Easter 4
- hiking scotland
Easter Sunday starts with pancakes, but not much else happens today. I am in a lot of pain from the first day’s two munroes, and the rain has got worse. It even snowed last night! The hills look extra pretty with the fresh dusting, and we take lots of pictures during the five minutes that the sun is out.
We attempt a short, but extremely scenic walk into the Lost Valley, a beautiful gorge with steep drops, waterfalls, some scrambling, and a river crossing. But once this is done, the rest of the day is spent back in the cottage, drinking wine and working on the jigsaw puzzles.
On our last day in Glencoe we almost climb Glas Beinn Mhòr.
The hardest bit is to decide which walk to do - Beinn a’ Chrùlaiste which is boring-looking and boggy, but possibly less steep and offering nice views of less boring hills. Or, staying low, and walking through the two valleys on each side of Buachaille Etive Beag, Lairig Eilde and Lairig Gartain. This would mean walking around the mountain we climbed on the first day. Or, driving on a single track road through Glen Etive all the way to the end and climbing Glas Beinn Mhòr, another munro.
Glas Beinn Mhòr is the winner, and Glen Etive is beautiful. Full of canoes and people parking in passing places on the single track road. After 15 miles we get to the end, park, and start walking, with a good view of the mountain we are going to climb.
Actually, the mere thought of climbing up 1050 m to a snowy top which is partly hidden in the clouds is daunting. My motivation is as low as the hill is high. Yes, my motivation is 1050 m low.
We attempt a short, but extremely scenic walk into the Lost Valley, a beautiful gorge with steep drops, waterfalls, some scrambling, and a river crossing. But once this is done, the rest of the day is spent back in the cottage, drinking wine and working on the jigsaw puzzles.
On our last day in Glencoe we almost climb Glas Beinn Mhòr.
The hardest bit is to decide which walk to do - Beinn a’ Chrùlaiste which is boring-looking and boggy, but possibly less steep and offering nice views of less boring hills. Or, staying low, and walking through the two valleys on each side of Buachaille Etive Beag, Lairig Eilde and Lairig Gartain. This would mean walking around the mountain we climbed on the first day. Or, driving on a single track road through Glen Etive all the way to the end and climbing Glas Beinn Mhòr, another munro.
Glas Beinn Mhòr is the winner, and Glen Etive is beautiful. Full of canoes and people parking in passing places on the single track road. After 15 miles we get to the end, park, and start walking, with a good view of the mountain we are going to climb.
Actually, the mere thought of climbing up 1050 m to a snowy top which is partly hidden in the clouds is daunting. My motivation is as low as the hill is high. Yes, my motivation is 1050 m low.
We follow the river which goes all the way up to the bealach we are aiming for. There are again great waterfalls and water slides on granite slabs - it looks like the water is having a lot of fun coming down here! The sun comes out occasionally, but my lack of motivation has spread and we decide we might not do the whole climb but just walk up the river for a bit longer. With this decision I’m suddenly much happier!
We split the group when Kat wants to go up a spur and Daniel wants to cross a river. Silke and I join Kat, climb a little bit, and then sit on the rocks and watch the others cross rivers from a mile away. Very entertaining. Once they have crossed all the rivers that needed crossing we meet up again by a footbridge and return to the cars.
Back in Glencoe Village we stop for a coffee and a scone in the lovely Glencoe Café. We finish the day with a pub meal, more jigsaw puzzles and a film - “Local Hero”, a Scottish classic. And with a nice glas of whisky we finish off another lovely Easter weekend.
