Glen Affric Walk

2013 Aug 10 - wildlife hiking scotland maps

I set out to walk through Glen Affric, the finest of all Scotland’s glens, and while the walk was truly fine it was also truly wet. So finally, you get the whole picture about Scotland: sometimes it does rain here!

I’m leaving my house on a drizzling grey Scottish morning, my shins still in pain from the test walk in the Pentlands I did three days ago. As always, half of my backpack’s weight seems to be made up of food alone. But while I might have been cold, wet, bored, or tired in the past during my walks, I’ve never been hungry. Reveals my priorities, doesn’t it?

I got this super cheap bus ticket for a quarter of the regular price, so it’s obviously not the fastest connection. I also get to spend two hours in Inverness before my connecting bus to Cannich leaves - enough time to buy some camping gas I hope, nothing like a hot cup of tea when camping. The reading material for this trip: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. On my last camping trip it was George Orwell’s 1984. I seem to be partial to depressing literature for walking. I wonder why.

The first day I walk 30 km. That is too far for a first day with a heavy backpack that has most of the food still inside. My feet are literally steaming once I take off my boots. The thing is that I didn’t know exactly how far I walked since my map doesn’t cover the first part of the walk. Also, it begins to rain in the afternoon, and I don’t feel like pitching my tent in the rain but rather walk all the way to the Alltbeithe Youth Hostel in the middle of the glen. Thank goodness they have a bed for me. The mostly Scottish company is also really nice. Next day, I set out for Morvich via Glen Lichd, the longer but drier and more dramatic route according to my new acquaintances. I get soaked before I arrive at the Camban bothy one hour down the trail, where I change into dry clothes and waterproofs. But after an extended break there it rains less hard and I stay mostly dry. Sadly, it is a bit too wet and midgy to rest on the way, even though my feet demand it. Arriving in Morvich, the sun comes out for the first time since arriving in the highlands, but it turns out that I am a fair weather camper who is taking the last bus to Inverness to stay in a hostel instead of pitching my tent in Morvich.