West Highland Way: Crianlarich to Victoria Bridge

Wednesday 25th May 2022

After several days in Crianlarich and one day later than planned, I set off along the West Highland Way, which is a long distance trail that must be one of the most popular in Britain. My first walking holiday in Scotland involved walking along the trail back in 2004, so it was interesting for me to reacquaint myself with the trail after all those years, even though I didn’t have the best weather. As I left Crianlarich Youth Hostel it was wet and drizzly, which is one reason why I was happy to be keeping to the low ground on the West Highland Way. After passing the railway station, I went under the bypass, which hadn’t been there in 2004, and climbed through the woodland where the trees to my right had recently been felled exposing the trees to my left and resulting in some of them blowing over during the winter storms. At the junction at the top of Glen Bogle, I joined the main route of the West Highland Way, which bypasses Crianlarich, and headed up into a conifer plantation soon getting very hot in my waterproofs. This is a problem with walking in warm and wet weather as despite the claims of many manufacturers of outdoor clothing that their gear is breathable I have found they rarely are, or at least not with the ones that I can afford.

My solution was to put on a wide-brimmed hat, which still kept me dry, but allowed me to cool down. While I was briefly on the West Highland Way two days earlier going south from Crianlarich to Derrydaroch in Glen Falloch, I passed many people coming the other way, but at this point I didn’t see anyone, although I was now going with the general flow of traffic rather than against as before. The rain eased with the gradient and soon I saw some blue sky, which with the isolation within the enclosing wood and a brief opening that afforded with me wider views helped to make this a lovely walk although before too long the trail started to descend and it started raining again. Crossing the raging Herive Burn the walk continued to be enjoyable as I made my way along a narrow undulating path through the conifer plantation that despite being clearly manmade seemed surprisingly wild. I was surprised at how much I was enjoying the West Highland Way. Near the bottom of the hill I came upon an area of felled trees where I was exposed to the wind blowing down Strath Fillan, so when it started raining again my wide-brimmed hat proved useless and had to be removed while I was under the shelter of a railway bridge.

After scampering across the busy A82 road, I crossed the river and the valley floor to reach Kirkton Farm and the remains of St Fillan’s Priory. Although the landscape was now definitely not wild, it is a farm, since the rain had stopped and sun was attempting to come out, I felt good to be walking and this positive mood kept me going past Auctertyre, under the A82 and beside the river into the delightful Tyndrum Community Woodland. Before leaving the river I stopped to take some pictures of the waterfalls near Dalrigh and tried to avoid a mine vehicle that passed by, which was certainly not there in 2004. It was a relief to come off the Mine Road and onto a good path that passes through fabulous scenery decorated with the yellow flowers of broom. Although I had a map with me, I never needed it as the West Highland Way is very well signposted on excellent paths, so I could just relax and enjoy the scenery all around me while blindly following the paths and the signposts that took me into all the way into Tyndrum. On reaching the village the heavens opened so I sought shelter in the shops where I bought my lunch and some food for the next couple of days.

Once the rain had stopped I set off along the wide, tedious track that climbs out of Tyndrym and initially I had good views into a heavily wooded gorge to my right, however the West Highland Way was now finally showing its popularity with many people in sight both ahead of me and behind as I followed the track into the narrowing valley. The A82 road, the railway and the track were all being squeezed together as we headed north in the improving weather and by the time I reached the top of the pass I was enjoying sunshine and good views north. Soon after the start of the descent the trail came off the track onto a narrow, rocky path that was reminiscent of a mountain trail with all its interest, but soon the West Highland Way drops down under the railway and onto another wide track that lacks interest except for the views down the valley that were dominated by the bulk of Beinn Dorain. A long walk followed against a strong headwind and took me down to the Allt Kinglass river and around the tall slopes of Beinn Dorain to reach the railway station at Bridge of Orchy coincidentally at the same time as a train was stopping there.

In 2004 I had stayed at the bunkhouse that is in the station buildings, but now I kept going down to the bridge over the River Orchy and onto a good path that soon became stony and climbs through woodland. Once again I became hot in my waterproofs, but as I emerged from the wood I was rewarded for my effort with good views back to Beinn Dorain and north towards Loch Tulla. When I reached the top of the pass, over Màm Carraigh, the wind picked up and it started raining again so I had a very unpleasant descent down to the road at the Inveroran Hotel, though by the time I reached the bottom the wind had eased and the rain had stopped. From the hotel I walked along the road passing a popular wild camping spot beside the bridge over the Allt Tolaghan until I reached Victoria Bridge near Forest Lodge where I turned left off the West Highland Way. A short walk along the track beside the Abhainn Shira took me to a conifer plantation where I stopped and under the shelter of the trees I put up my new, lightweight tent. This was an amazing, varied walk with some great paths and some tedious tracks; there were some great views when the sun shone, but also heavy rain and strong winds. The unsettled weather was ideal for walking the West Highland Way and I was really surprised by how enjoyable I found it.

Cruach Ardrain

Tuesday 24th May 2022

My plan for this day was to head north on the West Highland Way and then maybe the next day go up some mountains, however the weather forecast for the next day was poor, so it looked like my best opportunity to go up a mountain was on this day, which I didn’t want to waste by walking on the West Highland Way. Therefore I booked another night at the Crianlarich Youth Hostel so I could do the mountain that I’d planned to do the day before when bad weather had forced me to look elsewhere. This mountain was Cruach Ardrain, which I had previously climbed in 2005, but in poorer weather. I started by walking along the road out of Crianlarich, which was not the route that I had previously taken when I followed Ralph Storer’s outdated instructions in “100 Best Routes on Scottish Mountains” that took me up a horribly boggy gap in the trees above Crianlarich. The recommended route now is to head up a track beside the River Falloch towards Coire Earb and then head up the western slopes to Grey Height and was what I had intended on doing, but that involved retracing my steps of the day before, which I wasn’t keen on doing so when I saw a path that headed into the wood I came off the road.

This soon proved to be a bad idea as first I had to make my way over the remains of felled trees and then after reaching a forestry track I had to avoid two logging trucks, so when I saw a slender path heading up the hillside through a gap in the trees I came off the track and took the path even though it took me onto ridiculously wet ground. Eventually I emerged out of trees, but not in an easy place to reach the top of Grey Height and certainly not where I had emerged from the trees in 2005, so I had to cross below the northern crags until I reached a point where I could gain the clear path that comes up from the River Falloch and was the path that I should have been on. The sunshine that had greeted me at the start of this walk proved to be short-lived as it soon became largely overcast with the weather refusing to be consistently good though it was better than the day before. After passing over Grey Height a ridge developed that passes over craggy ground and made me thankful that I had stayed in Crianlarich to enjoy a clear path up a great mountain. I was mindful of the fact that on my holiday in 2005, when I had previously climbed this mountain, I didn’t have a camera, so I was keen to take plenty of photos to illustrate not just this walk, but also the ones that I did in 2005.

While still on the ridge, it started to rain for a short time, but this didn’t bother me too much as there wasn’t much wind which had been my biggest problem the day before with the weather. I was happy to be making my way along this ridge while around me were clear views towards Cruach Ardrain and across the valley to the other mountains that I had climbed in 2005 including An Caisteal, which I had climbed the day before. After passing over Meall Dhamh, the bulk of Cruach Ardrain appeared before me looking impregnable while my path seemed to agree as it veered across the steep western slopes reluctant to attempt the climb. Eventually the clear path peters out to meander faintly up the steep slopes on a tiring climb that was compensated by the great views around me until eventually I reached the southern slopes of the mountain and the clear path that comes up from Beinn Tulaichean. In 2005 I had deliberately made my way across the saddle to bag this Munro, but I had no such desire now, so I turned left to head up to the top of Cruach Ardrain, just as the weather began to worsen again. Therefore I sought shelter on the southern slopes below the summit and had my lunch while it rained again, though the views south remained throughout.

By the time I had eaten the weather had cleared so that from the summit cairn I had tremendous views in all directions which prompted me to cross the summit plateau to take many pictures of the awesome views including west towards the Glen Falloch Group and south towards Beinn Tulaichean. Dark clouds lingered east atop the highest peaks in the area, Ben More and Stob Binnein while north up Strath Fillan there was still rain, though the views up the broad valley were still great. My onward progress was north east down what appeared to be a sheer cliff face, but since I remembered it as being the route I took in 2005 I looked for a path and found a faint, eroded path that weaves very steeply between the rock outcrops. I descended the steep hillside very slowly keeping my centre of balance as low as possible carefully making my way down and concentrating all the time until eventually I thankfully reached the craggy, complex bealach at the bottom where a faint path led me around the crags of Stob Garbh avoiding any unnecessary ascent before finally bringing me up to the summit of this Munro Top. Although the sunshine now held for the rest of the day, it was quite windy on this ridge, which unfortunately detracted from my enjoyment of it similar to the day before.

From the summit I had great views down Strath Fillan towards the dark clouds that remained in the distance as I slowly started to descend the ridge that gradually broadened to became more grassy and dull until eventually I reached the fence that marks the edge of the forestry plantation. I remembered that there is a steep descent beyond this fence so to avoid it I turned right keeping to the top of the ridge, but soon this also started to descend steeply and brought me into an area of dense, young conifers that was almost impossible to battle through until finally I came onto a forestry track that provided me with an easy return to Crianlarich. I was so glad that I was able to do this walk and that my plans had not been so rigid as to prevent me from making the most of the sunshine. Despite weather that was not the best with rain showers in the morning and strengthening winds in the afternoon, I was still able to climb a great mountain with some gorgeous craggy terrain that was a joy to be walking amongst. I do not have many opportunities to be at the top of a Scottish mountain in good weather so I was frustrated the day before not to have such an opportunity, but this day more than made up for that with a great walk up a Scottish mountain in good weather.