Loch Ericht

Wednesday 5th June 2013

On this day, I didn’t start walking until after lunch and this really helped me get back the energy that I had lost during the punishing schedule of my Great Trail through the Cairngorms that had left me exhausted and really tired, largely thanks to the heavy, painfully uncomfortable rucksack that I was using. I didn’t climb any hills on the day before this walk and again on this day I also didn’t climb any hills as I prepared for the final stage of my holiday. My plan was to walk from the Dalwhinnie railway station along an old drove road, used by cattle thieves centuries ago, all the way to Fort William passing beside Loch Ossian where I’d spent a thoroughly enjoyable weekend last year. Because of the late start to the walk I didn’t really make much progress towards Fort William, but I still managed to have a good day, even though it didn’t start particularly well.

I had stayed for the night in the popular tourist town of Pitlochry and needed to buy some food for my three day trek to Fort William. In Braemar, the local outdoors shop had stocked high-calorie camping food that was ideal for me, but there seemed to be nowhere in Pitlochry that sold what I wanted. Being new to camping I wasn’t sure what the alternatives were and with the local Co-op not being helpful I was fearing that I was going to starve until I found some dried pasta and sauce packets in a small Premier store. Although not as nutritious as specifically designed camping food it sufficed and I was able to get to Fort William without starving. But before then, I had to catch a train to the tiny hamlet of Dalwhinnie on the edge of the Cairngorms National Park. This is the first stop the train makes after going over the Drumochter Pass, the highest point on the British national rail network, and it is a bleak deserted place with very few houses, but there is a whisky distillery.

I am partial to a bit of the water of life, so I couldn’t resist taking a tour around the distillery and sampling the whisky, which I found to be very nice with a fruity taste and a vanilla scent. I generally favour the stronger, smokier whiskies, so it was a surprise for me to find how lovely is the Dalwhinnie. After eating my packed lunch outside the distillery, I set off towards Loch Ericht and onto the Thieves Road beside the loch. Dalwhinnie was an important crossing point between the west coast at Fort William and the rich lands of the east, or over the Drumochter pass to the south. Loch Ericht has now been dammed at both ends, but it was a slightly smaller, narrower loch when cattle were being driven beside it. Now a wide track runs along the length of the loch and provided me with an easy stroll under sunny skies between the loch and Loch Ericht Forest. This was mostly dark coniferous plantations, but where the sun was able to get through primrose was able to grow and enliven my walk.

The track beside Loch Ericht is usually cycled by Munro baggers when trying to climb the remote mountains of Ben Alder and its neighbours, but I was enjoying walking along its length despite being occasionally passed by cyclists because I knew I wasn’t going to be climbing a mountain this day. Just before reaching Ben Alder Lodge the track veers away from the shore of the loch, passing high above the impressive buildings of the lodge and into the moorland that sits before Ben Alder itself. A well-made, dry path took me across this boggy ground to the Culra Bothy; all the while the impressive bulk of Ben Alder loomed darkly ahead of me. Compared with the Corrie Etchachan bothy that I had stayed in the previous week, this was a mansion able to sleep many people in comparative luxury. It was deserted when I got there, but since it was still quite early and the weather was great I decided that I would press on towards Ben Alder and the top of the pass.

I had climbed Ben Alder last year, but now I was heading towards the great mountain from the opposite direction. Dark clouds lingered over the mountain, but the sun was shining all around which made Ben Alder seem an ominous place to be feared, and yet it constantly attracted my attention. It had a brooding presence that seemed to draw me on as I headed up the valley in lovely sunshine along an excellent path beside the delightful cascades of the Allt a’ Bheallaich Dhuibh. Just before reaching the top of the pass of Bealach Dubh, I decided to stop at an excellent spot beside the stream to pitch up my tent. This was actually the wildest wild camp I had done yet because my three previous camps had all been near to a landrover track. I was camped on a slender patch of land between the footpath and the stream looking straight down the valley, and I loved it. This was an important day for me to get my strength back, and the short, easy walk in sensational surroundings was just what I needed.

The Pass of Killiecrankie

Tuesday 4th June 2013

I didn’t sleep well before this walk, which was a shame as I was really in need of a good night’s sleep after walking all around the Cairngorms carrying a very heavy and uncomfortable rucksack. I was really tired, but throughout this holiday when I was in my tent I slept very badly and I wasn’t recovering when staying in youth hostels. I had not walking up Beinn A’ Ghlo (the Munro that I camped below) the previous day hoping that I would be refreshed enough the next day to climb it, but that failed to be the case so ultimately I had to give the mountain a thoroughly disappointing miss. Once I’d decided that I would not be going up Beinn A’ Ghlo I packed up and set off down Glen Tilt, and had a really pleasurable walk. The river in Glen Tilt is very picturesque as it passes over many rocky cascades, and the valley itself improved immensely after Gilbert's Bridge as the valley-bottom track passed into a lovely wood filled with wild flowers as the river meanders over many cascades on its way downstream.

The day had started rather overcast, but it wasn’t long before the clouds broke leaving a bright sunny day that would have made for a great day to be walking, but instead of climbing a mountain I was enjoying a gloriously slow descent down Glen Tilt to the small town of Blair Atholl. When I reached the road at the Old Bridge of Tilt I found a delightful path between the road and the river through a woodland floor that was covered with strongly scented, white flowered wild garlic. It was a wonderful sight, the highlight of the walk, to see the flowers completely covering the river bank. This short path soon led me to the Bridge of Tilt and the town of Blair Atholl that marks the end of my Great Trail through the Cairngorms. My walk had started a week earlier in Aviemore, and seven days and more than a hundred miles later after passing all the most significant mountains in the area (but only going to the top of one of them) it had ended at the foot of Glen Tilt near the southern tip of the Cairngorms National Park.

Since it was only midday I decided to take up the suggestion of the couple who’d provided me with a lift the previous day to the Linn of Dee, and walk through the Pass of Killiecrankie to Pitlochry. This turned out to be a brilliant suggestion all the way through as I walked along a wonderful flower-filled path between the River Garry and A9 trunk road. After passing under the A9 I joined a quarry road, which was less interesting, that led to the village of Killiecrankie. After a quick visit to a visitor centre, I started to walk through the deep, wooded gorge of the Pass of Killiecrankie that I found to be an absolutely magical place. To me this long gorge, that is an important link between the Highlands and Lowlands of Scotland, is a great place worthy of all the attention it has simply because of the natural beauty of the gorge. However, historians look at the place differently, an important battle was fought here between the Jacobites and government troops in 1689, and that the Jacobites won is an example of the advantage gained from having the higher ground.

Ignoring the historical aspect, I really enjoyed my walk through a thickly wooded gorge that is filled with many wild flowers including wild garlic, stitchwort and wood anemone. I continued to walk beside the river beyond the pass, after the junction with the River Tummel, on a pleasant path that led me through a variety of scenes, along the water’s edge and through natural woodland all the way to the town of Pitlochry. I was generally just taking it easy on this walk, trying to regain my energy after exhausting myself so completely while walking through the Cairngorms. Although I didn’t climb any hills on this walk and never ventured far from civilisation I still had a thoroughly enjoyable day as I walked through the woodland at the bottom of these valleys. This was a very different sort of walking to what I used to do in Scotland when I would have climbed at least twenty Munros in less than two weeks, but this was much more relaxing and I liked it.

I had pushed myself too hard on my Great Trail through the Cairngorms, especially because I had been carrying a very heavy rucksack that was cutting into my hip and collar bones. By the end of the trail I was not only very tired and weary, but aching all over from having to carry such a heavy load in such an old rucksack. On this holiday I was beginning to realise just how important rest days are, for anyone, no matter how old they are. I have had problems with fatigue on most of my Scottish holidays, not just this one, but it’s been taking me a long time to learn how to overcome it. Taking it easy in the first week may be the answer. Although I did take it easy at first on this holiday, by the middle of the first week I had dived into doing long mountain walks every day while carrying a heavy rucksack with no rest for many days, so it was about time I took it easy and although on this day I still walked quite a long way, richly-flowered wooded valleys were just the rest I needed.