South Loch Ness Trail

Friday 24th May 2019

After five days trekking across the North-West Highlands of Scotland in mixed weather I had returned to civilisation in Inverness and for the next three days I planned to do some low-level walks to enable me to recuperate before heading back out into the mountains. However, the weather forecast for the next week was very poor which made me very depressed, but there was one day when the forecast was good, and that was this day. This actually didn’t help my despondency as I’d not planned to climb a mountain although it seemed like being the best weather to do just that. There are no mountains near Inverness so I would have to travel a long distance, there and back, to climb a mountain, so eventually I decided I would do the planned low-level walk, mainly because I had nothing better planned to do. For this day I wanted to explore the area to the south of Loch Ness making use of the South Loch Ness Trail that has been created specifically to encourage people into this less frequently visited part of Scotland. My biggest problem with this trail was that it starts from Torbreck on the edge of Inverness, four miles from the youth hostel in the centre of the city. This walk out, at first, was quite interesting as I followed the River Ness upstream, though it was very cold at this early hour with a cold wind blowing down the river under overcast skies with no sign yet of the forecast sunshine.

It wasn’t long before I had to leave the river’s side and follow a boring leafy lane for several miles slowly leaving the city of Inverness behind. After passing a large roundabout I left the city and entered the countryside walking on the road with fast cars driving straight at me until, thankfully, I safely reached the turning for the minor road to Torbreck where I found the path into the woods at the start of the South Loch Ness Trail. The change in surroundings after walking through the city and dicing with death on the country lane was dramatic and welcome. I now had a lovely walk through the mostly conifer woodland where the sun finally made its first, though brief, appearance as this walk started to come good. Beyond the all-too-small wood the trail climbs to the edge of Drumashie Plantation on the northern slopes of a broad hill. Following a forestry track I headed along the trail beside banks of pungent smelling gorse and broom while to my right the wide valley of the Great Glen could be seen, though with still no sign of Loch Ness as I had not come far enough yet. After a while young deciduous trees appeared beside the path to my right and when I left the plantation behind I had views across Drumashie Moor to my left where gorse dominated the scene under persistent overcast skies.

The South Loch Ness Trail runs for thirty-four miles from Torbreck to Fort Augustus so I was not going to be able to complete the whole route in one day and as I walked I considered my options for a return path. Upon reaching a road the South Loch Ness Trail descends along the road to reach the lochside village of Dores, however another trail, primarily designed for horse riders, called the Trail of the Seven Lochs, continues straight ahead and I thought it might be a good idea to take that route and keep to the higher ground. Soon after parting company with the South Loch Ness Trail the view to my right finally revealed the northern end of Loch Ness, though it was not looking great under the hazy light and grey clouds. Much of my walk along the Trail of the Seven Lochs was through the conifer plantations of Clune Wood and Dirr Wood on rather muddy paths that made the walking tiring and frustrating. Slowly I made my way along the trail passing several farms and through more conifer plantations until I reached one that was in the process of being felled, and this afforded me with an unrestricted view across Loch Ness with Urquhart Bay behind.

I was now at the point where the South Loch Ness Trail rejoins the Trail of the Seven Lochs and rather than continue heading south where I would soon have to climb up to the top of Fair Haired Lad’s Pass I turned right to head back towards Inverness along the South Loch Ness Trail. I had contemplated continuing to head south and eventually catch a bus in Inverfarigaig or Foyers, but I wasn’t sure of the times of the buses and I wasn’t keen on rushing the walk to be in time to catch the bus back to Inverness. I prefer to take my time on a walk and hate having a deadline. I walk for enjoyment and did not want to stress myself trying to catch a bus, so instead I slowly followed the wide forestry track that gradually descends to the shore of the loch. The point where I turned was decorated with wild flowers including bluebells and stitchworts that had taken advantage of the tree-felling to produce a delightful display and brightened the otherwise dreary surroundings. Eventually the forestry track brought me onto the lochside road where upon crossing the Allt Dailinn I entered a fabulous deciduous wood that was liberally festooned with bluebells and provided me with a great walk before kicking me out again onto the road. After passing Baile-a-chladaich a path between the road and the loch provided me with more bluebell-filled delights and sunny views up and down the loch.

The Trail of the Seven Lochs had not provided me with any of these delights and made me wish I had stayed on the South Loch Ness Trail throughout. All too soon I reached the village of Dores where I discovered I had almost two hours to wait for the next bus, but this was not a problem as the map indicated some good walks through the nearby Torr Woods. The skies had finally clearing revealing blue skies so I enjoyed the sunshine as I crossed the bay to enter Torr wood and turned right to do a walk around the hill of An Torr. At one point I found a covering of bluebells in an opening in the trees which produced a splendid sight that would not shame anywhere. Slowly I wandered along the paths through the wood not really knowing how far I had gone, so I was rather surprised when I found myself back at the start without realising I had gone all the way around the hill. To waste more time I made my way down to the lochside to take some pictures and eventually found myself at Torr Point with a view down the length of Loch Ness. With the sun shining this was a lovely and relaxing end to a day that could have been considered frustrating and a wasted opportunity, but I must not dwell on what could have been and simply enjoy the sunshine that eventually graced me in the afternoon.

Bearnais to Strathcarron

Thursday 23rd May 2019

I have had a troubled history with the hills in Scotland between Glen Shiel and Strathcarron whereby the weather never seems to be good which makes it seem as if I have no luck in that area. I tried to spend almost an entire holiday there in 2014, but I seemed to go from one disaster to another. That holiday started with the bus that would take me to the village of Struy at the entrance to Glen Strathfarrar driving straight past me without stopping, and then the following week bad weather prevented me from going over the Mullardoch hills which forced me to walk along the whole length of Loch Mullardoch. These bad experiences made me reluctant to return to the area, but after five years of licking my wounds I finally plucked up the courage to enter this remote part of the Scottish Highlands again. I came from a different direction this time, not from the east that had not worked out for me in 2014, but from the south so I could climb the mountains that bad weather had prevented me from climbing in 2014, only for bad weather to stop me again. I was unable to climb Sgùrr nan Ceathreamhnan at the head of Glen Affric, and now after two nights at the Bearnais bothy bad weather prevented me from climbing the mountains west of Loch Monar.

The weather had been terrible the day before this walk with rain almost all day, and on this day I woke in the bothy to unchanged weather. It was very depressing for me to realise that I had come all this way to such a remote part of Scotland only for bad weather to ruin my plans and stop me from climbing the mountains. The bad weather that always seems to be in this area makes me not want to ever come back to this part of the Highlands again. I did have some luck two days before when the sun shone where I was, though just a short distance south the weather was bad, so on that day I was able to climb two remote mountains in the West Monar Forest, Lurg Mhòr and Bidein à Choire Sheasgaich. That day was a joy, but apart from that and maybe one or two other exceptions this whole area has seemed to be plagued with bad luck for me. I could easily say I will never return to this area again, but I hope this is not the case because there are some fabulous mountains including Bidein à Choire Sheasgaich on the walk two days ago.

With these thoughts going through my head and wondering if it was ever going to be worth my going to the West Highlands again I packed my stuff and left the Bearnais bothy that had been my home and shelter from the bad weather for two nights, and set off along the sketchy path that heads west into the low hills. Waving goodbye to Bearnais bothy I headed into the wind and rain plunging through the heather and bog on a narrow path that, though generally clear, is not the best. In many places it was inevitably waterlogged and the views were non-existent thanks to the low clouds. After a short climb into the low hills the path weaves a flat, uninteresting route that may have been enlivened by a view, but with the rain blowing into my face I kept my head down as I made my way along the path wishing this walk would just end. From the map I must have passed through a gap in the ridge north of the Graham-classed mountain Creag Dhubh Mhòr before finally starting to descend following the Eas na Creige Duibhe Mòire.

The terrain now became more interesting as the stream fell down a lovely cascade into a beautiful ravine lined with trees. Despite the continuing rain this was a lovely scene and the trees that are usually scarce in Scottish mountain scenes, grazing by deer prevent their appearance, gave a pleasing wild land look to the surroundings. As I continued to descend the rain finally stopped and the clouds opened out to reveal the view before me across the fields of Strathcarron, and I even briefly saw a small patch of blue sky. This joyous scene was short-lived as I soon came across the desolation caused by recent hydro-electric works on the Eas an Teampuill above Strathcarron. There have been many hydro-electric schemes recently built in the Highlands of Scotland, and they are liable to become the ruination of the Highlands as they are destroying the very thing that brings people to the mountains. It is heart-breaking to see. Resignedly I dropped onto the wide access road that has been bulldozed through the beautiful Highlands and slowly I followed this track all the way into Stathcarron.

I was thankful that the rain had stopped, but it was too late as I was due to catch a train back to Inverness. I had not seen another human being for more than two days since leaving the Maole-bhuidhe bothy so it was good to have human contact again, but after five days in the awesome scenery of the wilds of Scotland, it was distressing to descend past the desolation caused by the hydro-electric works, though except for the wide access road it will eventually recover. Despite the desolation and poor weather I reflected as I came down into Strathcarron that this is a beautiful valley with stunning scenery so it is a pity that it is all being put in danger by the desire to earn a small amount of money generating a small amount of electricity. So much lost for so little gain.