The Hidden Valley of Glencoe
Date: 19-Sep-2009
Map: Landranger 41
Weather: Initially rain, followed by a small sunny spot, clearing to rain at the end of the walk.
From the car park below Am Bodach, drop down into the valley and cross the River Coe. Proceed steeply up the valley of Coire Gabhail, to happen upon the Lost Valley or Hidden Valley. Continue to the head of the valley up to the col at Bealach Dearg. Return by the same route: 8 miles by Satmap Active 10 gps
I had been looking
forward to this return visit to Scotland ever since I walked
the West Highland Way in 2008. I loved the scenery, the
peace and the people on that walk, and on day 7 of the WHW,
I had a good look up
at the Aonach Eagach and vowed to return. So after 2 weeks
work in
The
Ballachullish horseshoe, but not today Two
of the three sisters The tops were
ominously cloudy for tomorrow and Mike (Peakbagger of the
walking forum) decided that he wasn’t going walking on the
Saturday as his knee was giving himself some gyp, so he
drove to Mallaig instead. We decided that the Ballachullish
horseshoe would be a decent stomp for the Saturday as the
weather forecast said rain and there was no way I was going
up the Aonach Eagach in the wet. Saturday dawned misty and
we couldn’t see the top of the Ballachullish horseshoe,
which meant another change of plan and we decided to walk up
to the The
River Coe
Steeply up through some birch wood After a
leisurely start to the day, we reached the car park at the
base of Am Bodach in a veritable Scotch mist. There were
lots of tourists pulling up into the car park and taking a
few snaps before moving on, and several coaches of steamed
up windows. So we assumed we would be getting rather wet and
donned full waterproofs and some more – gloves included. It
was absolutely teeming down, but the car park was a good
view point for looking at The Three Sisters – they must be
triplets because they looked very similar – big foreheads
high in the air – and all of them very imposing, as is
Glencoe in general. From the car park we dropped down into
the Glen walking along a good path that was rocky in places
with a red/purple hue looking like weathered bricks. It was
easy walking down to the river and there we came across a
deep cut gorge that follows along the Great Glen faultline.
The water was flowing so clear, a slightly turquoise colour
against the deep red berries of the rowan trees, with little
golden discs of leaves floating along – very hypnotic to
stare at from the wooden bridge. The steps down to the
bridge are steep and have wide spaced steps – no good for
short legs. After the bridge the ground rises across and up
a rocky section before reaching a boggy patch. A wooden path
has been laid across the worst of the boggy patch.
Gloomy ahead up in the valley Just
above these small falls we crossed the river
The
small rock rake – not too bad even in the wet And
all of a sudden there it is – found it High above to our
right was the middle sister – Gearr Aonach – with its crags
looking very foreboding. The walk continued along a narrow
path through a sparsely wooded valley, with the river below
us to the left, cut deeply into the hillside in places.
There were also a few clear pools with the occasional
waterfall, all very peaceful, and very, very wet. It was a
struggle to keep the camera lens clear today, and my lens
wiper got ever damper as the walk progressed. There was lots
to look at on the way both geologically and
geomorphologic-ally, as this is an area of igneous intrusive
rocks such as granites and rhyollites. There are also
intrusive dykes, so we spent some time looking at the melange of
rocks as we walked along. A
large boulder bedded in river gravel A
brief moment of warmth looking back down the valley A little
further up it was time to cross over the burn by some
boulders – ok as long as it isn’t in spate, and then up a
small rock ledge, which is ok and doesn’t present much of a
problem - just take your time at this point. The path stayed
up the left side of the burn and continued up some rocky
steps onto another path that leads up to the lost valley. We
carried on in the relentless rain to reach a brow of the
hill and as the rain eased there was the lost valley laid
out before us. What a delight to see – it resembled a giant
Japanese garden from a certain aspect, with massive boulders
in a rock scree. A
great amphitheatre ahead, with some glimpse of sunlight At
the end of the flat area – you can see the line of erosion
continued across the valley It must
have been part of a terminal moraine before it got washed
away, with the valley behind filling up to form the flattish
level seen today. All it needs is someone with a giant rake
– although the burn tries its best. There wasn’t any
standing water here today, it was flowing beneath the river
bed, and it was dry enough to wander around the river bed.
It was a lovely spot for a break and refreshments, but still
cold even though the rain had stopped and the sun came out.
There were lots of nooks and crannies to explore, but we
decided to venture further up the valley now that the rain
had stopped. The
deep gorge down to the left – frogs to the right <a
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Higher up the valley, looking back you can see the rock
sculpting This is
not your typical U-shaped valley seen in much of the area,
although you can see some curvature / rock sculpting further
up the valley on the left hand side. There is also a very
distinct straight line up and down this valley, and this is
continued across Glencoe to A Chailleach (you can see this
on the OS map).
I think this must be a line of weakness associated with the
Dyke swarms or a faultline, but I couldn’t find one on my
geology map at home. Many of the rocks up here showed signs
of heat alteration, with great banded Rhyollites and tuffs,
almost jewellery like in quality. Mind you they weren’t that
good or Jimmy ‘now then’ Saville would have had some on a
chain – jingle jangle jewellery. This
was as close as I wanted – too much water around
Looking directly down the valley from the steep slope up to
the beallach We found
a great piece of granite but it was too heavy to hump around
for several hours. We wandered further up the flat hidden
valley to start the long walk up to the head of the valley
at Beallach Dearg. The burn reappears here deeply incised in
the ground, with an almost vertical side – very fault like.
The path ascends at a gentle gradient at first, away from
the burn for a while, with occasional glimpses of Am Bodach
and the Aonach Eagach ridge behind us. Unfortunately most of
the tops were obscured by misty cloud including Bidean nam
Bian and Stob Coire Sgreamhach – goodness knows what the
correct pronunciation is – I’m a language mangler at the
best of times. We came across an alpinist frog leaping up
the slopes, presumably on holiday – what a strange sight,
but there are plenty of side streams that tumble down the
valley sides. The
best way up was to the right of the scree
Bidean nam Bian cloud free – but not for long Up
towards the higher ground at the head of the valley there
are some lovely waterfalls that tumble into the deep cut
gorge, with the walls opposite coppery looking from peat
staining. The corrie up here wasn’t your typical corrie
either but the surrounding hills provided a great
amphitheatre. Beyond the waterfalls the heart beat rises as
does the path, and it becomes a mixture of bedrock, loose
scree, with occasional bits of normal path. You can see the
red scree at the head of the valley from some way back, but
the better route for us was to stay to the right hand side,
where there is plenty of hands on walking. The red scree is
quite loose and definitely harder to walk up than on solid
bedrock. Towards the very top there is a small runnel for
the last 30ft or so, but again this is not so bad. Some care
had to be taken not to slip, but we stayed up the right side
and pulled our way to the top. The
view from the beallach looking south – Glen Etive Stob
Coire Sgreamhach Then
you’re up there and the views open up to the hills further
south, and so does the wind – it was on with the hat and
gloves, more snacks and a good toot around. The Beallach is
over 3000ft but that doesn’t count as a munro – Glen Etive
is to the south, with Bidean nam Bian up to the right at
3724ft and Stob Coire Sgreamhach up to the left at 3515ft.
So the choice was going up to the right or up to the left –
30 minutes one way, 50 minutes the other (up and down). But,
it was already 4pm and there was a 2 hr walk down from the
Beallach. The weather finally made up our minds, with the
wind and rain whipping in and it was bl*^dy cold. As I’m not
a munro bagger and I fancied a pint in the Claichach Inn, I
thought stuff it were off. We were wet enough and I didn’t
want all my gear to be sopping wet for the main event
tomorrow, so after a quick trot a little way up Stob Coire
Sgreamhach for a photo, we made our way down the rake
carefully and picked our way down the path we had come up
on.
That’s Sir Jimmy’s house A
last look up – it’s nearly stopped raining now For
sisters they look a bit sinister, big brother Bidean
nam Bian looking over them We tried the scree
but to be honest it felt better over to the side, and it
really started to persist it down – but I stayed positive
and thought more rain today, less tomorrow. On our way down,
the cloud cleared now and then to reveal Aonach Eagach, and
it looked pretty formidable from up here. The mental process
took over and I began to wonder about how difficult it will
be. Gradually we made our way down the valley to return to
the car with the Three Sisters looking down on us from on
high. I was glad to get back to the car park and hoped that
my gear would be dry by the morning – it was. So next stop
was the Clachaig Inn, an excellent venue where I had several
pints and some gulps ahead of tomorrow’s adventure.
Altogether it was a great day to be out in the rain – but I
wasn’t singing until later.
