Day 7 complete. 16kms from Kingshouse to Kinlochleven. First 5kms just follows the Glencoe valley with the stunning Buchaille Etive Mor still dominating the landscape. It’s impossible to avert your eyes from it. As we got closer to it we could see walkers ascending it. There is apparently one path which becomes quite steep & loose towards the top. And another which requires a combination of scrambling & climbing! Leave us out of that idea.The path then leaves the valley and ascends about 500m over a saddle to our neighbouring valley with more incredible views. The ascent is know as ‘The Devil’s Staircase’ but it wasn’t so bad. The midges were, however, as bad as we’d experienced the entire trip. Where it’s humid & still they proliferate. Apparently the females are the ones that bite (typical!). Once they find a juicy target they emit some sort of pheromone and, before you know it, you’re surrounded by a cloud of them. Thankfully, we came armed with Tropical Strength ‘Off’, which they say is the best repellant. We’ve not suffered from the little blighters at all. And when there’s a breeze they stay away. Today was fine & mostly still. We’ve been incredibly lucky with the weather. We’ve had about 90mins of rain the entire trip - much the same as happened when we did that stretch of The Camino. And the forecasts at the start of the week indicated rain from Wednesday on. We’ve seen none. ‘Beats class’ as they say. As we crossed over to the neighbouring valley for the long descent into Kinlochleven two RAF fighter jets screamed past in some low level flying exercise, banking and hurtling between the surrounding hills. They weren’t much higher than eye level. It was like a scene out of Top Gun. Travel throws up the strangest things sometimes. Totally unexpected.
The descent to Kinlochleven was long & tedious. These stretches are always difficult & tiresome. Marianne struggles a bit with these - dodgy knees. She’s a tough nut though. Although she’s often on her feet at work she really hadn’t done any walking preparation for this, let alone with a loaded backpack.
Kinlochleven evolved as a settlement as a result of hydro power and aluminium smelter at the start of the 20th Cent. It survives somehow.
