Where the elves live!
My 'home-away-from-home' for three nights.
Glencoe is a magical place. This camping trip was on my mind for over 10 years. That is a long gestation period by any standard. However it just did not come together. And I'm glad it happened last summer. I had a good company of two chaps who were going to camp and hike for the first time in their life.
It was great fun and reminded me of the stuff I learnt either by trial-n-error or some good guidance found online and experienced campers/climbers friends.
Sumiran & Arvind with their 'bistro' in a bag.
After two days of 'Scottish' weather we were blessed with a beautiful sunset at GlenEtive area. I saw this mountain (Buachaille Etive Mòr) photograph in a magazine about 10 years ago. I was almost certain that this must have been the Cuiviénen Tolkien has written about. While actually standing at this oft-photographed location I was very sure that älvor is playing somewhere in the shadow of this giant. Surprisingly I was the only person making photograph at this location at sunrise and sunset for the next days.
This is what I like to call as Mountain Light. The magic happened for just few minutes and 'Poof', it was gone.
Hiking in the area of Buachaille Etive Mòr was always on my bucket list. And I'm glad it happened when I was fit to do two Munros (peak > 1000m in Scotland is called a Munro) in a day. The ridge consists of four tops - Stob Dearg (1022 m), Stob na Doire (1011 m), Stob Coire Altruim (941 m) and Stob na Bròige (956 m). It was extremely satisfying to finish this trek in a day. I was also very happy for Sumiran & Arvind that they could finish Stob Dearg trek that day. I was bit concerned as they had never done any hike like this before however their tenacity did help. Well done chaps! Here are some pics from the day.
The challenge - from the OS maps.
First stop for pics
What about elevenses? Luncheon? Afternoon tea? Dinner? Supper? He knows about them, doesn't he?
Reaching Stob Dearg
At the top of Stob Dearg
After making it at the top of Stob Dearg Arvind & Sumiran decided to walk down and I continued to the other peaks of the ridge.
No experience can beat the 'bite after long and hard climb'. This is the closest I can get to a selfie. I've now almost mastered this way of doing it. ;)
Sheer scale and the looming storm had put me off but seeing so many people at the second peak I could not resist.
Finally the clouds parted and gave way to some sunshine.
On day two I decided to go to the lost valley and climb Stob Coire Sgreamhach. I decided to lighten the 'bag' and left my camera behind. It was going to need a lot of pushing to make it after a strenuous day. So only made one iPhone pic before it started to pour down heavily.
After a well-earned dinner it was fantastic to find a family of deer in the shadow of the giant.
I spent next morning along the river making mental notes for the next visits as I still have Aonach Eagach on my bucket list.
To the 'skyfall'
Homeward bound wish I was not.
