Top tips for killing a day in Glen Coe
Munros: Stob Coire Raineach (Buachaille Etive Beag), Stob Dubh (Buachaille Etive Beag)
Date walked: 23/04/2022
Time taken: 4 hours
Wee Santa here, it's been quite a while! On my own this time. I've been flapping up and down the highlands for various uni placements for a few weeks, and a combination of cancelled plans and booking the wrong ferry to Islay left me with a whole 2 days to make the trip down from Inverness to Kennacraig. With a last minute base with some lovely friends in Fort William (and still grumpy from getting blown off Ben Wyvis last week) I decided to make the most of my bad planning and find a nice hill to bag.
I set off from the Fort well fortified with toast, bacon and beans, and arrived at the beehive cairn at around 11:30 to snag the very last parking spot! For future time-wasting activities, would recommend getting there a bit earlier . Set off happily up the Lairig Eilde on the gently rising path and found myself all of a sudden on the steppy bit that was rather steeper than I was ready for. Anyway, with lots of tactful stopping to admire the admittedly spectacular view, pet happy dogs, and take my jacket on and off, I made it up onto the bealach in reasonable time.
I headed off up the right hand path to take me up Stob Dubh first and found the very-steep-scary-looking-bit to be surprisingly manageable after the pull up to the bealach - just needed a wee stop halfway up it for some restorative peanuts and to appreciate a very resilient patch of snow. The cairn at the top of the ridge appeared all of a sudden and was followed by a lovely wee jaunt along the ridge to the top. Wandering just a little past the summit for my cup of tea I came upon an absolutely incredible view down Glen Etive all the way to the paps of Jura in the distance.
Heading back the way I came, my ankles nearly came a-cropper on the steep stony bits back to the bealach as I was so busy staring hopelessly at Bidean and Stob Coire Screamhach with their fabulous snowy bits and the big buachaille across the other way to look where I was putting my feet. Thankfully made it down without faceplanting entirely and set straight off the other way up Stob Coire Raineach.
The path up SCR is a bit all over the place at times - I kept finding it again having never wandered off it in the first place? The 'path' I ended up on was an interesting combination of grass, scree and scramble but it was cracking fun and I was on the top before I knew it. Stopped again for a bask in the sunshine, a brew and to enjoy the view of the Aonach Eagach and the Big Ben further north, and then headed back down again to the bealach, this time by a completely different not-the-path path.
By the time I got back to the bealach again i was having such a lovely time that I really didn't want to head back down! I stopped for wee sit and a snack in the sunshine, and gave myself a bit of a stern talking to about getting off the hill in a reasonable time - finally set off back down the lovely path into the Lairig Eilde and enjoyed listening to my knees and ankles moan about the steps again on the way down.
I set off from the Fort well fortified with toast, bacon and beans, and arrived at the beehive cairn at around 11:30 to snag the very last parking spot! For future time-wasting activities, would recommend getting there a bit earlier . Set off happily up the Lairig Eilde on the gently rising path and found myself all of a sudden on the steppy bit that was rather steeper than I was ready for. Anyway, with lots of tactful stopping to admire the admittedly spectacular view, pet happy dogs, and take my jacket on and off, I made it up onto the bealach in reasonable time.
I headed off up the right hand path to take me up Stob Dubh first and found the very-steep-scary-looking-bit to be surprisingly manageable after the pull up to the bealach - just needed a wee stop halfway up it for some restorative peanuts and to appreciate a very resilient patch of snow. The cairn at the top of the ridge appeared all of a sudden and was followed by a lovely wee jaunt along the ridge to the top. Wandering just a little past the summit for my cup of tea I came upon an absolutely incredible view down Glen Etive all the way to the paps of Jura in the distance.
Heading back the way I came, my ankles nearly came a-cropper on the steep stony bits back to the bealach as I was so busy staring hopelessly at Bidean and Stob Coire Screamhach with their fabulous snowy bits and the big buachaille across the other way to look where I was putting my feet. Thankfully made it down without faceplanting entirely and set straight off the other way up Stob Coire Raineach.
The path up SCR is a bit all over the place at times - I kept finding it again having never wandered off it in the first place? The 'path' I ended up on was an interesting combination of grass, scree and scramble but it was cracking fun and I was on the top before I knew it. Stopped again for a bask in the sunshine, a brew and to enjoy the view of the Aonach Eagach and the Big Ben further north, and then headed back down again to the bealach, this time by a completely different not-the-path path.
By the time I got back to the bealach again i was having such a lovely time that I really didn't want to head back down! I stopped for wee sit and a snack in the sunshine, and gave myself a bit of a stern talking to about getting off the hill in a reasonable time - finally set off back down the lovely path into the Lairig Eilde and enjoyed listening to my knees and ankles moan about the steps again on the way down.
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coldwetandhungry
- Location: Edinburgh
- Occupation: trainee dog/cow/horse/sheep fixer
- Activity: Mountain Walker
- Place: islay
- Gear: Trusty boots
- Ideal day out: a sunny ridge up top, some native trees below, followed by a very large cup of tea
- Munros: 31
- Corbetts: 1
- Wainwrights: 3
- Hewitts: 1
- Sub 2000: 1
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- Trips: 1
- Munros: 2
- Trips: 2
- Distance: 8.65 km
- Ascent: 320m
- Munros: 1
- Trips: 1
- Corbetts: 1
- Joined: Feb 11, 2012
- Last visited: Sep 07, 2023
- Total posts: 27 | Search posts