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After getting up early, with a plan to hit the hills asap on a ‘perfect forecast’ day, issues on the other side of the world brought a harsh realism to proceedings. I still got away before 8am and headed back to Glen Coe, with the intent of targeting the two Bidean nan Bian munros. Pulling up in the largest car park, halfway down the glen to the sounds of a bag-piper entertaining a coachload of tourists, was slightly surreal as I booted up.
Starting off downhill (for the 3rd time this trip) to cross the Coe River at the wooden bridge, I heard a woosh as a para-glider jumped from one of the lower cliffs of Aonach Dubh. They were quickly down in the valley, no thermals at this time of day,
- Morning parascender
The long climb led up between the spectacular rock architectures of Aonoch Dubh and Gearr Aonoch, with Stob Coire nan Lochan looming as the headwall, and frequent waterfalls in the stream, this is an excellent atmospheric early part of the walk.
- Looking up to Stob Coire nan Lochan
- Waterfalls on the ascent
Just above 600m the path split and I took the right hand (western fork) to head up to the ridge leading down from Stob Coire nan Lochan to the bealach. This felt like slow going on legs feeling more tired than I was expecting.
- Waterfalls low and high
Hitting the ridge at a cairn around 900m the view opened out to the west. The slight haze impacted views to distant skylines, but the closer ridges and lochs looked fantastic.
- Aonoch Eagach from the bealach
- Looking west to Glen Coe village
- Ballachulish munro's from the bealach
- The summit comes into view
The slow climb up the large broken boulders to the summit of Stob Coire nan Lochan was punctuated by some excellent views down chimneys in the cliff, and the main munro summit coming into view. The subsidiary summit was fairly busy with a coupe of family groups snacking and taking photos.
- Binnein nam Bian from Stob Coire nan Lochan
The descent to the next bealach was quick, and the path up to the main summit was easier than looked likely from Stob Coire nan Lochan, swapping sides of the arete to find gentler ground.
- Summit arete
The view from Bidean nan Bian was stunning despite the haze, with that perfect blend of water and land, elevation and a mix of the sharp shapes to the north, and the gentler shapes to the East.
- Bidean nan Bian summit selfie
- Summit view north
- Summit view East
- Summit view south
- Summit view west
I had the summit to myself for around 10 minutes, perfect to just take in the view while eating and drinking to revive the body. After chatting to a couple of groups that joined me and taking a family photo by the cairn, headed along the ridge eastwards towards Stob Coire Sgreamhach. The steep descent passed quickly, and I joined a small throng looking down the descent route into Alte Coire Gabhail. The top section looked awkward, though a figure was ascending quickly, but that was for later.
I headed up towards the summit passing a gentleman proudly stating that these two munros left him just one for a ‘completion’. Feel free to guess which?
Again I reached the summit of Stob Coire Sgreamhach and had around 10 minutes to myself to take in the vista, before being joined by a charming young Swedish lady, who had been the figure ascending the awkward chute. We chatted enthusiastically about the grandeur of the location and the day.
- Summit selfie on Stob Coire Sgreamhach
- Looking back to Bidean nan Bian from Stob Coire Sgreamhach
- Glen Etive from Stob Coire Sgreamhach
She also gave me a tip, stay to my left (west) after the initial section on descent as this was more solid underfoot. Along with following another tip ‘to be careful what I use as handholds, as a lot are loose’ the descent was navigated with a minimal amount of fuss.
On the ascent earlier in the day I had noticed many pools in the stream that looked perfect for a foot paddle and had the intent to find something similar on my route down. At around 550m and close to some waterfalls that seemed to be the highpoint for walkers coming up from the Glen, I found my spot. 15 minutes paddle in water approx. 6 degrees while soaking up the early afternoon sun (it was around 1.30pm) was bliss.
- Paddling my feet
I dried my feet and put the boots back on. The walk down through the ‘lost valley’ with an increasing stream of low-level walkers coming up in the opposite direction, was something I wasn’t expecting, and there were lots of groups splashing in the lower pools in the stream, and taking photo’s of the frequent small waterfalls.
Crossing the metal bridge and walking back up to the main carpark, brough the slightly bizarre scene back into view. I almost felt like I had dropped in from a different world, one 1000m higher up in the hills. Make no mistake, this is/ was a fabulous day out in the hills.
