Good day,
I am planning on walking from Barrisdale Bay to Shiel Bridge early June. It's pretty hefty distance and I have tackled Meall Bhuidhe & Luinne Bheinn coming from Inverie the previous day. Considering I have camped at Barrisdale Bay and knowing my body is always on the alert the first days of camping, so it will have been a light sleep, perhaps this stretch will be (too) tough.
I read Cicerone's guide and they mention an alternative route. After Kinloch Hourn, instead of heading towards the Forcan Ridge and The Saddle, they mention to keep following the path of the pylons, heading north west towards Gleann Dubh Lochain and Bealach Aoidhdailean. From there heading north east, skirting A'Chrannag and Tor Beag, and making your way from there to the camp site at Cnoc Fhionn and via the Old Military Road to Ratagan and then Shiel Bridge. The hostel at Ratagan does even sound tempting
I suppose that this alternative route has a lot less altitude differences to tackle compared to the Forcan Ridge option, but whether it has a good path to follow I am not sure.
Since Harvey Maps' CWT South doesn't cover this bit, I'd like some feedback on how this altennative folds out, both in terms of difficulty and how 'good' it is, as "following the pylons" for quite some miles might not be very nice to do. And perhaps the Forcan Ridge isn't
that rough