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Perfect day for a walk, no clouds and cool breeze. Two other cars in the car park already at 10am. Loads of sun screen on before I start. Kept the kit in my rucksack to a minimum, it’s not going to rain anytime soon. The route is described as boggy but it has been dry for a while. How boggy could it still be? Didn’t take any chances so proper boots.
Garva Double Bridge by
Joe Kincaid, on Flickr
The river looked low as I crossed the bridge. A big cloud of dust kicked up ahead, dry indeed, not sure what caused it. Traffic on the pylon track? Once over the second bridge and onto the vehicle path a week cairn is spotted. This is the start of the footpath. A quick step over the solitary wire in the fence and I’m soon on the worn path along the river. It meanders along up and down as it goes. Through the fence gap and now a little height is gained. Still an obvious path. A couple of wet bits but okay. Getting a better view now as it climbs higher. I can see the boggy bits of the path, there are plenty of them, but it’s so dry just walk straight through them. Up to the (broken) style. I spot a huge herd of deer as they bolt through a gap in fence on the other side of the burn. A couple of hundred would be a good guess. Maybe these were responsible for the dust cloud. They disappeared round the hillside and I never saw them again. Amazing disappearing trick. Finally make it to the bottom of the hill. The climb begins in earnest. Still a clear path and I can see it at various places ahead of me. The burn crossing is marked with another small cairn and is quite high up. No problem with spates at this bit. The path initially goes straight up but soon goes left up the first climb. From then on it is one climb after another till the top, Rocky now, path a bit harder to see. A small cairn passed and then top cairn visible further back. Views west fantastic. Walked over to the big cairn. Said my hello and then headed over to the Corrie edge for photos of the lochan. Walked along the Corrie edge looking for the best spot. Didn’t want to lose too much height or go too far. Nice crags and a small lochan, but worth the effort.
Lochan a’ Choire from Geal Charn by
Joe Kincaid, on Flickr
Walked back to the cairn and took some more photos. Loch Laggan clearly visible with several other lochs. Even Scheihallion was visible. I then walked back to the initial drop back down and sat and had my lunch. The wind was a bit chilly but the view worth it.
Geal Charn Summit and Loch Laggan by
Joe Kincaid, on Flickr
At 1pm headed back down. The path is almost all flattened peat and grass so good time was made walking back. The worst boggy bits had big deep footprints in them but I could still walk over them so no detour needed. The path goes round a drumlin and gets closer to the river. This was the one wet bit that needed care to avoid getting my boots dirty. After that dry all the way back to the car. Just before the bridge there was another herd of deer, a much smaller one, but not too bothered by a human dressed in a red top. They just sauntered away a bit. Back at the car, more drink and refreshed headed home at 3pm.
Geal Charn Walk from Garva by
Joe Kincaid, on Flickr
