The Vagabond Hiker

Hiking, trekking, and climbing the world

Hikes & Scrambles in the Highlands of Scotland

One doesn’t associate abundant sun with the Scottish Highlands, so the fantastic weather I experienced during my first three days was bound to end. As I type this blog the rains are pelting down and the fine weather is just a fading memory. . .

With Maggie on three days and by myself for another week, I explored some of the best of what the Glencoe area has to offer the walker as I hope the following photos will attest.

Glencoe Lochan, a short walk from the Village of Glencoe. There are many easy paths to explore around the village.
A pleasant broken scramble on A’ Chailleach. It was a great afternoon warm up with Maggie, featuring plenty of escape routes and unlimited easy to moderate scrambling options to choose from. The long, steep descent on the “grassy” slopes was less enjoyable.
Hidden (aka Lost) Valley from the trailhead on the A82. The eastern and central of the Three Sisters that overlook the Pass of Glencoe from the south are seen here.
Waterfalls along the stream as I headed up into Hidden Valley, a pleasant morning excursion even with clouds and light rain.
After an hour I reached the “hanging” Hidden Valley, seen here. The view towards the headwall and Bidean nam Bian – at 1150m the highest point around Glencoe – was completely obscured by clouds.
On returning to the trailhead, I took this atmospheric shot looking west along A82 and the Pass of Glencoe
Buachaille Etive Mor, the Queen of Scottish Mountains, from the A82 trailhead a few miles out of Glencoe. Its highest peak, Stob Dearg, is seen on the left. I did a hike with Maggie and a solo scramble from this trailhead. The hike was a traverse of several peaks on Bucky. The normal ascent route up the Coire na Tulaich towards the obvious col is clearly seen here.
View north from Stob na Doire toward Ben Nevis, the large round dome. All the exciting scrambling and climbing on the Ben is from the north while the Pony Track is along this southern side.
Aonach Eagach, the most famous knife edge ridge scramble on the Scottish mainland, as seen from Stob Coire Altruim (zoom). The 3 1/2 km notched ridge is just begging to be traversed. Sadly, the weather never did cooperate enough for me to attempt it.
Looking back east along our Buachaille Etive Mor traverse route from Stobna na Broige. A very pleasant hike with fantastic views on a sunny day.
After a descent from the ridge, the River Coupall provided a great place to cool our feet.
A slightly different angle on Buachaille Etive Mor’s Stob Dearg from the A82 trailhead. Here I did a scramble called the Curved Ridge, which began with an approach around the base of the cliffs to the left here.
My first attempt on the route missed the Curved Ridge altogether! It ended near here with some sketchy scrambling on steep, loose rock. Rather than continue, I retraced my route and eventually made the summit by the Curved Ridge proper. I descended by the normal hiking path.
Stob Dearg summit view east toward Rannoch Moor
Stob Dearg summit view north with the dome of Ben Nevis in the distance
A final tough hike I did went up the Coire nan Lochan to the eponymous peak at its head. Here the central and western of the Three Sisters are seen from the trailhead along the A82.
View up the Coire nan Lochan with some of the many waterfalls.
Pool and waterfall along the Coire nan Lochan
View toward the A82 with the east end of Aonach Eagach. I saw six red deer (what we call elk), but they were feeding too far away for a good photo.
View of the Three Lakes from the beginning of the eastern ridge of Stob Coire nan Lochan. Many walkers chose these picturesque lakes as a worthy objective for the day.
Higher up all was in the mist. Here I am looking up the eastern ridge approach on Stob Coire nan Lochan, my objective for the day. The summit is far away in the mist. . .
Some misty scrambling along Stob Coire nan Lochan. Nothing difficult, but route finding can be tricky descending in the fog.
Exciting view south from the summit of Stob Coire nan Lochan towards Bidean nam Bian
The Vagabond Hiker on the summit of Stob Coire nan Lochan (1115m). I relaxed on the summit for nearly an hour, but it never did clear.

Some great hikes and scrambles, but in almost two weeks I feel that I have barely scratched the surface of what the Glencoe area, let alone the Western Highlands, has to offer. I never did climb Ben Nevis (less than an hour drive from my cottage to the trailhead), largely because I wanted to do it by The Ledges, a moderate scrambling route, rather than join the conga line along the Pony Track, and the weather just didn’t cooperate. Well, there’s always the next time. . .

Now its back to the sunny south of England for 10 days until my next adventure, with Maggie in the Spanish Pyrenees. Until then, keep hiking.

The Vagabond Hiker

Comments

  1. Lovely and always happy to read about your adventures. Don and I are finishing up a trip through Switzerland and the Northern Italy lake region. Looking forward to seeing you in August. Cheers!
    Leslie

  2. Beautiful as always! Love the pics in the fog – quite moody. Enjoy the Pyrenees. It’s on my list!

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