Day 6 done. Another quite easy day of 16kms from Inveroran to Kingshouse. And, yet again, no rain which we are coming to realise is both uncommon & extremely fortunate. I’m writing this in the lounge area of the Kingshouse Hotel while we wait to check in. Here’s the view.That’s Glencoe - a huge, ancient glacial valley.
Our walk today started with a steadily rising trail past a large wooded estate. We were prompted to wonder how these places stay afloat, financially. But then, as we passed several spots where the fencing had collapsed, we thought maybe they don’t!
Anyway the trail rises to a vast elevated moor with mountain grasses, heath & mosses. The landscape features
many small lochs & streams &, of course, towering hillsides. There is water everywhere.
A feature of this stage was that, due to the lack of trees/shrubs, we could see our path ahead and behind for miles.
Another lesson we learned today was that when locals say a trail stage is flat, they’re not referring to change in elevation, they’re referring to the evenness of the actual surface. This stage was definitely NOT flat, even though we had been assured it was.
At the high point of the days walk the trail crosses over a saddle and swings around to offer stunning views of the vast Glencoe Valley, with the imposing and rugged Buachaille Etive Mor (the Great Shepherd of Etive) dominating the vista.
Evidently the most photographed peak in Scotland.
One of the slight disadvantages of leaving accommodation quite early (we try to be on the road by no later than 8:30) when the days walk is relatively short is that you can’t check in to the next place till about 3pm. So, again today, we sat in a lounge area and had a snack while waiting. The days here are incredibly long - daylight is from before 5am till after 10:30pm.
Just backtracking momentarily. The vast, open, elevated moorland is called Rannoch Moor. You get the sense sunlight would be an injustice there because its character seems built on its bleakness & desolation. But it’s still awe inspiring.
Glencoe of course is infamous for the massacre that occurred nearby in 1692.
While waiting to check in, waiting in the hotel lounge area, one of those incredible small-world stories evolved.
The waiter who served us had, in a past life, served in the Aust Navy at Jervis Bay and lived for many years in Brisbane. He chatted briefly with us. About an hour later I could hear other Australian voices from another area in the hotel. The waiter was with a group of people in a corner of the bar, pointing to us. A man walked over, introduced himself as James ‘from South Penrith’. He lives with his mother lives a stone’s throw from Noeleen. But here’s where the story gets wild.
He’s some Global Head of Promotions for Jaguar, Range Rover, Land Rover. A short time earlier we’d seen a convoy of these immaculate, new vehicles stream into the carpark. Apparently, while attending Wimbledon as tournament sponsors, he had devised a promotions plan to invite a delegation of motoring journalists & TV production people to go on a motoring tour of Scotland, filming promotional footage of the cars as they went. There was 30 people as part of the caravan! Guys from all over - the Middle East, everywhere. Including Australia. All flown in on Business Class and staying in bloody castles everywhere!
Included in the group was popular Aust TV presenter, Tim Gilbert, who now works for SKY but who spent 25 years working for Ch9 in their Sports team mostly. And this is where the small-world bit comes in. Tim is best mates with one of my friends who is in our Penrith Panthers chat group. I told this to James so Tim Gilbert came over. We chatted. It was so funny.
Shortly after, the caravan moved on. There were guys with cameras with zoom lenses and drones for aerial footage, following the train of 12 vehicles as they streamed out of the carpark, headed for the next luxury destination.
Marianne snapped this fella, feeding in front of the hotel this evening.
