There is a wonderful scene in the musical Paint Your Wagon which includes a song about the howling wind which the gold miners call Mariah. Here it is if you want to hear it. It passed through my head a number of times today. Why? Read on
It rained all night. The wind blew hard all night. Mist covered the hill tops. The trees swayed in the wind.
The morning dawned wet and gloomy. It was not an auspicious start to the day. Never the less move we must. We rose early for it was 13 miles to get to our next stop at the Kingshouse hotel and bunkhouse. To get there we had to climb up to and cross Rannoch Moor. Said to be the remotest and wildest part of the way with no escape routes for 10 miles, the guide book says come prepared for the weather can turn notoriously cruel.
How do you cope with that? Why start with a good breakfast. So we did. Porridge and honey, some fruit and cups of tea,
We set off by crossing the bridge of Orchy straight into a climb as we had to get over a ridge into the next valley. Porridge power got me over. The trail was wet and slippery and a few light rain showers swept over us from the SW.
The wind was strong and gusty.
Over the ridge we dropped down to pass the old Inveroran Hotel on Loch Tulla. Here the famous poets Samuel Colleridge and Dorothy Wordsworth stayed for inspiration.
We passed Victoria Bridge and joined the old cobbled cattle drovers road that climbed up onto the Black Mount.
The wind and rain swept in again forcing us to take shelter and get our ponchos on. Now we were wearing every piece of bad weather gear we had.
We left the shelter of the few trees around and headed out onto Rannoch moor. It is a desolate place of bogs and peat. No shelter anywhere. The driving showers of rain blew horizontal making our faces sting. Then the sun came out and dried us off before the next showers came whistling by. We took shelter behind some large stones out of the wind to eat a snack bar and take some water.
It was hard going. The Drovers road is made of cobbles and stone and the old carriage and wagon ruts are still clearly visible to this day. The trail descends into a bowl of granite gouged out by an ice cap 12,000 years ago that holds the water in which the moor lies.
Across the moor the track climbs again out the other side to a height of 1460 ft, 445 metres. The worst of the weather had blown through. The scenery was staggeringly beautiful. A vast natural amphitheatre of mountains opened up on our left.
The scenery is dominated by the massive structure of Buachaille Etive Mòr. The Great Herdsman of Etive guarding the entrance to Glen Etive.
Our accommodation tonight and tomorrow night for we are taking a day out to recover, is the Kingshouse Hotel lying at the foot of this magnificent mountain.
This was a tough day. Hard underfoot due to the rough cobbles and loose stone for miles on end. It was wet. Wet and windy and gusty as a low pressure moved through. But we did it. A hot bath is needed and a radiator to dry our clothes off.
We will take a rest day to get some laundry done, rest our feet as they are complaining at the moment and make ourselves ready for the climb up the Devils Staircase to the highest point of the trail on the next leg to Kinlochleven.
Woodend Wanderer 