Gairlochy to Invergarry

14 May 2012 - Gairlochy to Invergarry

Distance - 18.1 miles

Weather - Mostly dry, some heavy showers

We stayed at - Glengarry Castle Hotel, Invergarry, Inverness-shire, PH35 4HW  Cost £188.00 (DBB)

When we woke the weather had improved and we could see the mountains to the south from our bedroom window. It turned out to be an intriguing day. As we were leaving Gairlochy, we bumped into a woman looking about her, slightly bemused. She asked where we were going. 'The Great Glen Way' Alistair replied, pointing at the sign. 'Towards Inverness' I more usefully added. She asked where the path was. 'To Fort William?' Alistair verified, remembering what happened at Balmaha. 'Yes,' she confirmed, so Alistair pointed out where the track went south and off she went. We couldn't work out how she didn't know where we were going, as surely she must have come down the track we were heading for? If not that morning, then the night before? A mystery indeed.

The fairy forest

Bracket fungus on a birch

The majority of this part of the GGW is along the bank of the ingeniously named Loch Lochy, we choose to walk down by the shore, to get a good view of the loch, rather than follow the path through the woods. As we cut down through a well established track, we were met by an arch with a lantern swinging from it, there were large wooden toadstools and other interesting things left along the edge of the track. Finally we came to a clearing absolutely full of soft toys. Then a big sign made of individual wooden letters spelling out "The Fairy Forest".

Remains of Practice Landing Craft

Further on, we came across the concrete base of some strange looking structure, which turned out to be the remains of an original practice landing craft, used by the Army and Royal Marine commandos during WW2. Nearby Achnacarry House apparently served as the Commando Basic Training Centre during this time.

After a couple of miles we detoured off the official GGW track, as our

Eas Chia-aig

landlady at Gairlochy had recommended we head away from the loch, through Achnacarry, to the head of another loch called Loch Arkaig. There we crossed a long and dodgy-looking wooden bridge over the swollen river to reach 'Eas Chia-aig' on the other side, which is a great waterfall that comes crashing down the mountain. From there we followed the magical-feeling 'Mile Dorche' or Dark Mile, which runs down a narrow, steep sided glen with mossy, lichen covered trees on both sides. We arrived back at Loch Lochy near Clunes, having added an extra mile to our journey, but we felt it was well worth it.

Path closure!

The next seven or eight miles were along forestry road. We were happily looking at views and dodging sudden rain storms when disaster struck! We were stopped by some Forestry Commission people because the path ahead was closed. They were giving walkers and cyclists lifts through the affected area, but that was little use for us as we couldn't take lifts, so we stepped aside to consider our options.There was a path heading steeply uphill from us and we asked if we could use that instead. No, we were told, the machinery was up there too. As we couldn't walk by the loch itself at this point, our only alternative was to walk back to where we started, some ten miles back, and walk along the other side of the loch. Since we didn't feel we could walk a total of 28 miles that day, we took the offered lift, vowing to return in the autumn when the logging was over to properly finish this part of the Lands End to John O'Groats walk. As we were being driven through, we could see why it was necessary - there were giant, powerful machines swinging logs around, stripping off all their branches with a single motion or piling them up ready for the next phase. The operators would not have seen any of the pedestrians before they were crushed / decapitated / maimed. Sometimes Health & Safety is nonsensical, but in this case it wasn't!

At the end of Loch Lochy are the Laggan Locks, where we came across a barge, still on the canal, which had been converted into a pub called the Eagle. The interior is a real treat, as were the beers (it'd be rude not to try one), and their seafood has a good reputation.

The next bit was a mile or so alongside the canal to Loch Oich, then we

Ruins of Invergarry Castle

veered off the GGW proper to get to our accommodation at Invergarry. This involved a mile or two of potentially life threatening road walking along the A82. Invergarry Castle Hotel is our 'treat' hotel of the holiday. It's a lovely place with the ruins of Invergarry Castle in its grounds and private fishing available on Loch Oich. Our room was big, almost a suite, and the bathroom large enough to have been used as a double bedroom. Dinner was very enjoyable, though perhaps not quite as perfect as our last visit 10 years ago.