I love Glencoe, even if not stopping, it’s a beautiful to drive through. I had a few days leave and wanted to get away. My first thought was the lake district but I decided to camp in Glencoe for a few nights and try and scratch some photographic itches.
A quick pit stop in Ballachulish to grab some supplies at the Co-Op and soon arrived at the Red Squirrel campsite. Checked in and the tent is soon up, just hope its fine as its not been used for a few years! Two hours before the sun sets, so I went to the my first tick list spot, Stob Beinn a’Chrulaiste. It’s one of the trickier spots to get parked at but I’m in luck and there is one spot left.
The is a fairly short walk but the boggy ground, having had an extra serving of rain water recently, made the going a bit more slippery on the steep ascent up to the viewpoint. It’s a very popular spot for people to photograph from but I had the place to myself, apart from a few feral sheep.
Arriving at the summit at 639m, not the true summit though, just a subsidiary peak but where the best views of Glencoe are.
The mighty Buachaille
The mountain opposite is the famous Buachaille Etive Mor, the mountain that demands attention as you approach Glencoe from the east. There is some cracking light further down the glen which draws my attention for a while.
But soon, its time to descend, in my rush, I’ve left the headtorch in the car. Arriving back at the base tent, I cook up some rather unappetising campfood and try to bed down for the evening. As ive mentioned, camping is not something I do often, its mainly just to keep costs down but one thing I hadn’t planned on was the noise.
The wind sounded like a roaring fighter jet as it descended down the glen to wallop the tent, the heavy rain pounding on tent skin. What kept me awake, was the fast flowing river, which was 10feet to my left and the thought of ‘does this flood’ prevented much sleep. In fairness it would have to rise a couple of metres and I assume, if there was a risk the campsite staff would inform.
So a very sleepless night and the dawning day, was wet, windy and very overcast. Decisions had to be made. It seemed silly going into the glen with the weather, going up one of the mountains, also seemed rather pointless with the low cloud. So, having planned for this eventuality, I called upon the low level options, which were closer to Oban.
I’m not sure when/where I came aware of the fairy bridge of Glen Creran, probably saw a photo of it a few years ago. But it’s a wonderful looking packhorse bridge. So that was the chosen location. Parking in the designated area, it’s a 20mins walk to the bridge through the lovely woodland. The bridge certainly is picturesk but its also the scene of near disaster. Was it the lack of sleep (probably) but placing the camera on the tripod, I turned to grab something and the camera fell, it all happened in slow motion, I was just able to get a foot under the camera to stop it hitting a rock but not quick enough, to see it roll into the burn. Grabbing it and quickly using all my lens cloths to soak away the water and praying it was ok. 20mins of drying and tried the power switch. It turned on. Took a test shot, it worked and recorded fine. Looks like I escaped an early end to my trip. The camera was ok, the only thing that happened was some misting up of the view finder, which is from moisture in the camera, which I can solve with placing on my cars heated seats.
Fairy Bridge of Glen Creran
From Glen Creran, I headed back towards the tent. The rough weather had let up now. Wanting a coffee and cake, I called into the café by Castle Stalker but it was shut. Infact, I’ve never seen this café open, has it closed down? Was tempted to park and go to the castle but the parking didn’t look inviting, so I skipped this and drove to Kinlochmore to see the Grey Mare’s Tail waterfall. It was a bit too bright for a good photograph of a waterfall but it made a nice short video, which you can see on my YouTube channel.
Food was to be found at a lovely café by the A82, on the edge of Glencoe village and from there it was play it by light to where I would stop. Glencoe, again covered in doom laden cloud and a million coaches, so back to other eastern side and down the road to Glen Etive. Was hoping there would be some deer around but its hunting season, so they were all probably hiding. It’s a nice drive down but very popular. Stopped at Lochan Urr to get a classic shot but could not find the way to get to the vantage point of the island and mountain backdrop. A lovely location but one I’ll have to call back to. With the day drawing on, I called into the parking area for Altnafeadh where I was lucky to get parked again and wandered down to the very popular climbing hut of Lagangarbh.
My final full day, was also the best weather day and the one thing id promised myself, is that id walk up the Pap of Glencoe. What a great walk. Perhaps one of the smaller hills in the area but possibly the one with the best view?
Tired after the walk, I had a quick scout into Glencoe. It wasn’t looking very good for sunset and I couldn’t find the spot I wanted to be in for the setting sun. Popped into Glencoe village and had a wander along the B863 road. The cloud cleared to the west and the sunset was a classic. I found a lovely group of tree’s on the saltmarsh as a subject and spent the last hour of the day, watching the scene as the sun drew a close upon another lovely day.
Thanks for reading.