Fort William – May ’19

Friday 3rd May to Monday 6th May 2019

Attendees: Andy & James
Accommodation: Glen Nevis Campsite

Friday – Glen Coe
The route took us up the hidden/lost valley of the Glen Coe 3 sisters. The route started at the “meeting of the Three Waters” following the path up through the valley. At the far end of the valley a steep climb up the scree and snow covered “Lost Valley Buttress” before grabbing the summit of ‘Stob Coire Sgreamach’ @ 1072m and then back up to ‘Bidean Nam Bian’ @ 1141m. From there the route descends down and back up to ‘Stob Coire Nan Lochan’ @ 1115m before the long descent down the Gearr Aonach Ridge and back to the start.

Saturday – Ring of Steall
Todays’ route started at the carpark (grid ref NN 14601 68355). From there it was a relentless climb up to the first summit Sgurr a’ Mhaim @ 1099m. Then it was a nice walk along a narrow & slightly exposed ridge to Sgur an Lubhair @ 1001m. Then followed a long walk around to the next summit Stob Coire a’ Chairn @ 981m. The route got exciting again here as we scrambled along a nice rocky ridge to An Garbhanach (975m) followed by An Gearanach (982m). The route then descended all the way down into the valley on a beautiful path to the waterfall and a fun wire bridge crossing across the ‘Water of Nevis’. Thinking that was the end of the walk, we were further rewarded with a spectacular walk back along the valley to the car.

Sunday – Bike Ride
Today we gave ourselves a break from the walking and instead got on two wheels for a beautiful ride around the peninsular around Loch Shiel.
From fort william we cycled down to the Corran Ferry for the trip across Loch Linnhe (free for bicycles). Then we followed the road along the coast before heading west inland through Glen Tarbett. It was here that we both nearly got run over by a car pulling out of a junction who failed to look down the road. Luckily still intact and with out heart rates settling again, we pulled over a few miles further on at a tea shop near Scotstown. The roads were quiet, smooth and the scenery stunning. We made our way up to Loch Shiel along some stunning routes that were sheltered from the headwinds. We then joined the busier A861 back past Loch Eil to fort william. Regrettably in the planning we had missed the railway viaduct at Glenfinnan (made famous in the Harry Potter films) as we happily cycled past wondering why the area was so busy with tourists.
Our weary legs made it back to Fort William having covered 85 miles and 3500ft of Ascent and a great sense of achievement. To cap a brilliant ride the Garmin sat nav ran out of power 2 minutes after crossing the finish 🙂

Monday – Ben Nevis (CMD Arete)
Today’s route had been on the to-do list for some time – Ben Nevis via the CMD Arete route. We set off directly from the Glen Nevis campsite following the tourist path up. We split at the Lochan Meall An T’Suiche lake and made our way around to the CIC hut in the valley on the eastern side of Ben Nevis. Here we had a steep scramble up to the summit of Carn Dearg Meadhonach @ 1179m. The conditions were cool with a light dusting of snow from the night before and clear skies with views for miles. We made our way along the ridge to Carn Mor Dearg @ 1220m before the ridge descends down and around towards the summit. The route becomes quite exposed in places if sticking to the top of the ridge, although there are opportunities to drop just off the ridge for those without a head for heights. Having completed the ridge there was a final steep climb up to the summit of the great Ben @ 1345m and the ruins of the old observatory weather station. As the conditions were so calm with not even a breeze some people decided to do some slacklining across the gulley just off the summit. Certainly not for the faint hearted!!! After taking in the views we descended back down the tourist path to the campsite where we drove home later that night to try and avoid the traffic on the motorways…

Scotland you didn’t let us down on this trip. 4 truely epic days and glorious weather and scenery…

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