The Vagabond Hiker

Hiking, trekking, and climbing the world

Hikes & Scrambles in the Highlands of Scotland

One doesn’t associate abundant sun with the Scottish Highlands, so the fantastic weather I experienced during my first three days was bound to end. As I type this blog the rains are pelting down and the fine weather is just a fading memory. . .

With Maggie on three days and by myself for another week, I explored some of the best of what the Glencoe area has to offer the walker as I hope the following photos will attest.

Glencoe Lochan, a short walk from the Village of Glencoe. There are many easy paths to explore around the village.
A pleasant broken scramble on A’ Chailleach. It was a great afternoon warm up with Maggie, featuring plenty of escape routes and unlimited easy to moderate scrambling options to choose from. The long, steep descent on the “grassy” slopes was less enjoyable.
Hidden (aka Lost) Valley from the trailhead on the A82. The eastern and central of the Three Sisters that overlook the Pass of Glencoe from the south are seen here.
Waterfalls along the stream as I headed up into Hidden Valley, a pleasant morning excursion even with clouds and light rain.
After an hour I reached the “hanging” Hidden Valley, seen here. The view towards the headwall and Bidean nam Bian – at 1150m the highest point around Glencoe – was completely obscured by clouds.
On returning to the trailhead, I took this atmospheric shot looking west along A82 and the Pass of Glencoe
Buachaille Etive Mor, the Queen of Scottish Mountains, from the A82 trailhead a few miles out of Glencoe. Its highest peak, Stob Dearg, is seen on the left. I did a hike with Maggie and a solo scramble from this trailhead. The hike was a traverse of several peaks on Bucky. The normal ascent route up the Coire na Tulaich towards the obvious col is clearly seen here.
View north from Stob na Doire toward Ben Nevis, the large round dome. All the exciting scrambling and climbing on the Ben is from the north while the Pony Track is along this southern side.
Aonach Eagach, the most famous knife edge ridge scramble on the Scottish mainland, as seen from Stob Coire Altruim (zoom). The 3 1/2 km notched ridge is just begging to be traversed. Sadly, the weather never did cooperate enough for me to attempt it.
Looking back east along our Buachaille Etive Mor traverse route from Stobna na Broige. A very pleasant hike with fantastic views on a sunny day.
After a descent from the ridge, the River Coupall provided a great place to cool our feet.
A slightly different angle on Buachaille Etive Mor’s Stob Dearg from the A82 trailhead. Here I did a scramble called the Curved Ridge, which began with an approach around the base of the cliffs to the left here.
My first attempt on the route missed the Curved Ridge altogether! It ended near here with some sketchy scrambling on steep, loose rock. Rather than continue, I retraced my route and eventually made the summit by the Curved Ridge proper. I descended by the normal hiking path.
Stob Dearg summit view east toward Rannoch Moor
Stob Dearg summit view north with the dome of Ben Nevis in the distance
A final tough hike I did went up the Coire nan Lochan to the eponymous peak at its head. Here the central and western of the Three Sisters are seen from the trailhead along the A82.
View up the Coire nan Lochan with some of the many waterfalls.
Pool and waterfall along the Coire nan Lochan
View toward the A82 with the east end of Aonach Eagach. I saw six red deer (what we call elk), but they were feeding too far away for a good photo.
View of the Three Lakes from the beginning of the eastern ridge of Stob Coire nan Lochan. Many walkers chose these picturesque lakes as a worthy objective for the day.
Higher up all was in the mist. Here I am looking up the eastern ridge approach on Stob Coire nan Lochan, my objective for the day. The summit is far away in the mist. . .
Some misty scrambling along Stob Coire nan Lochan. Nothing difficult, but route finding can be tricky descending in the fog.
Exciting view south from the summit of Stob Coire nan Lochan towards Bidean nam Bian
The Vagabond Hiker on the summit of Stob Coire nan Lochan (1115m). I relaxed on the summit for nearly an hour, but it never did clear.

Some great hikes and scrambles, but in almost two weeks I feel that I have barely scratched the surface of what the Glencoe area, let alone the Western Highlands, has to offer. I never did climb Ben Nevis (less than an hour drive from my cottage to the trailhead), largely because I wanted to do it by The Ledges, a moderate scrambling route, rather than join the conga line along the Pony Track, and the weather just didn’t cooperate. Well, there’s always the next time. . .

Now its back to the sunny south of England for 10 days until my next adventure, with Maggie in the Spanish Pyrenees. Until then, keep hiking.

The Vagabond Hiker

Walking Ireland’s Dingle Peninsula

The Dingle Peninsula, County Kerry, in the southwest of Ireland, boasts some fine walks, both along the coast and inland. Although the Dingle Way garners most of the attention, some of the better (and more challenging) hikes are not on this popular route. Favored with good weather during our brief stay at an amazingly- sited Airbnb bungalow near Smerwick Harbor, we did three walks, one a leg stretcher along the beach from our bungalow while the other two were proper hikes. Enjoy the photos!

The red arrow points out the Atlantic Bay Rest, our eclectic Airbnb bungalow. Our semi-private sandy cove is to its right, Smerwick Beach and Harbor a bit farther along the coast to the left.
Steps led down to our cove beach
Along the Dingle Way near Smerwick Beach. On our first day we walked from our bungalow to the sandy beach, which stretches for miles with some intermittent rocky coast.
On the second day we hiked around the Three Sisters and the Sybil Headland, the most dramatic cliffs on the Dingle Peninsula. As the 179 km Dingle Way doesn’t follow this section of coast, we had the hike virtually to ourselves.
Maggie on the most northeasterly of the Three Sisters, Binn Diarmada, with my brother Mark in the background.
Looking back northeast to Binn Diarmada. The mountains in the background are on the other side of Smerwick Harbor on the Dingle Peninsula.
Vista as we headed southwest to Sybil Point (206 m)
View northeast from the derelict Sybil Point observation post. The building was originally from Napoleonic times, though most of the construction dates from from WW2.
The Blasket Islands from Sybil Point. Never having more than 200 inhabitants, Great Blasket was abandoned in 1953/4.
Another perspective of Sybil Point, taken during our later drive around Slea Head.
Our route from Conor Pass under Brandon Peak, just seen on the far right. On this final hike we ascended to the col, the low point on the left-hand ridge seen here, and then onto the ridge off the photo on the left. Although we did not attempt Brandon Peak, the circular hike still had more than 600 m elevation gain and loss over its 12 km length.
Looking north to Brandon Peak (840 m) and Mount Brandon behind (952 m) from the ridge above Conor Pass near the end of our hike.
Atmospheric view west across Brandon Bay from the spit North of Castlegregory. Brandon Peak and Mount Brandon are on the right here, hidden by clouds. I took this photo as we were driving off the Peninsula just ahead of storm clouds coming in from the Atlantic.

I updated my calendar through the third week of December with two additions. In October and early November I will finally do one of my long time bucket list items, Bhutan’s Snowman Trek. After that a month back in Lanzarote in the Canary Islands seemed in order. . .

Next week I am heading to Glencoe, Scotland for two weeks of hikes and scrambles in the Scottish Highlands. I will post some photos from that trip during the first week of June. Until then, get outdoors and enjoy the spring weather,

The Vagabond Hiker

The Isle of Wight Coastal Path

Last week with a few days to spare I took the ferry from Southampton to Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, to walk part of its Coastal Path. Having only 3 days, I chose a counter-clockwise semicircular loop from Cowes along the Solent in the north to Ventnor on the English Channel in the south. This segment has some of the most dramatic scenery and least developed areas on the isle. Although the weather wasn’t very good (this is England, after all!), the 42 miles were enjoyable nonetheless. Here are a few photos I took. . .

Black headed seagulls seeing me off from Cowes at the start of the first day
Bluebells along the path. They were not yet at their peak.
Rural inland scene walking along a byway. Much of the first day the path was inland, across fields and along country lanes.
Hurst Castle and Hurst Point Lighthouse across the Solent at its narrowest point (zoom)
My hotel in Totland, a welcome sight at the end of the 18 mile first day. A hot shower and restaurant dinner with a glass of wine at the end of each day make inn-to-inn walking very civilized.
View from Headon Warren to the Needles (disappearing into the mist on the right), early on the second day
The Tennyson monument on the eponymous Down, east of the Needles. The poet spent many winters at his home on the Isle of Wight and loved walking the downs.
Vertiginous view to the English Channel from Tennyson Down
View south along Compton Bay on the West Wight coast featuring a foreground of gorse and dog violet
View from near Hanover Point emphasizing the stark contrast between the chalk and sandstone cliffs typical of Wight
Shepherd’s Chine. I had just crossed this deep ravine via steps and a scramble early on the third day.
The Coastal Path meanders through a wood south of the Blackgang Chine
Sea mist rolls in above the South Coast. I took only a few photos this day as the fog occluded many vistas
A misty Flowers Brook on the outskirts of Ventnor near the end of the third day
A Ventnor street view from the top deck of a double-decker bus. I took the bus back to Cowes from Ventnor at the end of the third day.

Next week Maggie and I will be flying to Ireland to get together with my brothers and sister-in-law for a few days on the Dingle Peninsula. Perhaps we’ll do some walking. . .

The Vagabond Hiker

Categories

Subscribe for Updates