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Archive for the ‘West Highland Way’ Category

Ghlas Bheinn – what a difference a few months make!

It has all been work, work, and work these last few weeks and so it was great to have an excuse to stop for a couple of days last weekend.  Some friends of ours from Germany are over visiting Scotland for a couple of weeks and have hired a camper van for the duration.  On Saturday we drove up into the Highlands with them and did a gentle tour up to Arrochar, over the Rest and Be Thankful, past Loch Fyne and on through Tyndrum and Bridge of Orchy to Rannoch Moor.   Our visitors first few days in Scotland, spent exploring Edinburgh, were spent under cloudy skies and in wet conditions but on Saturday the conditions in the West Highlands were superb ….hot and sunny and the landscape looked at its very best.

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Andrea, Rudi and Nita on Ghlas Bheinn

Andrea and Rudi were keen to do some walking so long as it wasn’t a huge mountain hike and so our first thoughts were to take them for a wander along the Bridge of Orchy to Victoria Bridge section of the West Highland Way.  The path climbs a little but not much and reaches the most magnificent view point high above Loch Tulla…..we thought that this would be ideal.  And it would have been except that the annual West Highland Way race was taking part that weekend and as we arrived at the Bridge of Orchy…..the runners were passing through.  There were dozens of cars and vans and numerous people and stewards ….all very exciting but not the peaceful place we’d imagined we’d be able to show our friends from Germany!  We extricated ourselves, the camper van and our car from the mayhem and after a short re-think drove the few miles further on to the big view point on the road leading up onto Blackmount.

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Away from the crowds, a perfect summer evening in the West Highlands

We normally park here for our annual winter wander along the undulating little ridge leading to Ghlas Bheinn and this suddenly seemed to be the perfect solution for a walk now.  And so it was, with huge views and a good cooling breeze to keep the midges away, this short walk gave Andrea and Rudi a chance to experience a little bit of the Highlands off-piste as it were ….no paths and no other walkers.  For Nita and me it was great to see this familiar place under beautiful summer conditions with different colours and light.  We got back to the vehicles around half past eight in the evening and drove back to the Bridge of Orchy Hotel for food and refreshment ….a perfect end to a very enjoyable day.  My thanks to the staff at the hotel.  They must have been completely shattered by the time we wandered in at just after nine in the evening ….but they very kindly agreed to fix us some food despite us arriving after they had officially finished serving.  Great service and very friendly and if you are heading up or down the A82, this hotel is highly recommended.

A long hot day in the Blackmount

This time last week, (Sunday morning) Nita and I were making our way along the West Highland Way between Victoria Bridge and Ba Bridge.  You’ll remember perhaps that we walked part of this section of the WHW a few months ago when we went to walk Beinn Toaig.  On that occasion the skies were as free of clouds as last Sunday, but the temperature was somewhat different with snow and ice on the mountains above about 600 metres.  Our lunchtime spot that day was high up on Beinn Toaig and we were sat looking out over the lonely glen through which the Ba River flows.    It has big mountains on three sides and is also the home of wee Meall Tionail, the craggy little hill sitting at the far end of the glen.

photo of Scotland - Blackmount

‘A very warm walk in the Blackmount’

 It was to this small hill that Nita and I made our slow hot way last Sunday.  It really was hot too as we walked the hard rough surface of the WHW, even at nine o’clock in the morning, but the views out over Rannoch Moor and to the surrounding mountains were beautiful.  Not surprisingly there were quite a few other folk out plodding their way along this famous path although to be honest, I didn’t envy them the prospect of continuing all day on this hard unyielding surface of the WHW.  By the time we had reached the beautiful Ba Bridge my feet were already quite sore and I couldn’t wait to get onto the soft grassy path that leads up the glen towards Meall Tionail.

Photos of Scotland - Blackmount

‘A very warm walk in the Blackmount’

One of my plans for the day was to make some new recordings of water flowing through the various streams, but after this unusually dry period, even the Ba River had precious little water flowing in it.  The last time we were here back in April 2012 all the streams and rivers were quite busy ……this time it was like they were all taking a siesta.  But that said, we did in the end get some interesting and what should be useful recordings.

As we moved slowly up the glen we became more sheltered from the occasional breeze and it became hotter and hotter.  It was idyllic however and so incredibly quiet and peaceful ….just the calls of birds, the buzz of insects and the trickles of water ….no human sounds at all.  By the time we were at the base of Meall Tionail we decided it was just too hot to do the short steep climb up to its summit and instead sat with our feet cooling in the small  stream  flowing off the hillside.  It had several little pools, into one of which Nita had plunged her feet.  After a short while she let out a yelp and moved her feet, saying that something, presumably a frog, had touched her foot!  She couldn’t see anything at first though but after several more minutes she saw the culprit  ….. a quite large brown trout, who’s home the pool must have been!

Photo of Scottish Highlands - Blackmount

‘A very warm walk in the Blackmount’

The walk back was if anything even hotter and we took numerous stops where ever we found places with a hint of a breeze.  We did get back to the car eventually, about ten hours after setting  out in the morning and both of us with very sore feet, but it had been some day and it was great to get back into the Highlands again.

A very short walk on the West Highland Way

Walking the West Highland Way from end to end isn’t really for me, although I can certainly see the attraction and see why so many people each year set out to complete the full route…….it really does go through some amazing scenery.  We tend to walk short sections of the path, often on the way to or back from one of the many hills and mountains that rise on either side of it.

West Highland Way

Loch Lomond from the slopes of Connich Hill

If you read my blog a few weeks ago, you know that I am hoping to put together images of 12 paintings that are based on or around the West Highland Way and last Monday, wanting just a short little walk, we decided to have a wander up the small steep Connich (Conic) Hill that rises above the southern shores of Loch Lomond.  It’s a magnificent little hill giving fine views across the loch and north to Ben Lomond and the Arrochar Alps and as such I thought it might be a perfect place for the first painting in my West Highland Way collection.  I’ve walked this hill on a couple of previous occasions, but never worked on any paintings after these trips.

West Highland Way

Connich Hill

So then, on Monday last, Nita and I travelled up to Loch Lomond with the aim of walking this wee hill, taking a few photos, doing some sketching and maybe making a couple of sound recordings.  Well, that was the plan anyway!  What we hadn’t taken into account however was the fact that it was the school half term and when we arrived at the base of the hill, there were a lot of families who had had the same idea …to walk this wee hill and enjoy the spectacular scenery under almost clear blue skies.  We normally tend to wander off of the main paths and visit the places less popular with other walkers, and so the volumes of people making their way up the West Highland Way footpath to the top of Connich Hill, were somewhat over-whelming!

West Highland Way

Ben Lomond from below Connich Hill

By the time we had reached a point about three quarters of the way up, both Nita and I were gritting our teeth and we stopped to sit down and look at the views  ….with our backs to the crowds!  It was just so noisy ….which was fine as it was great that so many people were enjoying themselves ….but it wasn’t for us.   To make matters worse for us two grumpy old folk, a couple of local farmers were rounding up sheep using one of those four wheeled vehicles, ….and shouting a lot.  Then just as I thought things couldn’t get any noisier on a hill, one of those powered flying triangles came over, swooping and gunning its engine!  That was that, we decided not to bother going on to the top and after examining the map, noticed a footpath making its way back down to the road well away from the WHW.  We took it and within ten minutes we were out of reach of the voices and had the hillside to ourselves. ….phew!  It was beautiful and the short descent made for a very enjoyable last hour.

West Highland Way

Loch Lomond from our quiet descent route!

I didn’t get any sketching done and certainly no sound recordings, but we did see some great views and colours and I may get something in the way of a painting out of our short day.   In all honesty, I’m sure I used to be just as noisy when I was young and walking the hills with my dad ….now I’ve turned into him ….I’m one of those grumpy old men too!

A snowy Saturday in the Southern Highlands

Last Saturday we were out for a short wander up near Tyndrum.  For once, the weather forecast got it a little wrong.  It had seemed to suggest that a band of rain and snow would move down from the north west late Saturday afternoon and so as we were only planning on a fairly short low level walk into Cononish Glen, we thought we’d have plenty of time to do our walk and get home before the bad weather arrived.  That was the plan anyway!

When we left Irvine just after eight o’clock in the morning however, there was already a lot of low dark clouds around and the few breaks in the east soon disappeared……and of course, the sun rise was quite interesting ….what do they say about red sky in the morning?! 

By the time we got to Loch Lomond it was already very gloomy although Nita said you could see the snow covered tops of the mountains.  At the southern end of the loch the snow level was a couple of hundred metres above the road but by the time we got to the top end of the loch …it was down to road level and at Crianlarich and Tyndrum there was quite a bit laying everywhere and the snow plough had piled it up a little at the sides of the road.

Of course, of course, we had to go into the Green Welly for a cuppa (we were good though …we didn’t have a bacon or egg roll this time) but on emerging out into the car park to get our gear on …Nita said that it was starting to snow lightly.  Not in the plan at all …but it didn’t seem much and so we headed off on our walk.  By the time we had crossed the railway by the station and started up the forestry track that leads over into the glen, it was snowing properly and a half hour after that ….it was snowing heavily.  It looked great though as there was no wind and it was falling straight down and settling on every little twig and branch.  

 

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Cononish Glen ….a rather white scene

Cononish Glen is really spectacular with big mountains all around and our plan had been to take some photos and to stop and for me to make some new sound recordings.  When we reached the glen it really was pretty snowy and white.  You couldn’t see more than a couple of hundred metres up the hillside and ice had made the river much narrower than normal.  At this point though, we did stop for 15 minutes while I set my sound recorder to work …inside a water proof rucksack!  On returning home I found I’d captured the soft noise of the snow flakes hitting the outside of the rucksack with the very faint sound of the river in the background.

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Meeting the West Highland Way

Anyway, by this time we were starting to think that the roads might not be so clever and so decided to cut short the walk and to head back.  We didn’t just retrace our steps though but followed the glen back to a point where we could meet the West Highland Way ….and then follow that back through the beautiful Tyndrum Community Woodland into the village. 

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By the West Highland Way, near Tyndrum

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In Tyndrum Community Woodland

It made for a lovely walk and we were back at the Green Welly by about two o’clock.  The road wasn’t looking great …snow with tyre tracks ….but as we got out of our gear the snow plough / gritter came along.

I had said to Nita that we shouldn’t worry as by the time we were back down to Loch Lomond it would be warmer and the roads would be fine there.  Got that wrong ….if anything it got worse and the snow fell harder…..and kept on falling all the way back to Irvine!!  Took us over two and a half hours to get back ….but it did look great and we’d had a fabulous if short day out.

West Highland Way Work – a plan for the future

I’ve never walked the whole of the famous and hugely popular West Highland Way long distance footpath, but over the last sixteen years Nita and I have walked much of it.  We’ve walked sections of it at a time, usually in the winter when the weather up on the tops is too wild for high level trips and have used the path many times to reach or get back from the foot of a hill.  However you walk this path in a continuous trip from end to end, or as we’ve done, in short sections, there can be no argument that it takes a fabulous route and passes through some superb scenery.

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‘East from Ba Cottage, first light’

This year we’ve used the WHW on several occasions to reach hills.  In the spring we followed it south along the eastern shores of Loch Lomond for several kilometres before climbing steeply up the hillside and heading up to the lonely little summit of Cruin a’ Bheinn.   Couple of months ago we used the path once again to get to the base of Beinn Odhair near Tyndrum and only a few weeks ago we once again set off along it’s well trodden surface, this time heading for the wee hill of Ben Inverveigh.  Back on a really fine day day, we followed it up the famous Devil’s Staircase opposite Buachaille Etive Beag, before leaving it for a fine wander along the ridge.  All of these walks gave fabulous views both on the path itself and from the hills surrounding it.

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‘The Buachaille from the Devil’s Staircase’

Over the years I’ve created quite a number of paintings and drawings based on views we’ve had from or above this famous footpath and I’ve decided that it would be nice to put together a selection of work based on my experiences of the path.  It will mean visiting the sections we haven’t been on before and revisiting other sections, but it’ll be a damn good excuse for doing so ….if ever I needed one that is!

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‘A damp morning, Buachaille Etive Beag, Glen Coe’

There’s a lot of work to be done but when the paintings are complete I’m hoping that I’ll be able to produce a collection of West Highland Way cards and prints from them and maybe even produce a book.  First things first though, more walking, more painting.  Heck, it’s a tough job isn’t it!

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‘From the eastern shores of Loch Lomond’

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