free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
We attempted the Pap of Glencoe with both our dogs but the Basset Hound wasn’t able to get to the top, her legs were just to short and it’s quite a hike for someone with 4inchs of ground clearance! We tried this on the Friday and after some discussion between us, I decided to try again with just Hudson ( our Old English Sheepdog ) and myself on the Monday as this was the only favourable day before we head home ( snow due on Thursday )
We’ve had a few weeks of heavy rain and the Pap of Glencoe was quite boggy as we took a more direct route, so this time I put my Wellies to the test for this one and took my other boots in the pack in case I wanted to swap.
I set off at 8am from the forest car park in Glencoe and this time took the route across the wooden bridge instead of going straight up. It was very wet and boggy in places and I was glad I wore the wellies but I soon sweating which in the rain is always a pain.
I must add at this point I’m not very fit at all! I’m 46 and weigh 227lb I was struggling to maintain a good body temperature. I always wear a t shirt underneath My rain coat and plan to change when the harder areas are over. I was soon level with the Pap of Glencoe but was feeling the weather so took a break.
I stripped the t shirt off and Put on a dry inner jacket, dry hat and made some soup and gave Hudson some food as he was doing brilliant at this stage. Unfortunately I’d left his coat behind so I retro fitted my spare hoodie to keep him from getting cold as the temperature had dropped a fair bit.
After 15 mins we struck off for the summit and reached it but did lose the track at some point but got back on. Visibility was 30-40 foot and it becomes disorienting at times.
Once at the top, another stop for food and drink and take in the fact we’d made it up to the top! It’s a shame there was no view and it was raining and bloody cold!
After food it was time descend down using the route I picked out from the mapsme app. Following the path back down that I had just came up from we took the turn off the main path and made good time, even telling Nikki to think about meeting me at the Inn car park in and hour or 2.
It’s at this point that my inexperience in this type of walking shines through as the route down started off gentle and well trodden but soon became a climbing expedition for the next 600 metres down. This would be enjoyable on a dry clear day, but the rocks were sloppy, visibility wasn’t great and I had to guide Hudson down with me.
We made it but it wasn’t something I would’ve attempted had I known the route before hand. It would be an enjoyable ascent on a clear dry day, however a very wet October with heavy rain for over a week had us taking a long time to get down and made the descend difficult.
Overall a thoroughly enjoyable, if not apprehensive route on the descend.
I carry my camera when walking but kept it in the bag and used the phone this time as I didn’t want to be taking my rucksack off to use it on the descent
Still 700metres to go
View looking back to Loch Leven
