Glen Coe Lairig Gartain & Lairig Eilde
them, Lairig Gartain. The cloud was just high enough to reveal the grim, craggy slopes of Buachaille Etive Mor and Beag on either side; the stream babbled cheerfully over pink rhyolite and grey-black andesite; and it wasn’t raining. The National Trust has rebuilt the path on a nice stony base, so that we can admire the colourful mosses and bogbean on either side without having to step in them ankle-deep.
The 200m of ascent goes unnoticed, spread over the 4km distance up to the pass. What is noticed is the sudden view at the top. Unfolded in front of us is the long hollow of Glen Etive, and the even longer sea loch reaching onwards from its foot. Etive is the glen that’s so dramatic even James Bond himself, fleeing for his life from some really dreadful baddies, felt compelled to make an illegal stopoff in a passing place to soak it all in.
The path too now gets quite dramatic, slanting out across the steep slope above the stream, on its way round onto the corner of Buachaille Etive Beag. A short dawdle above the views of Glen Etive brings us into the second of the passes, the Lairig Eilde. On a previous visit, in seriously rainy weather, I’d had to cast about upstream to find a place to wade across it, no more than thigh-deep, and without a waterfall immediately downstream to get swept away over. In more normal summer weather with light showers, the stream could simply be stepped across.
The climb into Lairig
Eilde is rather steep – well, a mountain-type walk shouldn’t be completely easy all the way… The looming mountains either side are Buachaille Beag as before, but Bidean nam Bian’s crags are now on our left.
The final leg of the walk is historically fascinating, being the Old Glencoe Road built by Thomas Telford in 1803 and driven along by my Grandpa on his way to the hills. But the going is rather soggy, and the A82 is always within sight, so it’s an anticlimax end to the day. Or it would be, except that with the sun now breaking through, we finished off the evening by driving down into Glen Coe, for the short but scrambly upand-down into the Lost Valley. And the following day, with the cloud a bit higher and no rainfall at all, we went up onto Stob Ghabhar.
Heading down Lairig Gartain towards Glen Etive; North end, Lairig Eilde; Follow-on walk: path to the Lost Valley
Further information
Maps: OS 1:25,000 Explorer 384 (Glen Coe & Glen Etive); Harvey 1:25,000 Superwalker, Glen Coe
Transport: Caledonian Sleeper London to Bridge of Orchy every night, so long as you’ve a Daddy to pick you up when you get there. Citylink coach Glasgow - Fort William 3x daily passes walk start
Information: Ballachulish Visitor Centre 01855 811866 quarrycentre@gmail. com, glencoetourism.co.uk
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I looked, dark clouds scudded across the heavens, sometimes bumping the fell-tops. It was an angry scene, the mood lightened only occasionally when the sun won through gaps, revealing various shades of green in the landscape.
I’d never used this ridge on the ascent before; for me, it had always formed part of the way down from the Deepdale Horseshoe. Following it south-west meant I was being watched over by the crags and coves of Fairfield’s muscular east face – all bulging buttresses and clenched fists of rock, bare knuckles ready to deal with any scramblers audacious enough to think they could take it on. With that bruised sky overhead, it looked particularly formidable.
By the time I reached the top of Hart Crag, the wind had ripped cavernous gaps in the cloud blanket, and a noble array of peaks was visible to the west: the Old Man, Crinkle Crags, Bow
Fell, the Scafells, Gable... I’d joined the route of the popular Fairfield Horseshoe, but as I headed south-east along the ridge, I had surprisingly little company: two other walkers and a lone fellrunner. After a quick visit to the summit of Dove Crag, I tucked myself into a secluded spot and broke open the sandwiches and coffee.
I know some hillwalkers regard lunch as purely functional – a time to refuel and rest before the next section of the walk. For me, it’s an integral part of the day – a chance to enjoy the moment, to soak up the solitude, to absorb the place. This was no exception. I was finally able to fully appreciate where I was. I felt the contentment that comes only from being in the hills.
My descent took me into Dovedale. It had been years since I’d been into the upper part of this valley, and I’d forgotten how spectacular it was. How could I not remember that confining wall of grey rock, the looming crag, the plunging path? Standing in the valley’s middle reaches, I looked back at a dazzling, verdant bowl backed by a wall of steep fells. A tumbling beck cut a silver streak through the dark face while huge boulders and a few tenacious trees were scattered about. How could I have forgotten such beauty?
The dramatic head of Deepdale and Fairfield’s eastern face ; Looking across Brothers Water to the Hartsop fells on a moody, summer’s day; In the middle reaches of Dovedale, with Dove Crag at the head of the valley
Further information
Maps: OS 1:25,000 Explorer sheet OL5 (English Lakes, North-eastern area); Harvey 1:25,000 Superwalker, Lake District East
Transport: Summer-only extension to Stagecoach service 508, Penrith to Kendal. Details from stagecoachbus.com
Information: Ullswater information centre, Glenridding, 01768 82412, lakedistrict.gov.uk
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Start/Finish
Car park at Nantgwynant
GR: SH627506
Cross road from car park and
join Watkin Path. This broad
track twists above the farm at
Hafod-y-llan and swings west to
cross an old incline above a series
of fine cascades. Continue until
path begins to level out on the
approach to Cwm Llan.
Fork L at the small hydro
dam and walk uphill for
300m on path, which crosses the
route of the incline. Continue
uphill on a fainter path, past old
workings and one or two ruins,
to reach a grassy plateau on the
north side of a stone wall.
Turn R for 500m, with the
wall on L, to foot of the
rocky spur below Yr Aran. A gap in
the wall leads to a rough path to
the top.
Walk back down to wall and
turn L on a rocky path, which
descends to Bwlch Cwm Llan, by a
small lake and old mining spoil.
Turn R at gap in wall and take
obvious path that drops SE below
the crags of Y Geuallt to continue
E into Cwm Llan. Fork L after 1km
to meet incline track.
Go L for 500m towards
ruined buildings and cross
culvert over river. Go R to more
ruins and turn R on Watkin Path
to pass Gladstone Rock (with
plaque) after 550m.
Continue ahead and
re-trace path back to start.