Tyndrum to Kings House

10 May 2012 - Tyndrum to Kings House

Distance - 19 miles

Weather - Colder, dry at the start, rainier as the day progressed.

We stayed at - Kings House Hotel, Rannoch Moor, Glencoe  PH39 4HY  Cost £70.00

The walk from Tyndrum to Bridge of Orchy is fantastic. For six miles you're away from

Railway line near Tyndrum

the road and generally following the railway that goes to Mallaig. The mountains and glens seem to be formed from mathematical equations: sections of hyperbolic curves and quadratic equations. They look huge and magnificent.

On the way over we saw a sign warning us about motorcycle trials which were taking place on the track that day. They were supposed to be running from Inverarnan to Kings House, but all we saw were some people standing around outside a marquee tent chatting. No bikes.

Bridge of Orchy Railway Station

On the bridge at Bridge of Orchy

We got to Bridge of Orchy before 11:00 and treated ourselves to hot
chocolate and cake. Yum.

The next bit is a mile of uphill, then another downhill to Inveroran. Weirdly (for us) we didn't go into the pub there, deciding to press on across Rannoch Moor. We later heard of a group who had stayed at Bridge of Orchy and had timed their arrival at Inveroran (to get their WHW card stamped) exactly as the bar opened. They stayed there till 14:00, a relatively reliable witness saying they'd had 4 pints each when he left them at 12:00.

Rannoch Moor

Middle of Nowhere

We discovered, a couple of days into our walk, that you can pick up cards at Milngavie, which you can have stamped at each of the significant stopping places (i.e. pubs) on the WHW. Some people are real completists, walking down from the track to Crianlarich and back up again, specifically for one of these stamps. Anyway we never got one of these cards, which are £5 each, so we've missed out on all that fun.

Beautiful Rannoch Moor

The next bit of the WHW is Rannoch Moor, the middle of which really
is the middle of nowhere. There's the track and a few bridges for the track to go over and that's it, apart from bog and water. Alistair had been over the track a couple of times before and remembered it as being generally flat. In fact it's eight miles of uphill with boggy views followed  by two miles of downhill and Glencoeish  views.

Wide open spaces

We very briefly stopped at Ba Bridge (the unofficial middle of the
moor) for some hastily eaten crisps and juice for lunch. The rain was relatively light, but it was windy and very cold. When we're walking our raincoats are windproof and the effort of walking warms you up, but when you stop and use your hands, things get cold quickly. Alistair had been comfortable with just a T-shirt on under his jacket, but he had to put a jumper on after lunch. Brr.

View from hotel

We got to the Kings House Hotel in good time and felt sorry for the people who were camping out the back. It really starting pouring down after we arrived - we sat and had nice beer and food.