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... Loch Wharral’s nicer!
During my April trip this year, when I was playing ‘Chase the (good) weather’, there was a nice, dry forecast for the east (as usual) so I ended up at Glen Clova - my parents had always raved about it so I thought it was time I saw it for myself. I landed up around tea-time but, as I’d had a huge day the day before, I couldn’t be bothered to do more than get settled in the bunkhouse and then have a short walk up to see the famed, and equally raved about, Loch Brandy.
The path conveniently sets off up the hillside immediately behind the Glen Clova Hotel and bunkhouse on a good track. It’s a couple of miles up to the loch and I made good progress. I reached the loch
- Loch Brandy Bursts into View
and its attendant lochans
all looking deep blue under the clear blue sky and surrounded by a steep corrie wall. On the left is The Snub – a pleasant small hill with a short, sharp climb up it.
I decided the ascent would provide some great photos.
The climb didn’t take long at all and the path continued round two sides of the corrie where there is a split – you can either come back down the other arm of the corrie, staying with Loch Brandy, or you can venture off east on another track across the next easy rises. I’d seen there was another, less famed loch, Loch Wharral and thought I’d go see what that was like.
I passed over a featureless slight hill, ‘Green Hill’, looking for another split in the track to descend the ridge to the west of Loch Wharral, ‘Shank of Catstae’ but somehow missed the split. I knew I had to turn south before the burn and next rise so turned anyway and soon picked up the track. After seeming to descend quite a way but still not seeing the loch, I decided to abandon the track and just head over to the corrie containing it.
Suddenly Loch Wharral burst into view – the sun was just at the right angle and lit the corrie walls crags and made all the grass look golden. Again the loch was a beautiful calm blue. I personally thought this loch was far nicer than Loch Brandy so here are the pictures for you to judge...
I then rejoined the track which did eventually come within sight of the loch anyway and descended to a hollow with a burn. The track then went off east – exactly the opposite direction to where I needed to be but my map showed another track started the other side of this and another burn and descended back to the valley in zig-zags. After crossing a considerable bog I crossed a fenceline and found the zig-zag. However, the path was an old path which was gouged deeply into the hillside and, like many old, deep paths, was full of bog and water. I found that everyone had abandoned the zig-zag and just gone straight down the fence heading for a woodland so I did the same.
The path went off into the woodland but was no longer marked on my map and split into several different routes. I knew there was a high deer fence to get out onto the road so headed up onto a high embankment to look for a gate out of the woodland enclosure. Luckily I’d chosen just the right spot and the gate wasn’t far away. It was then a pleasant walk back for a mile along a newly made path alongside the road and several fishing lochs. A very pleasant evening walk!
Last edited by mountain coward on Sun Jan 02, 2011 1:47 am, edited 1 time in total.