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Suggestions please - 2 day walk with 1 night wild camping

Suggestions please - 2 day walk with 1 night wild camping


Postby MonkeyMagic » Sat Apr 10, 2021 5:39 pm

Hi,

I am looking to do our first family hike and wild camp trip. The plan would be to walk one day with all our kit, wild camp overnight and then walk again the second day.

Distance - Happy to cover 15-20K each day
Location - We are based in Glasgow but will happily drive 2-4 hours, or maybe more to the start of the route.
Pattern - Preference would be a circular walk if at all possible, would prefer not to do a there and back but would not totally rule it out. Would also quite happily do a linear walk with different start and finish points, we are lucky enough to have two cars if needed, so could leave a car at each end, or catch a train or bus back to the car.

One walk that sprung to mind for me was the Laririg Ghru. Meets almost all above criteria. Main issue is the difficulty travelling between the start and end points by car or public transport.
https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/cairngorms/lairig-ghru.shtml

Any suggestions?
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Re: Suggestions please - 2 day walk with 1 night wild campin

Postby al78 » Sat Apr 10, 2021 8:47 pm

The Minigaig pass.
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Re: Suggestions please - 2 day walk with 1 night wild campin

Postby Tringa » Sun Apr 11, 2021 8:15 am

Can't suggest any particular walk but have a look on the longer walks in the 'Walks' section on here. They are not as long as you are wanting but could give some ideas. Most are circular and they all give a good indication of what to expect. I suggest if you are interested in any of the walks and they involve a bridge to check(probably asking on here is a good place) if anyone knows if the bridge is still there.

I might be making unwarranted assumptions here but 15-20km a day for your first family wild camping trip looks a bit ambitious. Are all family members capable/happy to take that on while carrying camping gear, possibly for the first time?

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Re: Suggestions please - 2 day walk with 1 night wild campin

Postby Chris Henshall » Sun Apr 11, 2021 9:41 am

Good luck - great way to have a family holiday which, if your family includes relatively young children, they will never forget!
A two day walk from Corrour Station west down Glen Nevis to Fort William would be a good first trip of this nature which would enable you to use the train, start and finish in different places, end with a bit of a celebration in Fort William and have the option of camping overnight by a bothy. If you were feeling especially ambitious, you might also be able to get up a hill (Sgurr Eilde Mor?) from your campsite in the afternoon / early evening.
Top tips also include trying to find a good weather window and going early enough in the year to avoid a midge fest.
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Re: Suggestions please - 2 day walk with 1 night wild campin

Postby jmarkb » Sun Apr 11, 2021 10:54 am

Corrour - Fort William is a good suggestion. A couple of other options also served by train are Corrour -Dalwhinnie and Bridge of Orchy - Taynuilt via Glen Kinglass,
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Re: Suggestions please - 2 day walk with 1 night wild campin

Postby Chris Henshall » Sun Apr 11, 2021 11:28 am

Good suggestions except that I was in Glen Kinglass last August and the Hydro is digging it up. There's now a huge heavy vehicle track running up the glen as far as the lodge on a white raft of granite cobbles with two spurs running off up into, respectively, Coire Hallater on the north side of the glen and up the slopes of Meall Buidhe to the south east. The John Muir Trust, among others, raised objections - not least because Coire Hallater and the slopes of Beinn nan Aighenan / Beinn nan Lus are a known nesting ground for golden eagles - but it didn't stop the development. There are undertakings that the disturbed ground should be returned to its original condition once the construction phase is complete but, given what has occurred elsewhere, this isn't all that likely.
At any rate, I wouldn't recommend Kinglass in the short term unless you fancy either dodging some heavy traffic in the lower nine kilometres or so of the glen or mounting an environmental protest! Even if they've finished (and it looked like there was still a fair bit of work left to do last August) the place is still likely to be bearing the scars.
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Re: Suggestions please - 2 day walk with 1 night wild campin

Postby Caberfeidh » Sun Apr 11, 2021 11:35 am

You could leave a vehicle at Aviemore or Coylumbridge, hike through the Lairig Gru, past Corrour bothy and on through to Luibeag and Derry Lodge, camp there or up in Glen Derry, then next day head up past Loch Etchachan (high up via Carn Crom and Derry Cairngorm or low down in Glen Derry itself if the weather is not so good) to Loch Avon, over to Ryvoan and Lochan Uaine (the Green Loch) , down the track to Glen More Lodge and back to civilisation. Or if you are blessed with carlessness, you can get public transport to Aviemore, hike through the Lairig Gru and camp at Luibeag, then on to Braemar and public transport home.

Lairig Ghru winter#3 R.jpg
Lairig Gru


Derry Woods.JPG
Derry Woods at Luibeag, Carn Crom in distance


Glen Derry Rainbow.jpg
Glen Derry


Lairig Ghru#5b.jpg
Derry Cairngorm from Black Bridge, Mar Lodge Estate


Rothiemurcus Forest.JPG
Rothiemurchus forest, looking toward Glen More.


Canoeing Loch Morlich#p.JPG
Loch Morlich, near Aviemore
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Re: Suggestions please - 2 day walk with 1 night wild campin

Postby jmarkb » Sun Apr 11, 2021 2:39 pm

Chris Henshall wrote:Good suggestions except that I was in Glen Kinglass last August and the Hydro is digging it up.


Thanks for the up-to-date info - I wasn't aware of that!
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Re: Suggestions please - 2 day walk with 1 night wild campin

Postby Chris Henshall » Sun Apr 11, 2021 3:39 pm

Yes, I thought that the scale of the development was unwarranted.
I was with a couple of mates and we can come over Beinn a' Chochuill and Beinn Eunach from Cruachan with half an intention of following in the 1974 steps of Hamish Brown and heading up into Corie Hallatter to camp and wander up the back of Beinn nan Aighenan. However, when we arrived in the bottom of the glen, it was busy with massive earth moving kit (working out of a borrow pit at around 132359) and there were big machines driving a track up the east bank of the Allt Hallater, approximately on the line of the existing, almost invisible deer-stalking track; the scar was big enough and ugly enough to make it next to impossible for it to be restored to its original condition in, I reckon, anything less than a couple of decades. As for the main road up the glen, I've seen less intrusive dual carriageways.
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Re: Suggestions please - 2 day walk with 1 night wild campin

Postby AyrshireAlps » Sun Apr 11, 2021 9:40 pm

Drive the short 40 mins to ardrossan, and get the ferry to brodick - kids love a ferry.

Walk from ferry to Glen Rosa, up onto caisteal abhail via fionn choire path, and a wee summit camp.

Next day take path east of a'chir ridge along onto beinn tarsuinn then beinn nuis, before descending back into Glen Rosa and back to the ferry.

Amazing walking, and views.
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Re: Suggestions please - 2 day walk with 1 night wild campin

Postby rgf101 » Mon Apr 12, 2021 7:01 am

Some of these suggestions seem potentially full-on for a 'first' trip, so like Tringa I'm wondering about actual levels of experience walking / carrying kit, and the ages of the kids. Corrour to Fort William is (or was, last time I was down there) often a case of bog-jumping and peat-hag-climbing, and could get old quickly. The Lairig Ghru is fantastic, but I'm not sure it should be anyone's first wild camp and the ascent from Aviemore will not amuse anyone who's expecting a pleasant stroll.

Which is not to rule them out - but I'd have wanted to test gear and legs on lesser walks before tackling either of these.
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Re: Suggestions please - 2 day walk with 1 night wild campin

Postby Caberfeidh » Mon Apr 12, 2021 7:10 am

rgf101 wrote:Some of these suggestions seem potentially full-on for a 'first' trip, so like Tringa I'm wondering about actual levels of experience walking / carrying kit, and the ages of the kids.


Wooah I hadn't noted the presence of kids. Do not take young kids through the lairig Gru, nor on any gruelling long hike. How many kids, how old are they?
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Re: Suggestions please - 2 day walk with 1 night wild campin

Postby rgf101 » Mon Apr 12, 2021 8:02 am

Well, he says family, so it could be strapping 18 years olds who'll outwalk anyone on here. It's the 'first' that worries me as much as the 'family'.
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Re: Suggestions please - 2 day walk with 1 night wild campin

Postby SpamFritter » Mon Apr 12, 2021 11:02 pm

A group of us got the train from Aviemore to Blair Atholl, camped at Falls of Tarf on day 1, then walked to Corrour on day 2 then over the Lairig Ghru on day 3 then back to Aviemore for a pint. It was doable for the people in the group (adults I might add) who weren't really regular walkers, although they were very tired. One thing to bear in mind is that Corrour Bothy is probably shut, and when I was there there isn't a ton of flat space around it that isn't boggy. Also, if the bothy is shut, then so will the fancy loo. So...popular spot, plus lots of people who don't know toilet etiquette could be a bit grim. Further up towards the pass there doesn't seem to be an abundance of good places to camp if I remember rightly.

A good first expedition would be walk the Rob Roy Way through Glen Almond. Park at Loch Freuchie, then camp around the highest point of the glen (around Dunan). Nice flat grassy sites next to the river. If you're feeling up for it you can go up Ben Chonzie in the afternoon/evening which I did. Then walk through to Loch Tay. If you've got two cars then you're sorted. Depending on the age of the kids, you don't want to over-commit then deal with them kicking off when the reality of carrying a full pack for the first time bites.
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Re: Suggestions please - 2 day walk with 1 night wild campin

Postby MonkeyMagic » Tue Apr 13, 2021 11:43 pm

Thanks for so many suggestions so quickly. I will look into all the options posted.

To answer the sensible questions about ages and experience. Two children aged 12 and 15. Both have walked 14k or more in a day and have done at least a couple of Munros. We have also camped a lot, but mostly not true wild camping. Plan would be for the adults to carry all the kit. We would be looking for some kind of paths but can cope with these being very basic and with wet and boggy ground. Lairig Ghru sprang to mind first as I remember doing it with some friend when I was about 16 or 17, so know it is about of a level that we can manage.
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