Glen Affric

Thursday 5th June 2014

On the day before this walk I did a fabulous walk over high mountains north of Glen Affric, but I returned to my tent in Gleann nam Fiadh, at the foot of these mountains, in worsening weather. Midges were swarming everywhere and forced me into my tent to gaze in awe at the thousands of tiny insects trying to get through the netting of my inner tent. It was fascinating to look at the midges and then to see them disappear as soon as it started to rain again, and this rain continued throughout much of the night and was not much better when I got up in the morning, so I packed up, left the spot where I had been staying for the last two nights and headed off back over the hill and down into Glen Affric. A short walk along a private road brought me back to the River Affric car park where I made use of the facilities.

There I met a couple who appeared to have camped beside the car park, and who were actually the first people I’d seen in over forty hours, more than two nights ago, having gone through the entire previous day without seeing a single person. You don’t get that sort of isolation in the Lake District! Throughout this holiday I had been timing the length of time that had passed between seeing people. Last year twenty-four hours passed while I walked along Glen Avon, slept and then climbed Ben Avon, without seeing anyone. Several times on this holiday I had gone twenty hours, but in this second week of my holiday I doubled that. For someone who dislikes crowds there’s something rather satisfying about that.

My plan for this day was to walk to the Youth Hostel near the top of Glen Affric and, while I had considered climbing Ciste Dhubh, when I reached the hostel the weather ensured that this was never seriously considered. In view of the poor weather I took a slow dawdling walk along the valley finally reaching the hostel before three o’clock. I actually could stop this article now and move onto the next day as there’s not really much more to tell, but I won’t. The first half of the day I was on a broad track walking beside the south bank of Loch Affric until at the far end of the loch I turned right, avoiding the path into Gleann na Ciche, to reach a building that is marked on maps as Athnamulloch with Strawberry Cottage on the other side of the river.

There were a surprisingly large number of cars near these buildings, including several National Trust for Scotland vehicles, and the explanation for this would be provided when I reached the hostel. After crossing the river beside Strawberry Cottage I felt like I had left civilisation behind, or what little there had been in the valley. The surroundings were now completely undeveloped with no other sign of the intrusion of man other than the narrow track that I was walking along. The infant River Affric meandered around the floor of the valley with the track at times closely following the river until eventually I reached the hostel, which reminded me of the Loch Ossian Youth Hostel that is similarly isolated, but with the added bonus of a shower (which I really needed!).

The National Trust vehicles were explained by the presence of a team of volunteers for the National Trust for Scotland who were staying at the hostel. When I had started planning this holiday I had considered volunteering here so it was interesting to see who I would have been working with if I had joined. My initial idea for this holiday in Scotland was simply to go to Glen Affric but ultimately I decided I wanted to achieve this under my own planning by walking along the entire length of the valley from the village of Cannich. I saw the valley in both rain and sunshine and was entranced by the seemingly unspoilt scenery that has actually been heavily influenced by man.

Although this day was heavily marred by the poor weather I still really enjoyed it. The rain or drizzle had stopped by noon enabling me to enjoy the slow walk along the valley before the rain started again soon after I reached the hostel. Ciste Dhubh, completely covered in cloud when I got there, is a mountain that I will have to climb another day. I do enjoy walking long distances along a good footpath through wild countryside. I don’t have to go to the top of a mountain to have a good walk and on a day like this it is much better staying on a good footpath at the bottom of the valley than trying to find your way in bad weather to the top of a mountain. When the weather is good then the top of a mountain is definitely the place to be as I found out the day before on this poor, dreich day.