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II have been meaning to go up Glen Quoich for what seems like years - lots of old pony tracks in the area looking like they would make interesting ways up to lofty kintail ridges, why hadn't we done it sooner?
So the usual scrabble to get away after work and a fine, quiet journey all the way saw us at the parking spot next to the bridge.
The walk down the track was unremarkable in the dark, but the moon shone through thin cloud and it was rather pleasant
After 25 minutes, Dougie announced that he had forgotten a few things
so we dumped our packs and went back to the car for them
We reached Alltbeithe, walking through the detroitous of heavy machinery that signalled a hydro scheme operation. We hoped to camp nearby, but all the ground was chewed up by the 'works'
So we took the rightward track, exploring higher ground and stream banks for spots as we went. It was generally squelchy and boggy, but we did find a spot and threw up the tent. It was after 11 by that point, so just a quick tea and off to bed.
When we woke in the morning, we could see the tops through thin cloud and the skies were blue, so no messing about we were up and out quite early for us
We continued along the track for only a short distance before we spotted the old path zig-zagging up the hillside to the South Glen Shiel Ridge. The bottom part isn't very well preserved, sowe followed a spur more directly for a while to regain the pony track further up. The path was overgrown, but it made a very steep long hillside manageable.
The path wound its way between two bonny gorges, only the occasional section affected by a landslide long overgrown. We plodded upward for what seemed like forever - the top always looked a few hundred feet above only for those few hundred feet to never get any less
When we got to the ridge, there were lovely views over to the other side
We headed along the ridge, but by time we got to the first top we were all clagged in too
It was a good reminder of how much fun the South Glen Shiel ridge is though - It has been several years since either of us had been up this way so we just enjoyed following the baggers path, up and down, seeing looming crags and stepping round rocky bits
We passed a path down, but we didn't feel ready to go back yet, and there was another further along, so we headed on for more of the ridge.
The wind had got up a bit though and cloud had turned to drizzle. by the time we had got up to Doire Leathan, the gusts were horrible and we were soaked.
We dropped down a bit for lunch, but we just got cold and miserable stopping. When we got up as well, we forgot to navigate and ended up going down the wrong ridge a couple of hundred yards before unexpected ground alerted us to our error
We headed back to the summit, but by this time we were getting nastily pelted by rain and wind - time to retreat! So we tromped rather quickly back the way had come, looking for the path down that we had seen earlier.
It was quite a good path at the top, but it disappeared in the bog, only the occasional trace to follow. We were on the Lea side of the hill and the weather had improved somewhat so it turned into a far more enjoyable walk down a really bonny burn.
At the second waterfall, I found the path again and enjoyed using the easy zigzags while Dougie took a more direct route.
The remnants of the path took us down to a wee hydro dam where a track started up which promptly ended in the middle of a bog
It was just near Alltbeithe though, so turned out to be a short trot back to the tent to get out of wet clothes and warmed up for a long relaxing evening listening to the drizzle on the tent. The clag was right down and when we awoke on Sunday, nothing had changed
so we waited..
Late morning we decided we had to get out of that miserable place. Back on with the soggy gear and march as quick as possible back to the car
Och it could of been a fine weekend if it wasn't for the drizzle, but we both enjoyed it quite a lot so that goes to show how good it is round there
