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We found ourselves in Drumnadrochit as a result of a real Christmas surprise present which was much appreciated and we were much in need of the break!
Dog Falls was a walk suggested by John at Fiddlers in the town where we were staying and having checked it out on WH, it seemed not too bad as my wife prefers flatter walks as she is not (yet) a high hillwalker.
We arrived at the car park
- Setting the scene
and were delighted to find that the parking machine was "Not in use" and as I was packing the last few things in the backpack, Maureen, my wife had set off across the bridge and was starting up the hill on the other side. I considered shouting to her that she was going the wrong way and then thought " Well its the same either way, so lets just go the wrong way round".
Its not a steep climb uphill but its constant and although the views are nothing much at this stage, you do get the feeling of being up high. Soon we came to the junction [and of course because we were doing this back to front, and without a map, I had to constantly think the route back to front!] and after a brief stop for crazy pictures, set off on the first leg of the journey up the "white" route to the viewpoint.
- Ready to turn off on the view point path
The view up Loch Beinn a Meadhoin was good but would have been better in sunlight.
- From the top
- From the top too
After about 10 or 15 minutes we set off back downhill and, of course, everything was now downhill - well almost....
- Icy puddle
The sound of the river had long since disappeared and as we meandered slowly along the broad and level forest path there was an occassional information board and eventually, the red path turned into the yellow path. All going fine, I thought. There is very little to see but it was a still morning and the peace and tranquillity of the forest was a welcome break from city life.
- icicles
- Food
Eventually we came upon a track junction, leading down (apparently only) to Coire Loch. As the alternatives were Tomich (ahead) - and I knew that was definitely wrong - or Car Park, back the way we had just come, this was the only way so we set off down the gradual slope once again, deep into the forest.
- Deep in the forest
Remember, we're going the wrong way round. Soon the grassy path seemed to turn left with a yellow marker and the path narrowed down to what I would call a mountain track. Knowing what mountain tracks can be like and that Maureen hasn't much experience on mountain style tracks, I began to worry a little but, putting a brave face on, we both set off down narrower and more "technical" path.
The Coire Loch was indeed worth the detour as the pics will show
- Above Coire Loch and about to encounter the ice
- Coire Loch from ground level
and we soon pressed on: onwards into more difficult terrain. The path then went up and down a fair bit, with rough patches of tree root, and rock and steps, eventually climbing to a large open area above the loch. On it went still going up and then we met a couple who - to my relief told me there was very little further to go but the path was quite icy. Maureen did brilliantly and managed her way down the ice encrusted paths - literally sheets of ice - all the way down to the narrow bridge across the gorge.
- Made it down at last!
- The falls (eventually) on River Affric
Interestingly, if we had gone the right way to begin with, we would have turned back at the iced over path, thinking it was all going to be like that and so the wrong way turned out to be the right way!
Well done Maureen.