21 April - Glen Affric Youth Hostel to Cluanie Inn

Day 14:    21 April 2011

Glen Affric Youth Hostel to Cluanie Inn

(7 miles           4 hours walking)

I didn’t sleep too well in my bunk-bed – I was itchy and restless (which was possibly a mild reaction to tic bites) and was awake at 5 a.m. After listening to the sound of silence for a while I got up at 6 a.m. and went for an early morning walk to the bridge across the river. There is a beautiful suspension bridge to cross which resonated (swayed alarmingly) as I crossed it again later in the morning.

Here you can see the bridge across the River Affric and Alltbeithe hostel in the background.

It was another warm, calm, hazy day and perfect for walking. Once again I counted my blessings.

I had tea and a chat with Colin, porridge for breakfast, and left the Youth Hostel at 09.00

Spanish ‘Momo’ said goodbye and left at 08.30, telling me I would certainly catch up with him. He was aiming for the same destination as myself but thought he would be slowed down by his sore knee and huge pack. However I never did see him again, despite his bad knee and 30+ kg of baggage! (Momo had arrived left at Alltbeithe a few days before, very overburdened with food, lap-top etc, and had needed a day of rest before returning to ground level. We had made a tenuous arrangement to walk to Cluanie together)

I noted in my journal that there was still no mobile phone reception, and it had been more than 2 days since I had uploaded a picture and message to my blog.

The path from the suspension bridge followed the River Affric SW for about a Kilometre and then headed almost due south along An Caorann Mor. I have to say that this path was, for about 4 km, pure bog. I endured 3 and a half hours of sinking into squidgy sphagnum, sliding down boggy slopes, jumping over black muck, and getting gradually wetter and wetter feet. It was absolutely exhausting to walk on, and not helped by the occasional misleading ‘path’ created by 4 wheel drive tracks.

Still it was stunning countryside, there was no getting away from it. I kept expecting to catch up with Momo but there was no sign of him.

In the valley adjacent to the eastern slope of Am Bathach the boggy path finally joined a proper track, which was a huge relief. I stopped for a break under the slopes of A Chralaig (1120m) and heard the bizarre sound of a snipe. The sound made by this bird is really strange, and doesn’t sound like any other bird I have ever heard; it was more like the sound of wind whistling through telegraph wires. The sound appeared to come from the sky, but however hard I peered upwards and around me, I could see no birds.

I was still listening to the sound, bemused and wondering if I was going insane, when I met two men wearing shorts and intending to ascend Ciste Dhubh (979m). I don’t know what their names were but they had two Highland Terriers called Hamish and Angus. One of them (the men, not the dogs!!) was a professional landscape photographer, and took this photograph of me. They hadn’t heard the strange birdsong so I kept quiet about it, in case I was actually going insane...!

I continued the descent to the busy A87, on the slopes of Loch Cluanie. There was still no phone reception, although I kept trying to send a text message every kilometre or so, convinced Andrew would be thinking I was dead and would send out the search parties for me!

From the A87 it was a one mile walk west along the main road to Cluanie Inn. This was a very fast road and no pleasure to walk along. Still, the weather was warm and dry, and the pub beckoned.

When I got there all my hopes were realised, although there was still no phone reception and the tempting phone box said ‘Emergency Calls Only’.

My first duty was to phone up Andrew from the phone box in the pub. My second duty was to get a pint of cider and a packet of cheese and onion crisps and to sit in the sun and enjoy them. It was pure pleasure. There were other travellers around, who pitched up in cars at regular intervals, ate in the sun, and drove off again.

I checked in quite early (at about 3 p.m.) and had a lovely hot bath and (not so lovely) tic removal session. I had a nap before supper and watched an episode of Midsomer Murders on the television in my room.

That evening I ate something proteinacious (fish and chips I believe) at the bar, and drank red wine in the company of various walkers who appeared and disappeared. I spent a rather jolly evening talking about kit/routes/philosophy to other like-minded people. My intention to have an early night did not materialise.

Near glen affric. Hazy but hot. Very wet ground desite no rain for a week. The mountains just go on forever.