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When I was a kid I remember crossing Rannoch Moor in the old family car on our way north. It struck me then as a bleak and desolate place where it wouldn't be a good idea to get lost and was probably my least favourite of all the places we visited. It's funny how childhood memories stick and until we walked across it as part of the WHW that's how I still thought of it. I did get an inkling it might deliver more than I was expecting when my brother and sister in law said when they did the WHW it had rained every day but one and they had saved that one good weather day for the Rannoch Moor, even though it meant doing it out of sequence. They thought it was worth a good day and now I know they were right.
Our day for it dawned bright and beautiful. Peter delivered us back to the Inveroran Hotel where we got the usual photo with the dogs. After her previous day's training session, and not expecting to find sheep on the moor, Callie was coming with us.
This old coaching inn dates back to 1707 and would have been a busy staging post when this was the main route north. I imagine the opening of the WHW brought some welcome business back through its doors and very welcoming we found it.
Inveroran Hotel
From the hotel we followed the same route we'd taken a few years earlier on our way to Stob a' Choire Odhair, past Inveroran Cottage, over the Allt Tolaghan, past where we had parked and over the Victoria Bridge.
View west from Victoria Bridge to Etive hills
View east from Victoria Bridge to Loch Tulla
We passed Forest Lodge and through a gate on to Telford's old Parliamentary Road, which replaced the old military road and remained in use until 1933.
Telford's road with Meall a' Bhuiridh ahead
As I'd thought, there were no sheep about so I was able to have Callie off lead which made life so much easier for her and me. Her recall is almost 100% instant (secret with labs is having food in pocket!) and she doesn't have the exploring off track wanderlust like old Jack used to have.
South east to Bridge of Orchy hills
Here we were on a beautiful day in the heart of Rannoch Moor's wetlands, safe on the solid ground of Telford's road. These wetlands are important. At an altitude of about 300 metres, the moor is covered with a “blanket bog”, formed out of plants that thrive on acidic soils, usually in upland areas above 200m and subject to heavy rainfall and low temperature. The uplands of Scotland cover almost two thirds of the country and around 14 per cent of that land can be classified as blanket bog.
The blanket bogs and lochans of Rannoch Moor drain into Loch Tummel, via Loch Rannoch. Due to its very specific fauna and flora, typical of peatland areas, the moor has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest. It has also been declared a National Nature Reserve, is a proposed Special Area of Conservation and has been listed as a site of worldwide wetland importance. Who would have thought of bog as so important.
The views were superb and it was wonderful to see so many hills we'd climbed from a different perspective. We spent a lot of time reminiscing about those different days we'd spent and what the weather had been like. I don't think any of the days, apart from the day on Creise and Meall a' Bhuiridh, were quite as perfect weather as today was!
Creise and Meall a' Bhuiridh from lunch stop
We sat on the wall of one of the bridges we crossed for lunch and chatted to some other walkers who came along. They were from somewhere overseas but I don't remember where.
Another look back to Orchy hills
And another
I didn't realise when I was on top of it how impressive Stob a' Choire Odhair is from this angle.
Stob a' Choire Odhair and Stob Ghabhar from north
The Black Mount
We could see the whole of the Clachlet Traverse which is a 25 km walk over the four Munro peaks of the range, namely Stob a' Choire Odhair, Stob Ghabhar, Creise and Meall a' Bhuiridh. The route begins at the Inveroran Inn and ends at the Kingshouse Hotel, the same place we were heading, but at a higher and more challenging level than ours!
Zoomed to Clach Leathad
Alpine scenery
Easy walking courtesy of Thomas Telford
Thomas Telford (1757 - 1834) was a Scottish civil engineer, architect and stonemason, and a noted road, bridge and canal builder. Such was his reputation as a prolific designer of highways and related bridges, he was dubbed The Colossus of Roads (a pun on the Colossus of Rhodes) and has left a long lasting mark on the road network in Scotland.
Over the moor to Beinn a' Ghreachain, Beinn Achaladair, Beinn an Dothaidh & Beinn Dorain
Glencoe ahead
Are you coming?
Buachaille Etive Mor and Beinn a' Chrulaiste
Much photographed guardian of Glencoe
Much photographed cottage
Black Rock cottage is a club hut for the Ladies' Scottish Climbing Club and is a magnet for photographers. When we arrived a man was there with his tripod and camera, his car waiting at the road side. Being just off the A82 it's easily accessed which is probably a lot to do with its popularity. But there's no denyng the mesmerising effect of the towering block of black rock known as the Great Herdsman of Etive. It's hard to drive past and not stop and gaze at it in wonder and with the generosity of digital photography take far more photos than we could ever possibly need.
The Great Herdsman
When we reached the cottage I put Callie on lead as we were close to the fast flowing A82, where cars take no prisoners, and kept her on until we were safely on the track on the other side. It wasn't too much further to the Kingshouse Hotel where we were meeting Peter but I already knew there would be no cake and coffee there as the place currently resembles a building site. Despite all the machinery and work going on, the Kingshouse deer were still grazing in an adjoining field and barely spared us a glance as we passed, dog and all.
Deer grazing by the Kingshouse building site
Meall a' Bhuiridh, Creise and Stob a' Ghlas Choire from Kingshouse
I met a couple of women who had been expecting their transport to pick them up here then discovering they would have to walk all the way back to the Glencoe Ski Centre. If I'd found Pete at this point I could have offered them a lift but by the time I did they were away. Due to the building work he'd been unsure how to get into the place we'd arranged to meet and had found a bit of old road coming in from the main road and pulled in there. It was good to see him and we headed off to our new abode in Glencoe to dump our stuff and have a shower before going for food to the Clachaig. It was heaving with folk and we were fortunate to get a table together, thanks to a guy on his own insisting on moving, which was very kind of him. It was also nice to have a catch up with some friendly blokes we'd met earlier. A good end to a fabulous day.
Looking back, both of us had enjoyed each part of the WHW, each with its own distinctive beauty. But we easily agreed that the sometimes gloomy and forbidding Rannoch Moor had been the highlight with its blue skies, crystal visiblity and snow-capped mountains. Definitely one to keep for a good day!