The Falls of Glomach

Sunday 1st June 2014

After fantastic weather the day before this walk, which I squandered on a small coastal stroll, I had muggy, overcast weather when I returned to the mountains as I headed back over the Skye Bridge onto the mainland. However, it wasn’t a mountain that was the main goal of this walk, but a waterfall, the spectacular falls of Glomach. This waterfall deserves to be really popular with droves of people queuing up to see this marvel of the natural world, and if it lay near a road I’m sure it would as it is often described as one of the most magnificent falls in Britain. It is one of the highest waterfalls in Britain with a single drop of 370 feet, but lies near a remote valley that has no public vehicle access. The only way to get to the waterfall is by walking either all the way along the valley or by a shorter route, and the more popular option, to climb over a pass from Loch Duich to the top of the waterfall, and that was the route I took at the start of my second week in Scotland.

After spending two nights on the wonderful Isle of Skye I caught a bus to Allt a’ Chruinn, just before Glen Shiel, on the banks of Loch Duich from where I walked along the road to the Kintail Outdoor Centre while marvelling at the weather that had thrown down rain while I was on the bus  and was now warm and sunny. I had been expecting poor weather on this walk, but most of the time it was warm, overcast and muggy (perfect midge weather). Ahead of me was Beinn Fhada, a mountain that I climbed in 2008, when I used the same approach as now, past the Kintail Outdoor Centre and into Strath Croe. On reaching the end of the road I passed into a stunning area filled with young trees and an abundant display of plants that just shows what happens when you fence off deer and other animals from an area. I would love it if more of our upland country was as overflowing with such an abundant variety of plants.

Rather than continue along the path through Gleann Chòinneachan towards Bealach an Sgàirne, I crossed the lovely shallow gorge of the Abhainn Chonaig into Dorusduain Wood. Rather dull forestry tracks took me through this wood until I finally crossed the bridge where the Allt an Leòid Ghaineamhaich and the Allt Màm an Tuire meet and there I left the confines of the valley as I climbed steeply up the sides of the valley above the Allt an Leòid Ghaineamhaich. My bones creaked and my muscles ached as I slowly struggled up the path with the sun shining down on me and with my new rucksack feeling just as heavy as my old one. Before I got to the top of the pass I had to stop and have my lunch so I could regain my strength for the final pull to the top of Bealach na Sròine.

My immense effort seemed to be paid off when I reached the broad top of the pass where the views towards the northern hills were fantastic, even though it was rather dull and overcast, and the hills were a bit grassy. Eventually I descended to the meadow at the top of the Falls of Glomach where the roar of water could be clearly heard, but it was not the falls themselves that first attracted my notice. The meadow was covered with wildflowers and most particularly spotted-orchids spread over the entire meadow. Soon I started taking the steep path that descends into the fabulous wooded ravine of the Allt a’ Ghlomaich, but I was frustrated at being unable to get a really good view of the waterfall. The gorge is so deep and precipitous that it is either impossible or extremely dangerous to get a good view of the falls. Only a bird can get the perfect view of this most elusive waterfall.

The path very steeply descends the ravine for a short distance providing me with a surprisingly close-up view of the waterfall, but a longer range shot was not possible. I was on an ingeniously designed path that thrillingly weaved a course part way down into the precipitous gorge, but ultimately it had to be climbed steeply back up to the top of the waterfall as no further descent on that path was possible. Tiringly I climbed back up to the top and after a moment of confusion I found the path that traverses high above the ravine before dropping all the way down to the bottom well away from the waterfall which was hidden by the twists and turns of the ravine. I really enjoyed this traversing path as it clings to the side of the ravine, but with steep drops down to the bottom, and was absolute fun as I love such narrow terrace paths that are still a little scary in their almost vertical drops.

At the bottom of the ravine it started to rain heavily so I donned all my waterproofs, and then almost immediately it stopped raining. Obstinately I kept my waterproofs on until I had come all the way down to the end of the valley and into the parent valley of Glen Elchaig where the sun was shining once again. The Glomach ravine is spectacular and what I saw of the waterfall was stunning, but it is a pity that I couldn’t get a really good look at it. The gorgeous paths more than made up for my disappointment with the waterfall as they were exciting and thrilling in the steepness of the terrain they crossed. Glen Elchaig is a wide, deserted valley with little sign of civilisation except for a landrover track and this is what I walked along, up the valley, past Loch na Leitreach and past a small house identified as Carnach on maps, until I reached another small house called Iron Lodge.

I had thought about turning left at Iron Lodge to climb over Rèidh Leum na Fèithe to the bothy Maol-bhuidhe, but this is a long distance from Iron Lodge so instead I turned right climbing steeply on the badly constructed zigzags of the landrover track to the top of the pass near Loch an Droma where I pitched my tent in an idyllic spot where the only sign of civilisation was the bulldozed landrover track. This day had really just been the start of a small long-distance walk of my own devising across Scotland from Loch Duich to Cannich on the other side of the mountains before walking all the way back again. I was now sitting on the Highland divide, the watershed that determines whether rainwater heads west into the Atlantic or east into the North Sea. To visit the falls of Glomach was a bonus to a walk that now ended in a wild camp in a stunning location miles from the nearest road with settled weather providing me with a lovely, tranquil end to the surprisingly good day.