Sunday: Tyndrum to Glencoe Mountain Resort

We were relieved to get away from Tyndrum where the hotel continued to live down to expectations. We knew we had a long and potentially difficult day ahead of us, and got up good speed on the straightforward 7 miles to Bridge of Orchy, where we had elevenses at the hotel (which looked far nicer than the one in Tyndrum).

Refuelled with coffee and cakes, we climbed up the hill the other side of the bridge, only to descend again in a couple of miles, but with such wonderful views of Loch Tulla that it was worth every moment of the climb. Very quiet apart from the scrunch of our feet, at last we were a good distance away from the A82 which has been within earshot on and off for much of the walk.

We didn’t stop at the Inveroran Hotel, the last outpost before Rannoch Moor, but continued on, now on an old drove road built by Thomas Telford. It was hard-going underfoot as it was cobbled and no longer covered with the layer of gravel to protect the animals’ hooves, but there was no chance of losing the way round the edges of the Moor. On windy or rainy days this section can be a real trial, but today we had intermittent sun and little wind, with just a couple of brief hail showers to get everyone hustling into waterproofs only to overheat in them 15 minutes later.

One long last hill and over the ridge to drop into the eastern end of Glencoe, and then, er, up again through the car park of the Glencoe Ski Resort, crowded with skiers finishing for the day. We are now tucked up in our hobbit house, and will soon go and see if the skiers have left any food in the cafe.

Ooh nearly forgot – 18 miles in all today.