fishing is excellent with a wide variety of fish including salmon; brown sea trout; rainbow trout; pollock; brownies; spurdog and mackerel in plentiful supply.  

The Head Of Loch Etive (Stob Dubh in background)

The only road through Glen Etive ends at the derelict wooden pier where once pleasure steamers from Oban brought tourists to sample the delights of the glen. Today, a new concrete structure allows the Forest Commission to move timber felled in the glen down the loch in order to access more large-load-friendly roads.

Old Pier on Loch Etive

Stag in Glen Etive

Deer can be seen frequently all over the glen as well as in the mountains.  Only a handful are allowed to be hunted and killed each year.  Tracking with a camera is fine.

River Etive

The River Etive, when it is in spate, is considered the best canoeing river in the U.K. It has its beginnings high on Rannoch Moor, starting as a rivulet running out of Lochan Mathair Eitive, (Little Loch, Mother of Etive) and soon joined by countless other tiny trickles and streamlets.  

Lochan Mathair Eitive, Rannoch Moor

Rivulet on Rannoch Moor

So the trickle becomes a rivulet and then a stream, constantly increasing volume and speed until, by the time it reaches the Kings House Hotel, where the moor ends and the descent into Glen Coe begins, it has become a fast-flowing river.

Deer Beside the River Etive at Kings House Hotel

Instead of following the steep descent to the floor of Glen Coe, however, it heads North West around the base of Buachaille Etive Mhor, gathering speed as it flows through dramatic rock formations and tumbles in cascades and falls so loved by kayakers.

Late Snow on River Etive

Increasing Drama In River Etive

White Water on the Etive

Beer Bottle Pool, River Etive

Right Angle Falls, River Etive

By the time it has reached the floor of the glen, Etive’s progress becomes more sedate. Punctuating the flowing water, deep, still pools create welcome fishing and swimming holes. 

The Etive

Rain on the Etive

Sixteen miles from it’s beginning high on Rannoch Moor, the river empties into Loch Etive, from there to the Firth of Lorne and, eventually, with the ebb and flow of the tides, into the mighty Atlantic Ocean.

River’s End

Although close to and geologically linked to world reknowned Glen Coe, until fairly recently, Glen Etive was a little known highland paradise.  Now famed as the setting for several movies, including Skyfall, it attracts more visitors. For the most part, though, tourists, awe struck by the wild grandeur of Glen Coe, are still unaware of the unimagineable beauty on the other side of the mountains shared by both glens.  The Three Sisters, and The Two Herdsmen – Buachaile Etive Mhor (Big Shepherd of Glen Etive)  and Bauchaile Etive Beag (Little Shepherd of Glen Etive) being the best known.

The Three Sisters From Glen Etive

The Three Sisters From Glencoe

On the right, Buachaille Etive Mhor and Buachaile Etive Beag at the top of Glen Coe

Centre, Buachaille Etive Mhor and Buachaille Etive Beag from Glen Etive

What appear to be two separate mountains on the Glencoe side, are actually twin peaks of one as seen from Glen Etive,  The dip between the two summits creates a perfect mountain pass connecting The Great Glen (Glen Coe) with Glen Etive.

Lochan In Glen Etive

(A ‘lochan’ is a very small loch)

In the mountains of Glen Etive, the lochans are great places for anglers to catch both brown and rainbow trout. Those in the valley provide watering holes for the many deer that make Etive their home.

How to get there:  The road to Glen Etive is just that.  A one lane road turns left off the A80 just past the Kings House, around the base of Buachaille Etive Mhor.  Running alongside the river for much of the way, it heads north west through Glen Etive, reaching Loch Etive fourteen miles later It goes no further.

Where to stay:  Few could afford to stay in the scarce but costly accommodation in Glen Etive.  The only option, short of camping, is to stay in Glencoe.  Booking ahead at hostels or hotels is strongly advised as places are limited.

Note:  To visit Glencoe without experiencing Glen Etive would be a serious omission.  If, like me, you are on foot and short of a way to get there, contact Keith at Go Glencoe.  He is a wonderful guide and accommodates groups or singles, taking on difficult mountain terrain, a leisurely photo safari, and everything in between.

Note:  In this post I have added three movies that I created, with well- chosen background music to add to the magic.

Mallaig is a small fishing port in the Western Highlands of Scotland.  It is the jumping off point for the Knoydart Peninsula, an unspoiled mountain wilderness only accessible by boat, as well as many of the islands abounding off the coast.  The closest of these are Skye and the Small Isles – Muk, Eigg, Rum and Canna.  The area is spectacularly beautiful and, on each visit, I am overwhelmed by the sheer wild majesty of it all.

Mallaig Harbour In August

Mallaig Harbour

In Joyful Journey, Part 3, I posted an account of my train journey across Rannoch Moor to Corrour, from where I walked to the hostel beside Loch Ossian.  On my way from the train halt,  I stopped to watch the train as it headed on North into the moorland wilderness.  I promised myself I would go with it one day, as I did a month or so later.  That train journey terminates at Mallaig, which is why I ended up there.

Quayside

It was August when I first visited Mallaig.  There are several boat trips available to visitors.  One of my highlights was the seven hour tour of the Small Isles aboard the Caledonian MacBrayne ferry, the ‘Loch Nevis’ and a close encounter with a school of basking sharks off the Knoydart Peninsula while aboard the much smaller and faster ‘Venturer’.  The ‘Venturer’ can be seen in the ‘Quayside’ picture above.

 The short movie below is ‘must see’.   Background music played by Julian Lloyd Webber on cello, combined with images of my incredible experiences of sailing the waters around Mallaig, are pure magic.  An encounter with the basking sharks I will recount later in this post when I ‘talk’  about the Knoydart Peninsula.

 Our first stop on the tour of the Small Isles was at Muk, the smallest of this group of islands. It is privately owned and totally given over to livestock farming, cows mostly.  Depending on the source of reference, the word ‘Muk’ (often spelled ‘Muck’) means cow or pig.  I suspect pigs were once the livestock of choice, hence the confusion.

Muk

Cows And Cottages on Muk

From Muk, we proceeded to Eigg.  The meaning of the name is lost in the mists of time and I found no reference to anyone hazarding a guess.  Once privately owned by a succession of problematic owners, this island is now owned by the small community residing there.The Sgurr is an outcrop of rock whose distinctive shape makes this island instantly recognisable from a distance and saves it from being almost completely flat.

The Sgurr, Eigg

Eigg Jetty

View from Eigg

Canna is the island furthest from the mainland.  It has a simple charm all it’s  own. For those who like  nothing but gentle walks, this isle, along with Eigg and Muk are perfect, offering stunning views of the surrounding waters and, in Spring, a host of wildlife and wild flowers.  Canna does have one unusual feature in the form of a hill, so full of iron that it affects compasses for miles around.

The photo below shows the distinctive and ancient St. Edward’s Chapel.  

St Edward’s Chapel, Canna

Sun Setting On Canna

The Cuillins, Isle of Skye

    Rum, Behind Sanday, Canna

Rum, the largest island of the group, measures 8 miles x 8miles, which fact accounts for its name, ‘Rum’, from the old Norse word for ‘wide’.  Once known as ‘The Forbidden Isle’, Rum is by far the most varied, surprising and historically interesting.  Sailing past it on the way to Canna, one sees nothing but barren mountains.  It is difficult to imagine life, other than birds, surviving here.

Rum

 In fact the island teems with wildlife and has a small but robust community year round plus many tourists during the season.  Of all the places I have visited, Rum is the most surprising.  Finding that there was a hostel there, I arranged to stay for a couple of days.  I did so with some trepidation. Having seen it from the water, and being long past the bloom of youth, I was unsure just how difficult a task I had undertaken.   However, the above is just one of the many faces of Rum.  Arriving there, I had, what may be, the greatest surprise of my life.  Rum is an island of contrasts not formed by nature alone.  Rum has an intriguing story.

Loch Scresort,  Kinloch, Rum.  

The harbour, known as ‘Loch Scresort’, is dominated by a huge castle, as incongruous as it could possibly be.  It is surrounded by pastoral, woodland, paddocks a stable yard, meandering woodland paths, a crenellated stone folly, and several ornamental stone bridges and gateways.  This cultivated, gentle landscape only accounts for a tiny percentage of the island, covering a crescent shaped area three miles long and a mile wide at the centre. The rest is varied, beautiful and apart from a couple of roads built more than a hundred years ago, it is wild and totally unspoiled.A small community, some thirty strong, populate this area known as ‘Kinloch’, meaning ‘head of the loch’.   Along with the castle, a small variety of dwellings, including a couple of whitewashed cottages, two similarly coated bothies, and a yurk or three, plus a tiny store adjoining the community hall make up ‘The Village’.  

Kinloch Castle, Rum

In 1900, a wealthy industrialist called George Bullough took over the island with a view to making it his own personal playground.  He had materials shipped in by the ton, including topsoil from Ayrshire for gardens and paddocks.  His passion was racing cars so the good roads there now, he built to accommodate his hobby.  As well as the castle and stables, he created miles of woodlands and all manner of luxuries to indulge his every whim. Only his wealthy friends were allowed to visit which is why it was known as ‘The Forbidden Isle’ 

 Rum Pony

These adorable, distinctive looking ponies are only found on Rum and have been here for as long as anyone knows – I like to think thousands of years.  A few are still used as work horses until retired and then are returned to the wild herd some twelve miles from the Village.  To get there requires crossing a mountain range and the hike is not for the inexperienced or the faint of heart.

The Village, Rum

(with Stalker’s Bothy and Stable Bothy on right) 

 The castle and Village now belong to the residents who still maintain the wildlife protection begun in 1957 when the Conservation Society bought the island and turned it into a nature reserve, which status remains today.  One of the legacies of George Bullough is the amazing variety of birds that now frequent the island, enjoying the huge variety of trees he had planted.  

Water’s Edge, Kinloch, Rum

Low Tide

As remote as it is, the island has a telephone ‘landline.  Cell/mobile phone reception is almost non-existent, as one would expect.

A mile and a half from the castle there is an otter hide.  The walk there is memorable and not too challenging.  The road to the hide gave me my first glimpse of island wildlife as well as a peek at the wilderness beyond Kinloch

 

Heron on Loch Scresort

Curlew on Loch Scresort

On The Way To The Otter Hide

Road to Otter Hide

 I did not see any otters or the seals that also frequent the shore there.  There was the rainbow, though.

View From The Otter Hide, Kinloch, Rum

Back to the village and the intriguing crossroads.

Crossroads at Kinloch

The road going left in the picture above leads to Kilmory Bay.  There, in the rutting season, deer gather on the sandy beach. With mountains and ocean creating a suitably grand setting, the stags fight for the ladies, bellowing and clashing antlers.  Sadly, I only made it two thirds of the way there, so was unable to capture those wonderful scenes on film.  The hike from Kinloch to Kilmory is only 5 miles, but the way is mountainous and somewhat challenging.  The weather suddenly turned foul  and I was forced to turn back.  Hopefully, on my next visit their I will make it to the finish.

Heading To The Wilderness

A short distance from the cultivated, pastoral and wooded Kinloch, the terrain reverts to pristine wildness – with the exception of the road itself, a legacy of Robert Bullough’s car racing days.  I was overjoyed to leave the man-made cultivation behind and finally experience some of the true nature of Rum.

Along the Road To Kilmory

Hiking To Kilmory

The Crofter’s Stone

These stones pictured above are a monument placed there by displaced crofters during the Highland and island Clearances.

The short movie above I made out of a desire to portray the sheer magic of this amazing isle.  It only shows a tiny percentage of the whole, many more moods and faces I have yet to discover first hand.  I chose ‘Dark Island’ as the background music. I first heard this played on Indian Pipes by a native American street musician in Edinburgh, Scotland.  The combination of music with images is pure magic. 

I would be remiss if I did not share my close encounter with basking sharks while on a short visit to the Knoydart Peninsula.  Only a short trip by fast boat from Mallaig, the peninsula is one of the last remaining unspoiled wildernesses in Europe.  Rugged mountain terrain make it a suitable extended place to visit for only experienced climbers and those with excellent survival skills.  I contented myself with a short walk around the edges.  

Sailing to Knoydart With Rum In The Background

The ‘Venturer’ is a fast little boat and perfect for those wishing to take photographs.  

Knoydart and Venturer

Ferry Dock At Knoydart

Our encounter with the basking sharks while returning to Mallaig made the trip so very worthwhile.

For those who may wish to follow in my footsteps and spend a backpacking holiday in Mallaig or the surrounding areas, here is a little information on where you might stay.

Backpackers Lodge, Mallaig

This is a cosy little hostel above the restaurant and overlooking the harbour.  There is also a new hostel at the Mission – also above a restaurant.

The Stable Bothy, Rum

This is the residence of the Ranger on Rum.  Adjoining this building is the Stalker’s Bothy, limited space in which can  be rented.  

Bed and Breakfast can be had  at Ivy Cottage, Rum while a camp site and three or four pods are available.

A new hostel to replace the, now closed, temporary Kinloch Hostel, is now open.

Canna and  Muk  have cottages to let while Eigg has the Glebe Hostel as well as a variety of other types of  accommodation.

There are two bunkhouses on Knoydart

Finally, while sailing back from the cruise around the Small Isles, I was treated to a glorious sunset.  The following is a simple, simply charming short movie of the sun setting over the islands with background music again played by Julian Lloyd Webber on cello.  (Watch for the school of porpoises swimming right to left across the wake.)

LOCH OSSIAN AND RANNOCH MOOR

Loch Ossian is situated in a remote part of Perthshire, Scotland, at the North Eastern edge of Rannoch Moor. 

July:  New Day On Loch Ossian

Youth Hostel Dining Area 

(Glencoe peaks in far right background)

In ‘Joyful Journey, Part 2, Glencoe and Rannoch Moor’, I documented my  stay at The Kings House on Rannoch Moor at the latter’s Western edge.   The moor stretches uninterrupted from there to Loch Ossian, north to Fort William and south East to Pitlochry and due south.  The distant peaks in above photo, and several to follow, give some idea of the scale of things.

Rannoch Moor:  Ringed by mountains, this vast, elevated basin is around 1300 ft. above sea level.  Site of an ancient glacier, it is often bleak and forbidding but can, on occasion, briefly present a bright, inviting face, as it did during my July visit to Loch Ossian.  This  look is deceptive, however, as the moor is ever treacherous.

July:  Rannoch Moor En Route To Loch Ossian

This unique piece of the planet is wild, desolate, unbelievably beautiful and awful in its solitude.  Always it is awe-inspiring, always strange, always hazardous, always magical.  It touches the soul.

It has often been observed that the Highland landscape of Scotland changes, in mood and appearance, more dramatically and more often than any other place on earth. Nowhere is this more true than on The Great Moor, as Rannoch  is sometimes known.  The photo below was taken from the train window, not far from Loch Ossian, in mid-May after a long arctic-like spell of weather.

May: Rannoch Moor From Train Window

On the North Eastern edge of Rannoch Moor is Loch Ossian, part of the remote Corrour Estate.   I recently visited there, staying at the Loch Ossian Youth Hostel, run by the Scottish Youth Hostel Association.   

To reach my destination required a journey on the Glasgow to Mallaig train. The journey itself is a thrilling adventure since the train crosses Rannoch Moor giving passengers viewing-rights of this vast wilderness, inaccessible, for the most part, by any other means.  In places, the track is laid on piles of brush, in the absence of solid ground.  The driver slows going over these stretches and the motion of the train feels like gently sailing.  This is a ‘not to be missed’ experience.

 And so to Loch Ossian.  

View Of Loch Ossian From Hostel

Corrour Station And Restaurant

Alighting at Corrour railway halt, I crossed the tracks on the boards provided and decided to have a snack in the track-side restaurant before tackling the mile walk with all my gear in tow.  Corrour is the highest and most remote mainline railway station and the Station House the highest and most remote restaurant in the U.K.  The latter is also run by the Scottish Youth Hostel Association.  The interior of the restaurant is surprisingly civilised looking and the service is excellent.  It felt bizarre to find this kind of sophistication so deep in the wilderness, yet having said that, it still had a ‘not of this world’ feel to it.

The menu, rich in local game and whisky sauces and priced accordingly, was a little too exotic for both my purse and my palette.  However, I did find a delicious wild mushroom and butternut squash soup that did not break my bank and suited my taste. I was so impressed, in fact, that I photographed this culinary delight.

Soup

Before leaving this account of my dining experience, I would be remiss if I did not introduce you to the Station House Restaurant’s resident four legged friend. Archie hangs out at the back door and adds to the charm of the place.

 Archie

Soup and a pot of tea the richer, I headed east across Rannoch Moor on a pretty good private road towards Loch Ossian and the Youth Hostel.  There follows a photographic account.

Railway Line Heading North To Fort William From Corrour

Moorland

Covering an area of 50 sq. miles, (130sq kms), Rannoch Moor was the site of the last great glacier in the U.K. during the last ice age.  Averaging 1,000ft above sea level, it is a basin surrounded by mountains.  Its stratum is granite with a covering of peat bog punctuated by a variety of types of water bodies and streams.  This ancient glacier site ‘is rising by around 3mm per year’, according to Wikipedia .

Wikipedia describes the moor as ‘a complex Blanket Bog’ , a.k.a. ‘Featherbed Bog’, made up of many different types of environment, e.g. ombrotophic, mineratrophic, mesotrophic, oligotrophic, dystrophic.  These different catagories are based mainly on the water source, protein and oxygen levels of each area.  In places, the peat is 20ft deep.  

Rocks And Flora On Rannoch Moor near Loch Ossian

Boulders, many of them huge, litter Rannoch’s landscape. These, I believe, were dropped by the vast glacier.  One of the striking changes in terrain at the edges of this ancient glacier site is the sudden absence of these giant rocks which often support a variety of flora unique to the area.

Loch Ossian

The day of my arrival was typical of a good summer day on Rannoch Moor – a stiff breeze and variable, ever changing rain clouds.  The day following was to prove memorable in its uncharacteristic, cloud-free stillness.  For that reason, I have used, almost exclusively, photos taken during that time.

First Sight Of Loch Ossian Youth Hostel

(from Station access road)

Even after a long, hot, dry spell of weather, The air on this great bog is fresh and odour free.  Low levels of nutrients and much oxygen in sitting water is probably responsible.

Almost There!

Eco-Friendly Hostel

(A wind turbine and solar panels provide all the power for the hostel.)

Radiance

New Day

These photos are so uncharacteristic of the loch and surrounding moor, they are almost unbelievable.  The blue, unclouded skies and totally still air seem out of place in an area reknowned for constant wind and rain.  To see mirror-like water on the loch is rare.  As a frequent visitor to Rannoch Moor, this stillness feels spooky – as if the whole place is holding its breath.  

Morning Calm

Loch Ossian is a narrow loch about 5km long.  It drains into the River Ossian on its west side, flowing north into Loch Guilbaum and thence to the River Spean at Moy.

Glencoe Backdrop

Still Vista

Misty Morning

Beside The Still Water

Rested

Bog Cotton On Rannoch Moor

(Looking west towards Glencoe from Loch Ossian)

In Autumn during the rutting season, the moor is alive with deer.  It is impossible to walk any distance without encountering several of these lovely creatures.  The air rings with the clash of antlers and the bellow of the stags.  The place feels busy.  During the three unusually hot summer days of my visit, however, the moor appeared devoid of animal life.  No curlews called, no hawks or eagles soared overhead, no deer ventured into the open.  

Timeless Rannoch Moor

Only constant bombardment by a variety of large, biting insects reminded me that life abounds in this wilderness, while adding to my feeling of being in an alien place.  And, in fact,  humans almost never venture on to Rannoch Moor. A few of us skirt around the edges on the few walkways provided, or ride across in the train, but, mostly, the moor lies undisturbed by human footprints, carbon or otherwise.

Office And Toilets

There are only outside, dry compost toilets, so this location will not suit everyone. There is no phone reception, refrigerators, T.V. or food supplies other than army-type packaged food.  However there is a well equipped kitchen where residents can cook food they bring in.  Water is heated by a wood stove so hot water is in short supply, particularly in warm weather when it is non-existent. There are adequate wash rooms, however.  Two small dorms – one each for males and females are airy and comfortable with decent sized bunk beds.  Washing machines and dryers are not to be had.  

Hostel Dining Room

Hostel Kitchen

Loch Ossian

The differences between the East and West ends of the loch are striking as the unique characteristics of Rannoch Moor give way to gentler, more pastoral, less boggy, and more hospitable terrain.  The change is sudden and complete as evidenced in the photos following.  Even at the extreme West end, however, only one bank retains the Rannoch flora and geology as the moor ends abruptly at the water’s edge.

Changing Terrain

Looking Towards the Top Of The Loch

(The white estate house can be seen on the top shore of the loch)

No More Moor

Evening At The East End Of Loch Ossian

As well as completely different kinds of vegetation on the bank, the water of the loch at this end is free of the rocky outcrops and islets so typical of the Rannoch moorland lochs and lochans.

As evening approached, I returned from my hike, hot and bug-bitten, but mightily satisfied.  And so to bed.

The Office Is Now Closed

And now…….

For those who would like more detailed information about Rannoch Moor or the Corrour Estate, the links following will serve you well.  While the facts about these places are public knowledge, the sites below are  interesting mines of detail and data, collected and presented beautifully.  They add to the ‘bare-bones’ descriptions I have supplied. These were my sources for some of the information in the text. Observations, creative writing and photos are all my own.

http://www.co.uk/index.asp?pg=356

http://www.rannoch.org.uk/rannoch-moor

http://becausetheyrethere.com/2011/09/06/they-came-in-search-of-paradise

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rannoch_Moor

http://www.corrour.co.uk/node1

 

Part 2

Rannoch Moor and Glencoe

One last look at Loch Lomond

Having left Loch Lomond behind, I turned my sights north to pick up parts of the West Highland Way.   Unlike some devotees of that 96 mile hike, I am not averse to straying from the path to check out other natural wonders in the area.  Nor, as stated in Part One, am I able to tackle the full length of The Way.  Instead, I use means other than ‘Shanks’s Pony’ to get from A to B.  On loch Lomond, I travelled mostly by boat with a little help from my local bus service.  And so, on to Rannoch Moor.

Rannoch Moor

No longer able to cruise on boats to my chosen destinations, I now rely on City Link buses to get me to the parts of the West Highland Way I want to explore.  On leaving Balloch and travelling north, I passed through Crianlarach, Tyndrum and Bridge of Orchy where the West Highland Way mostly shadows the route taken by the bus.  Somewhere north of Glen Falloch, in a valley at the edge of the Trossachs, the trail takes its own path up the 1,500 ft. incline to Rannoch Moor.  The photo above was taken from the bus window on the moor.

Rannoch Moor is a plateau, 1,200 ft above sea level.  It covers 12,800 acres and is mostly peat and bog, with many beautiful streams and lochans (small lochs).  It is wedge shaped and surrounded my mountains, the mountainous area to the north being Glencoe, with mountains around 2,000 ft.  To the south east, the mountains are around 3,000 feet.  It’s unspoiled, unique beauty is something I hope to document more fully very soon, adding some of the rich history woven into its past.

Glencoe is an area of many mountains and glens.  The most beautiful glen is  thought to be Glen Etive.  Pyramid shaped Buachaille Etive Mor (Big Shepherd of Glen Etive) dominates the Glencoe area.  Across Glen Etive from the Big Shepherd is Buachaille Etive Bheag(Little Shepherd Of The Glen).

For climbers and hikers in the area, the rapidly changing weather can be a hazard.  On this occasion, I was caught in a fast moving storm.

A82 heading into Glencoe

Above is the bus stop near White Corries Ski Centre where I alighted.  I stayed only a short while before catching the bus back on it’s way from Fort William.  A week later I returned, staying for two nights at the Kings House Hotel, on the West Highland Way, a mile or so from the bus stop.

The Black Corries and West Highland Way leading to The Kings House

The Kings House

Reception

Sunrise over Buachaille Etive Mor

Sunrise on Buachaille Etive Mor from a window in The Kings House

On day one of my stay, I braved the morning to check out my immediate surroundings.

Detour to Beer Bottle Pool, River Etive

Before setting out for a hike north on the West Highland Way, I took the time to check out a beauty spot litttle known outside the local area.  Beer Bottle Pool in the River Etive, lies along the road leading to Glen Etive.  It is hidden from the road. Its distinctive geological formations make it a must see.

Hike along the West Highland Way towards The Devil’s Staircase and Lochleven.

West Highland Way Using Old Military Road

Long And Winding Road

With rain approaching and the wind picking up I retraced my steps to The Kings House.  It turned out to be only a heavy shower so I was able to document some of the trek back.

Stag

This fine fellow was standing right in my path but, unfortunately, I had put my camera away to protect it from the rain.  By the time I got it out, he had bounded off.

And so that part of my journey ended and will continue, on and off the West Highland Way to Fort William

The journey I’m sharing here began by accident and continues still.  It wasn’t planned at first, but evolved.  Torn between starting a blog with the emphasis on images or text, I decided to do both and began at Balloch, where the south end of Loch Lomond becomes the River Leven. 

The rich and abundant history of the loch and its many islands gave me much grist for the writing mill, and the glorious scenery gradually made the imagery take over.  Various pages I previously published are only a click away in the sidebar opposite.

I was exploring the East side of Loch Lomond, camera always at the ready, when I stumbled on the West Highland Way. (pun intended).

The West Highland Way is 96 miles long, stretching from Milgavie, near Glasgow, to Fort William.  It uses old military roads, disused railway tracks, and drovers’ trails dating back hundreds of years.   The scenery along the way is spectacular; the going a variety of difficulty levels, from easy to very challenging.  Many people, like myself, hop on and off the track, sometimes travelling by bus or boat to reach the next stretch we want to ‘do’. It joins Loch Lomond at Balmaha and shadows the loch all the way to its Northern tip at Ardleash.  I first joined it on my way to Balmaha pier.  As it leaves the village, it is smooth, paved and without challenge.

North from Balmaha on The West Highland Way

Autumn

The cottage above sits at the junction of the West Highland Way and the road to Rowardennan.  Steep gradients make the latter unsuitable for some vehicles.

Once past the pier, the West Highland Way changes suddenly and dramatically to a rocky trail.

Summer

Rocky Trail Northwards From Balmaha Pier

The photos posted document my progress from Balmaha, Loch Lomond  to Glencoe.  I have tried to give viewers/readers a picture of my travels.  These stretches are some of the the easier parts of the West Highland Way

Bridge In Dappled Sunshine –  Heading North From Balmaha Pier

Having explored the trail heading North from Balmaha, I retraced my steps along the West Highland Way to Balmaha Pier.  From there I sailed to Luss, on the West side of the loch, and from there to Rowardennan. ( Luss is quite well documented in some of my former posts, e.g ‘Finding Wee Peter’, ‘Loch Lomond, Limericks and Life’, ‘Summer Splendour on Loch Lomond’.  These are listed on the side bar of this post.  Click to access.)

 Cruise Loch Lomond is a tour boat operator based in Tarbet on the West side of Loch Lomond.  For a variety of reasons, many climbers and hikers choose to hop on and off the West Highland Way, travelling by bus or boat when the going gets too tough or time is limited – or just for the fun of it.  Tick all three in my case.

West Highland Way at Rowardennan

Spring

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Rowardennan Lodge:  A Scottish Youth Hostel

Having explored the West Highland Way for a couple of miles south and four or so miles north of the Youth Hostel,  I left the more ambitious to either climb Ben Lomond or walk the 8 miles to Inversnaid while I sailed there, courtesy of Loch Lomond Cruises.  For a while, I caught sight of hikers on the Way as it winds around the loch.

Whether hiking the trail or sailing to Inversnaid, the Loch Sloy hydro-electric plant is visible on the opposite shore of the loch.  Nestled inland behind the mountains, Loch Sloy, once the gathering place of the McFarlane clan, is now a hydro-electric dam.  Here we have a perfect example of perfectly green energy.  A tunnel was bored the 2.5 miles through the mountain, exiting above Loch Lomond.  When the level of Loch Sloy rises, the excess water runs through the tunnel and empties into Loch Lomond, passing through the generating station at ground level.  The resulting power is used to top up the national grid.

Passing travellers can find food or beverages in the hotel restaurant.  The hostelry has a long history of serving wayfarers.  It began, as most hotels along the West Highland Way did, as a rest stop for drovers.  Later when the gentry and armies moved around, extensive stables were added and living conditions for the guests improved.

As you will notice from the colours of the foliage, my first journey to Inversnaid was in the late Spring.  At that time, I did not alight from the boat but continued on a short cruise as far north as the Cruise Loch Lomond boats go before returning to Tarbet, headquarters of the company.  It was late Autumn when I returned to explore the woodland walk that is the West Highland Way.

West Highland Way at Inversnaid

Autumn

While, because of limited physical ability, I only hike on the easy parts of the West Highland Way and thus can only document those stretches that are very unchallenging, much of the West Highland Way is steep and/or arduous.  The sheer length of it presents a challenge all by itself.  As I got near Glencoe, I was better able to give a sense of what more able hikers could face       

Having walked a short distance north through the woods, I returned to the pier and headed south a little way.  Once again, the trail meandered along the lochside.

Before leaving Inversnaid on a Tour Loch Lomond boat bound for Tarbet, I took a few moments to check out Arklet Falls situated beside the pier and Inversnaid Hotel.  There is a youth hostel close by, but, late in the season as it was, the place was closed.

Having started my journey at Balloch at the south end of Loch Lomond where it empties out into the River Leven, I had, in the late summer, wanted to reach the Northern tip of the loch at its beginning.  It starts where the, surprisingly small, River Falloch flows into it at Ardlui.  No excursion boats go further north than Inveruglas, at the Sloy Power Station on the West bank, and Inversnaid on the East.  From the pier at Inveruglas, the 5 mile route to Loch sloy is signposted.  Hikers should be prepared for some uphill walking, I suspect. To reach Ardlui by public transport I had to take the Glasgow to the Isle of Skye bus which I caught at a layby on the A82 near Balloch. 

Ardlui/Ardleash

Late Summer

Visible from here, one can see the trail that branches off to the left up ahead.  This leads to Arrochar.

Having reached my limit of endurance and time, I retraced my steps to the dock, hoisted the bouy and was duly transported back across the loch by the local ferry.

Part Two

Leaving Loch Lomond

On And Off The Road To The Isles

Taking advantage of my newly discovered Glasgow to the Isle of Skye bus service, I realised  that, just because I had run out of Loch Lomond, I could still hop on and off the West Highland Way all the way to its ending in Fort William.

The next part of the hike on the West Highland Way is long and arduous.  Some of the time, the trail shadows the road (A83), through Glen Falloch then for an interminable seeming stretch through mountainous terrain. Finally, both bus passengers and hikers climb the 1,500 feet or so to the vast, wild expanse of Rannoch Moor.  Abundant in Lochans sparkling among the peat and heather, the beauty is unique and beyond words.  These next two photos were taken from the bus window.

Autumn

To continue with Part Two, Rannoch Moor and Glencoe, click on the following link to be provided shortly.

To access LOCH LOMOND, LIMERICKS AND LIFE click on the ‘Wee Peter’ link following

JULY

Wee Peter

For LOCH LOMOND LIMERICKS AND LIFE, CONTD. click on ‘Islands And Their Stories’ link below

OCTOBER

Islands And Their Stories

It is the only rotating boat lift in the world.  It is the largest functional sculpture ever.  It is astounding in its simplicity.  It is excellence in design.  It is ingenuity in engineering.  It is the ultimate in green energy.  It is gracefulness personified. ‘It has to be seen to be believed’.  It is the Falkirk Wheel.’

The video above is one of a series I made when on a trip on the Falkirk  Wheel.  Before posting the entire video record of the trip, I am giving some technical information with photos and a couple of videos to illustrate the text.  It is impossible to imagine from words alone just how this amazing machinery works.

Everything about  the design of the wheel is simple – from the supporting arms, reminiscent of the Celtic, double headed axe to the two streamlined tour boats.  Operating on the Archimedes Principle, the technology of the equipment that drives the lift is awesome in its simplicity.  In two words, the Falkirk Wheel is elegance personified.

The Wheel From The Forth and Clyde Canal

The grass covered ‘hill’ mid-right is the Roman Antonine Wall

The sloping glass-roofed building to the left is the Visitors’ Centre

The Falkirk Wheel was opened in 2002 and is located in Central Scotland near the town of Falkirk. It connects two canals, the Union and the Forth and Clyde.  Previously these were connected by a series of eleven locks.  To negotiate all of them took many hours.  When the canals fell into disuse in the 1930s, the area of the locks was filled in.  The canals have been re-generated for leisure purposes and the wheel allows passage from one canal to the other in a few minutes.  The Union Canal is 24 metres (79ft) higher than the Forth and Clyde.  That’s about as high as an eight storey building.  The boat lift doesn’t quite replace all the original locks due to the presence of the ancient Roman Antonine Wall.  Unable to build atop this valuable relic, the engineers obtained permission from the National Trust to build a tunnel under and at the bottom of the wall.  It is called the Rough Castle Fort Tunnel after the nearby Roman wall fort, Rough Castle Fort which is the best preserved of the few remaining Antonine Wall forts. ( Information, illustrations and links to my sources’ web sites can be found after the videos.)The new length of canal empties outside the tunnel into a basin.  Into this, through another tunnel, flows the Union Canal boats having had to descend through only two locks to meet with its Southbound counterpart.  To get to the same level as the Wheel, the Forth and Clyde boats have to rise up a step via one lock.  (See photo above)

Forth And Clyde Canal

The only way to really appreciate the genius of the rotating lift is to take a boat trip on it.  I did so a few months ago, recording the journey on video.  There are many short videos which is a bit aggravating.  Fewer, longer ones would have been better.  One day, I’ll go back and re-do it but, for now, I’ll use what I have.  There are several good internet sites that give, in great detail, the technical information of the design and workings of the wheel.  These give the relevant facts much better than I ever could.  All external links to my sources can be found in the grey sidebar to the left of the page.

Wheel Base And Entrance To Gondola

Following are technical details I found in Wikipedia, punctuated at relevant places with my videos demonstrating key parts of the text.

‘The wheel has an overall diameter of 35 metres (115 ft) and consists of two opposing arms which extend 15 metres beyond the central axle and take the shape of a Celtic-inspired, double-headed axe.  Two sets of these axe-shaped arms are attached about 35 metres (115 ft) apart to a 3.5 metre (11 ft) axle.  Two diametrically opposed, water-filled caissons (gondolas), each with a capacity of 80,000 imperial gallons (360,0001;96,000US gal), are fitted between the ends of the arms.

These gondolas always weigh the same whether or not they are carrying their combined capacity of 600 tonnes (590 long tons;660 short tons) of floating canal barges as, according the Archimedes’ Principle, floating objects displace their own weight in water, so, when the boat enters, the amount of the water leaving the gondola weighs exactly the same as the boat.  This keeps the wheel balanced and so, despite its enormous mass, it rotates through 180 degrees in five and a half minutes while using very little power.  It takes just 22.5 kilowatts (30.2 hp) to power the electric motors which consume just 1.5 kilowatt-hours (5.4MJ) of energy in four minutes, roughly the same as boiling eight kettles of water.’

How the gondolas are kept level

‘The gondolas (caissons) need to rotate at the same speed as the wheel but in the opposite direction to keep them level and to ensure that the load of boats and water does not tip out when the wheel turns.  Each end of the each gondola is supported on small wheels which run on the inside face to the eight-metre-diameter holes at the ends of the arms, allowing the gondolas to rotate.’ (see video following)

Tour Boat In Gondola

Following is a video record of my trip on the wheel.  I found the experience surreal and quite mind blowing.

The Antonine Wall and Rough Castle Fort

As signed, the aerial view of Rough Castle Fort below is by http://www.webbaviation.co.uk

The following photo of Rowntree Burn with accompanying legend is by Scott Marine Services

‘Rowntree Burn dissects the wall and is within easy walking distance from the Falkirk Wheel’

Per Wikipedia:  ‘These pits known as ‘lilias’, were a  defensive measure and would have been filled with sharpened spikes.’  Photo by Andrew Mitchell

Photo by Patrick Ottaway: ‘The Antonine Wall at Walling near Falkirk.  The ditch is in the center and the remains of the turf wall on the left.’

Per geograph.org.uk ‘A section of the Roman Antonine Wall across Scotland just west of the Rough Castle Fort.’  Photo by James Allan

Outside sources:  Links to these can be found on sidebar at top left of page.  They are well worth a visit.