free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
This was our 2nd attempt at walking the Loch - we got snowed out a bit last week and as the road out is single track and could be quite treacherous given the steep drops we thought it best to cut our losses and run
We started off at the carpark and took off on the top route rather than going down and over the bridge, the weather was fantastic nice clearblue skies - well for about an hour
- we followed the track towards the cottage and the views of the loch and the mountains ahead were stunning!
Well that was untill we reached the cottage and just alongside the path we are to take they seem to be building something as there were quite a few Diggers - anyway you soon walk past that and forget all about it when you see all the hills and views ahead:
About 10 mins past the cottage we started to hit some deep patches of snow some were knee deep other parts ankle deep and at 1 point both of us took a step to the side of the path to avoid a huge pool of water that had gathered - only to find that we had stepped on a snow covered stream or burn running adjacent to the path and down we both went
must have been quite a drop as the foot that sunk down never touched firm ground... lesson learned there... Keep to the path and test the area with the walking pole lol
After we had stopped laghing at our incident we had walked a fair bit along and the surrounding area does start to get a bit barron and then you start to get that "middle of nowhere" feeling which was fantastic.
Soon we reached a fork in the path - thankfully we had printed off the route from walk highlands which directed us to take the path to the left towards the strawberry cottage and the bridge across River Affric - which was an ideal place to stop for lunch and admire the scenery
After our lunch stop we got on our way the track was very defined so not at all hard to miss even when some parts were heavily covered in snow, as we took off we had to cross a narrow part of the river although it was quite shallow it was a bit tricky going over on the stepping stones as the water was slightly covering some of them and quite fast moving - probably due to the snow thaw from the hills -
But beware crossing this, there is one stone that is very wobbly and unstable and it was the one that would appear to be the most stable -the biggest one of the lot it is quite square-ish in appearance and flat on top. anyway after my wobble we got on our way along the track glancing back at where we had just been was another sight to remember:
We followed this track for a good while admiring the views along the way:
we then reached a gate then the bridge which signalled the end of a fantastic walk - which i will certainly be doing again
next time i will be back in the summer to experience the same place with different views of the surroundings i would recommend this walk to everyone we took 5 hours to do this and we were going at a nice easy pace and with only 1 stop for lunch - when we do it again in the summer we could do it quicker but then again there will be more oppertunity and more dry ground to be able to sit for a while at different spots and really enjoy the surroundings
