Soggy Glen Etive

[GillC]

The weather over the New Year weekend was forecast to be mild,wet and wild. We decided against spending the Bells in the camper and headed off on 1st Jan towards Glen Etive. Dinner at the Tyndrum Inn (covid guidance totally ignored here! maskless staff leaning over the bar to talk to maskless customers. Waiters taking your order without a mask. Customers ordering at the bar etc etc. at time of writing, table service only and masks mandatory in indoor hospitality)

By the time we were driving down the Etive road, we were being buffeted by strong winds and battling a sleety/snow blizzard. We spotted several cars, as ever, parked in the Do Not Park passing places. Some tents around and even a campfire in utterly appalling conditions lol.
We arrived at the end of the road car park where 2 or 3 other vans were already parked up and with no plans for the morning, cooried in for the night.
Peaceful and cosy night, breakfast and out for a wander. Went up the track from the locked gates at the pier, signposted Bonawe, a bit boggy but only went up as far as the slabs before returning to the van and kitting up for a longer walk,,,back up the same track lol.

With an idea to walk to Cadderlie bothy, (which neither of us knew anything about), we set off again.
The first mile or so of this walk is on a path of sorts but is VERY wet and boggy. Moving through various different forested areas, some open stretches with piles of fencing material waiting to be erected we again passed under the Etive Slabs up on our right under Beinn Trilleachan. In hindsight, Beinn T would probably have been a better plan for today lol.

We passed through several gates and the path improved greatly for the rest of the walk.

Keeping an eye on daylight hours for the return journey, we reached a section of open ground where we could see the path curve round the hillside before entering a stretch of Scots pine, with still no sign of a bothy. We were about 6km in now and decided to head back.

On the way in, we had climbed off the path for a while but this time we stuck to it, bad idea.
We reached an area of gravelly muddy sludge which had recently been washed down off the hillside. I aimed for what looked like more solid ground, battered my head on a branch, which literally floored me. Took a minute to recover then chose a different route. Knee deep in grey yukky stuff. Won’t lie, did panic a bit at one point as I just seemed to keep sinking. John on the other hand, crossed over and kept walking!!!!!

By now, the murky grey day had descended into heavy rain and we were a bit sodden (on the outside at least) We did manage to dry off when the rain stopped, hoping to get back to the van with dry jackets and overtrousers. Nope, rain started on the last stretch again lol.

The van is low on storage for wet gear, so with plenty spares we just packed up the wet gear in a dry bag.

Had dinner, got bored, John suggested we go to the pub! Packed up, drove the 40 mins back down to the Kingshouse. Parked up on the back road, some other cars and tents there as we arrived in a total blizzard. Walked up to the wee bar, closed, unless you were a New Year guest lol. Not to be deprived of a beer, John suggested the Clachaig!. By this time, it was 9pm. At least we had phone signal here so could call ahead. Thankfully they were open so we headed down, planning to then park up the road somewhere for the next night.

A nice quiet Boots Bar, only 2 other tables in. G&T ?, don’t mind if I do. 1 drink in, we decided to book a room hahahahahardcore we aint.

£155 for their basic rooms SHOCKING. (I did manage to get them down to £120 since it was late haha) Nice warm room, shower and telly. We didn’t think to use the Drying Room for our other gear though but had enough spare for another day.
Breakfast took a bashing,,,getting our moneys worth.

Headed off, nice and fresh, well fed and aiming for the Wee Bookil. Watch this space.