Shiel Bridge to Alltbeithe YH
(11.4 miles/669 metres ascent)
Somehow it seemed to take me quite some time to do some rather simple things, like make a coffee, have a shower and begin to get my things together, but by 8.20am I headed out of the room and down to breakfast, where I found Jack, Brian and Bob already tucking in. I had porridge, and then mushrooms, tomatoes and potato cakes, with toast and tea. It was yummy, and as I was eating it I met a fourth Challenger - Jean - who was sitting at the next table having breakfast with her husband.
It was clear that we were all planning to head off in different directions, but because I know very little of Scottish geography I didn't really understand where the others were planning to go. It all sounded exciting stuff, though, and by about 8.50am I was making my way back up to my room to get my things finally together. On the way back to our rooms Jack and I took a detour to the front door, to see whether anyone had already signed out. A few of them had, and I was immediately seized by the feeling that I was already late! Anyway, Jack and I signed too, and at about 9.20am I went back downstairs with the pack, and settled up.
Jean came down as I was attempting to stuff everything back into the pack, and outside we took each other's pictures in the sunshine.
Me on the left, and Jean on the right 
Soon after that we set off in different directions: me, towards Gleann Lichd, and Jean with her husband, Alan, to walk part of the first day together, hopefully over some of the Five Sisters.
The view along the road as I set off from the Kintail Lodge gave a pretty clear indication of glorious sights to come...
...and it wasn't long before I was able to get onto a minor road edged with beautiful lilac bushes.
Soon afterwards I encountered a field of fearesome looking Highland cattle...
...and not long after that a blackbird flew down and poised, singing, on a fence overlooking the glen. I couldn't think of a better symbol for the walk that lay ahead of me!
Soon after the blackbird, the weather changed and rain began. Still, it was an interesting opportunity to try out my new Berghaus Women's Paclite Jacket, and so I didn't mind.
I pressed on down the glen, stopping about 45 minutes into the walk for a chat with a man standing next to a very large telescope on a tripod. It turned out that he was looking for golden eagles, and he gave me a very interesting description of exactly what to look out for, and where. At one stage a large bird flew overhead and caught our eyes. I was quite excited, and asked him if it was an eagle, but it turned out to be a seagull. Ah, well :-)
The weather began to clear and I pressed on again, and some time later I saw a little building on the path to the left in front of me. The map indicated that it was Glenlichd House, and I hoped I might find some other Challengers there, and indeed I did! I found Sue and Avril - sisters - stopping for a drink, along with Peter, Craig and Bryan. I stopped to say hello, and found a dry space inside the lean-to for drinking some coffee.
I walked on with Sue and Avril for about 30 minutes after the break, as we were heading in the same direction, but then they stopped near a waterfall to brew up and so I pressed on up the remainder of a short but steep pull up the hill. Before I moved on, Sue took my piccy, and once again I managed to demonstrate my virtually unparalled ability to look really stupid in photographs, and always to have my eyes closed. Still, it does show my nice new waterproof and Tilley hat (ooh, and Pacerpoles!), so I've included it anyway :-)
There were all sorts of interesting and beautiful flowers and plants along the way, and I took a photograph of a particularly interesting fleshy, green star-shaped plant that I found growing in a number of marshy places towards the west of the country. I've not yet been able to identify it, so if anyone has any idea what it might be then please let me know.
[I've now been told that this was a Butterwort, an insectivorous plant that eats midgies: what a great idea! I'd have been even more interested if I'd realised that, as I used to have a venus fly trap when I was a child. Many thanks to Mr Grumpy for clarification :-)]
There was a very pretty little heather-like flower as well. [Many thanks to Phil Cook, who pointed out that this was Lousewort. How on earth did he know that, I wonder? It's not even in my flower book! :-)]
I knew that the Camban bothy would soon be coming into view, and I was keen to take a look inside it, as I've never been in a bothy before but have spent several very happy winter evenings tucked up in bed, reading the inspiring 'Mountain Days and Bothy Nights' with the sound of wind and rain battering the window. At about 3pm the bothy eventually appeared...
...and I stopped for a rest, and to explore it a bit. I was actually rather surprised by just how spartan conditions were inside, but I could see that there was potential for a cozy evening there, as long as it was possible to find some wood to burn in the fire. As I wandered around, eating my first cheese and onion pasty of the trip, a group of mountain bikers arrived outside, and stopped for a brief rest. We chatted for a while, and then we all went on.
My original plan had been to make my way down to Cluannie Inn at the end of the first day, but further research had revealed the presence of the Alltbeithe (or Glen Affric) Youth Hostel about 11.5 miles in. I'd decided to stay there instead, as I was keen to meet as many Challengers as possible in the early part of my walk. I suspected that I might not see so many later on, due to the rather southerly route I was taking. I'd been told that Alltbeithe was all booked up for the Friday night, but that it would be possible to camp outside, and so I was hoping that they might be willing to allow me to use the kitchen and bathroom.
The hostel came into sight about 40 minutes after I left the Camban Bothy, but I wasn't able to find a bridge over the little river. Eventually I gave up and just waded across - my trail shoes and Smartwool socks were already very wet - and I arrived at the hostel just after 4pm. (It turned out that there was a bridge: I'd just failed to spot it. Doh...)
Going in, I found the hostel warm, cozy and inviting, and crowded with blokes chatting happily around a large table in the kitchen. I asked for the Warden, and was pointed towards Ellen. To my dismay, Ellen said it wouldn't be possible to camp outside the hostel. I was just reconciling myself to finding a dry and flat enough camping spot on the hill outside when she mentioned that they did, on the other hand, have rooms! I was delighted, and felt tempted to hug and kiss Ellen :-) I managed to restrain myself, though, and not long afterwards I was heaving my rucksack into a little two-bedded bunk room across the corridor from the kitchen.
Right after that I went back to the kitchen, where space was made for me round the table. Soon I had a mug of hot tea, and was chatting away with the other residents. There had initially seemed to be countless blokes around the table, but in the end it turned out that they were largely a group doing voluntary conservation work with the National Trust for Scotland, at what was called a Thistle Camp. They were doing what sounded like truly back-breaking stuff to me; refurbishing paths by digging rock out of river beds, and then hauling it up the hill and laying it into paths. Fantastic stuff! I've often wondered what sort of heroic people lay and repair paths up in the hills, and so now I know!
In addition to the conservation blokes, there were 4 other blokes doing the Challenge together, and they were first timers like me. Naturally I didn't realise it at the time, but 2 weeks later I would run screaming into the sea at St Cyrus with Ken, Lawrence, Malcom and Roy at the end of the walk. At this stage of the proceedings, though, they were concealing their more lunatic sides quite successfully, and appeared to be a perfectly normal bunch of 4, friendly blokes :-)
There was a fantastic fire in the kitchen, and I laid my soaked trail shoes in front of it and hung my wet socks (along with Little Peewiglet) from the line above, to dry. It was really lovely to sit inside in the warmth, knowing that my walking was done for the day, and watch the path outside the window for new walkers arriving.
In due course I saw Sue and Avril pass. I wondered whether they'd come in, but they pressed on to a wild camp instead. An hour or so later, though, another lone woman walker arrived, and decided to stay. That turned out to be Jean from breakfast. She'd been forced to descend from the tops by the grotty weather up there, and had decided to make her way to the YH. That was great news for me, as it meant we could resume the conversation we'd started at breakfast :-) Jean hauled her kit into the little bunk room with me, and then repaired to the kitchen for tea and to join in the conversation. A little later Peter, Craig and Bryan arrived, and settled down into the bunk at the back of the main building.
The evening passed very quickly in the hostel. The conservation blokes began to cook an enormous pot of bolognaise for their dinner: this was their last night, and they were trying to use up as much stuff as possible. Jean and I sat talking, planning to make something to eat later on, and so we were taken entirely by surprise to be passed a plate each of pasta and bolognaise from the blokes, when their meal was cooked. It was enormously kind of them, and it was followed later on by a large bowl of home made sticky toffee pudding that Ellen made from scratch and baked in the little oven, once the bolognaise was eaten! Brilliant! :-)
We drank a couple of wee drams during the course of the evening, and eventually one of the conservationists got out a nylon stringed guitar. He played a whole range of things quite beautifully, and I really didn't want to go to bed. The time arrived eventually, though, and Jean and I retired to our little room at about midnight.
Return to Home page -- Previous page -- Next page