Glen Coe

Sunday 24th May 2026

During a day spent resting from walking, I had moved from the Crianlarich Youth Hostel to the Glen Coe Youth Hostel where I had previously been twenty years ago but I had not been back since, so while planning this holiday I decided that I would spend a few days there to reacquaint myself with this fabulous place. In 2006 I had climbed Bidean Nam Bian, the highest point in the area, in quite poor weather with zero visibility, so I wanted to go back and, this time, be able to appreciate the view, however, if the weather was just as bad then I wasn’t sure it would be worth it. While England endured its first heatwave of the year, Scotland was wet, humid and drizzly, with thick clouds covering the sky, so I was not optimistic of following my footsteps of twenty years ago. Nevertheless, I set off along the quiet country lane from the youth hostel, past the Red Squirrel Campsite and the Clachaig Inn to reach the River Coe. After crossing the main road I walked along the path than runs alongside, passing Loch Achtriochtan, into the treeless upper part of Glen Coe below the impressive buttresses of the Three Sisters of Glencoe, which looked no less imposing with their heads in the clouds. Between the second and third sister the path branched down to cross the River Coe in an impressive gorge and then climbed steeply up into Coire Gabhail.

This is a difficult, rough path with some scrambling required in places, but despite this it is very popular. Metal steps provide access into the gorge, but the climb back up is a steep, but easy scramble that takes you to a junction. The route marked on Ordnance Survey maps turns right to climb above the valley while the left turning, clearer path keeps nearer to the burn. I thought I’d try the right turn, which took me onto a manufactured path, climbing towards the middle ridge of the three sisters and provided me with a great route and views, even though most people were taking the lower path. Eventually it began to descend steeply back down to the burn where stepping stones took the reunited paths onto a clear, manufactured route up the slopes of the other side of the valley until a stupendous view was revealed of a hidden valley. After the steep ascent through the tree-filled valley up to this point it is surprising to see a flat bottomed valley ahead hidden away amongst the hills. The last time I was in this so-called lost valley was 2016 when the weather was worse than on this day, it was raining, and even that was better than in 2006 when the cloud was so low I hadn’t seen anything. But, even though the weather was better than on those occasions, I was still not going to have a view from Bidean Nam Bian, so I was reluctant to climb out of the hidden valley.

After crossing the plain I started to ascend, but only so far until I had a good view back across Coire Gabhail to the mountains on the opposite side of Glen Coe. There were other people climbing up to the col and I could have followed them, but I didn’t want to. I have lost interest in bagging mountains and unless the weather is good I can’t see the point of being at the top of a mountain. I’ve seen too many trig points and cairns in misty conditions to want to see another one. Eventually I made my way back down the valley and I thought I’d explore the start of the gorge rather than taking to the path, but I soon realised that there no way down that way, so I returned to the plain and followed the clear path up, across the southern slopes and then down, over the stepping stones and, this time, I took the more popular, lower path, which was clearly much older and tricky in places where the rocks were wet. Eventually I crossed the River Coe again and into Glen Coe following the path beside the main road while wondering what to do next since it was early afternoon. On the other side of Loch Achtriochtan I followed the river on a new all-abilities footpath past some waterfalls to reach the car park for Signal Rock, which I had previously visited on that wet day in 2016. I am not sure whether I had actually reached the rock on that occasion, but I did now, but there is no view due to the tall, encircling conifers, so I retreated back to the River Coe.

The Glencoe Greenway continued on a wide path that was too easy for me, but enabled me to disengage my brain as I followed the trail, which eventually led me to the visitor centre where a path continues as part of the Glencoe Orbital path, beside the main road and into the village of Glencoe. Beyond the village, the trail continued across the River Coe and took me onto a narrow, off-road path through dark conifers until I returned to the youth hostel. This was a good, relaxing walk to end the day while the weather, which had worsened at lunchtime, now finally improved with the sun beginning to break through the clouds. Despite my walking this day repeating much of what I had done in 2016 it was more enjoyable because ten years ago I had been really frustrated with the weather, but I have come to realise now that I don’t need to go up a mountain to have a good walk. 

West Highland Way: Inversnaid to Crianlarich

Friday 22nd May 2026

During the first week of my holiday in Scotland I walked along the Loch Lomond and Cowal Way, finishing at the railway station of Arrochar and Tarbet, not far from the shore of Loch Lomond. However, rather than continuing my trek north from there the following day I had caught a train to Bridge of Orchy and headed south along the West Highland Way to Crianlarich, effectively skipping a stage on my stitched sequence of trails and reversed the direction. In fact, I had intended to ignore any idea of a coherent trek north for a couple of days and instead visit some of the mountains around Crianlarich, but the weather was so poor I had reverted to the trail and it was especially poor the previous day so skipping the stage made sense. With better weather this day I had the opportunity to do the missing stage, so to start I caught a train from Crianlarich back to Arrochar and Tarbet and then a ferry across Loch Lomond to Inversnaid joining the West Highland Way heading north along the eastern bank of Loch Lomond. I originally did the West Highland Way in 2004 and I have not done this section to Beinglas since, although, I was at Inversnaid in 2022 to the start of the Great Trossachs Path, but now I was heading onto the roughest section of the West Highland Way.

After crossing Loch Lomond I initially turned south to look at the impressive waterfall on the Arklet Water, beside the Inversnaid Hotel and stopped at the point where the Great Trossachs Path begins, at the junction with the West Highland Way, where I turned around and crossed the bridge over the falls again passing in front of the hotel. I wasn’t in a hurry as I set off along the path beside Loch Lomond, intent to enjoy every step through the trees and along the rocky, muddy path. There were some slow, tricky places where hand was on rock, particularly around Sroin Uaidh where the map indicates that Rob Roy’s Cave is located, but despite a brief look for it I couldn’t find it, so, perhaps I was looking in the wrong place. Apart from the fabulously craggy, rock-filled path, the highlight of this walk was the bluebells, which at this time of the year were gloriously in flower, decorating the hillside and producing a constant display. Later the trees thinned to reveal a meadow covered in bluebells, which I thought was an amazing sight, despite having seen many bluebells in my time, even just this year, but these bluebells just blew my mind and they weren’t even being shown off in the best conditions as it was grey and misty. But these bluebells were special.

I really enjoyed walking along the rocky path beside Loch Lomond and my body seemed to respond to the challenge, feeling fit and strong enough to tackle any terrain as I sailed along the path, enjoying every moment. The difficult terrain finally ended when the path moved away from the loch and began to climb past Creag Mhadaidh, but after passing Doune Byre another vast bank of bluebells appeared, this time with views across Loch Lomond to the distinctive peak of Stob nan Coinnich Bhacain. I then briefly came back down to the shore of Loch Lomond for a final time where I lingered, taking a few pictures and taking in my surroundings before setting off along the increasingly muddy path. Despite the huge amounts of rain recently, I was astonished by how bad the path was considering how popular the trail is, or perhaps it was this muddy because of how popular it is. You would have thought a trail as popular as this would have a good all-weather surface throughout its length, but clearly not at this point. Earlier, on the craggiest section, the ground had still been very wet, which had forced me to take extra care, but the abundant rock ensured that it wasn’t too muddy, unlike at the northern end of Loch Lomond. 

Finally I left the loch behind, climbing over Cnap Mòr with stunning views behind me on an excellent path that reminded me of how great the West Highland Way is and deserving of its popularity. Some sections have dull, wide tracks, but this bit was fabulous, especially as the weather was slowly improving. The great walking eventually brought me to the Beinglas Campsite where it now became much easier, initially on a wide track before branching onto a stony path that led me into the narrowing Glen Falloch where waterfalls created a lot of noise, but it was difficult for me to get a good view because of the trees. Eventually I crossed the River Falloch and followed a well-made path beside the river, through woodland, under a very low railway bridge, under the main road and up a recently improved path to the old military road that took me across the northern slopes of Glen Falloch all the way back to Crianlarich with stupendous views across the valley to Cruach Ardrain, which I had managed to climb again in 2022 when I was last in Crianlarich. 

Arguably, I should have been walking up a mountain this day as the weather was no worse than it had been four years ago, but, since I have already been to the top of all the mountains around Crianlarich, I had wanted good weather to make it worthwhile. Earlier in the day there had been a lot of cloud covering the mountains and it was only by late afternoon that the cloud eventually began to clear those peaks. So, would I have had more fun walking up a mountain in this weather than I had this day walking along the West Highland Way? I doubt it. I enjoy a good, clear footpath and the paths up mountains are often quite sketchy, but with the exception of the quagmire at the northern end of Loch Lomond, the paths on the West Highland Way were excellent. I love having a good view from the top of a mountain, so if there is no view then what is the point? I just enjoy a good walk and I am increasingly finding that a long distance trail provides me with everything I enjoy doing.