West Highland Way With a 3 Year Old - Day 9 Trail Notes - Bridge of Orchy to Rannoch Moor - Anna Hardie

day 9 trail notes | bridge of orchy to rannoch moor

stats

weather:

sunny & windy

accommodation:

wild camp

steps:

19,947k

planned mileage:

7.50 miles

actual mileage:

5.75 miles

total day mileage:

8.80 miles

had a really great sleep last night, the sound from the river just sent me off quickly & kept me down for most of the night. apparently there was a fantastic northern lights display over us during the early morning but of course we missed it! i think the wee informal area we were camping at got quite busy last night with hikers arriving late as around 7 am this morning we could hear lots of hushed voices packing up, so they must have been late arrivers / early leavers.

we had a nice short day planned, around 7.5 miles, so i wasn't overly rushing this morning. i had walked a wee bit of this section a few years prior with some other mum friends so i knew roughly what to expect for the first few hours then i'd read that it was mainly downhill or on a flat path for the remainder of the day, so 'easy walking'. i remembered from before that after leaving bridge of orchy there is a nice shaded area due to the woods that goes up hill for a bit, then opens out to the mountains which i was looking forward to getting into as it was already around 19 degrees in the sun. the shade would hopefully keep us cool enough to move up the hill without complaint.

so we had our porridge, played at the river briefly then decided to head on our way. the instant uphill took little by a bit of a shock & we were stopping nearly every 30 minutes for her to rest & play on the gravel. we found out pretty quickly that the shaded area that i was desperately looking forward to reaching was no longer there. the whole hillside had been completely felled since we last hiked here, so we were right under the sun. this of course was not ideal as i was looking forward to having about 2 hours of shade, so put me in a little grump for a bit. thankfully there was a lovely breeze coming right behind us, so that kept us cool. nothing we could do about it & snapped out of my grump pretty quickly.

we were being overtaken by quite a few people by this point, all who looked like they could've used the shade from the trees too. this made me feel slightly better that it wasn't just me struggling!

we reached the summit of mam carraigh which is celebrated with a big rock cairn at 361m. little climbed up & touched the highest rock to mark her climbing to this point. we decided here would be a good place for a break, i could feel a blister coming & she needed to shed some layers.

while we were having our break we were approached by a lovely dutch couple who we'd seen earlier in the day at bridge of orchy. they asked if we were doing the west highland way too & were amazed when we said yes. they then asked if we were scottish as they'd had some questions, so i happily answered for them. they wanted to know what the cairn was & what it was for & why scot's use the word 'wee' so much & what this meant. they seemed slightly disappointed when i told them it was just another word for little & decided that was enough questions for us.

the view from up here was incredible. we had such a clear view over to loch tulla & the surrounding mountains, all looking incredible with the blue sky above them. i probably could've sat here for a much longer time but we had plans to reach the inveroran hotel for a bite of lunch so we headed on.

the path thankfully was all downhill but it was the type that isn't the easiest to walk on. loose, gravelly type paths that you have to watch your every step & speed otherwise you're going down on your bum type of path. it's very badly eroded here due to this where hikers are choosing to hike over the heather instead of the path.

the hotel doesn't serve lunch until 1 oclock & it was only around 1130 by this point so we decided to take our time going downhill. there was no point rushing & possibly falling again when we would have to wait at the bottom anyway! the next two days were planned wild camps so i was planning on getting a good lunch here & stocking up in their shop to keep us going.

we had some sandwiches, crisps & juice in the hotel for our lunch & stocked up on some other wee snacks for later. i didn't realise the shop was cash only but thankfully the kind staff let us put it through the hotel bar as we were getting a drink there anyway. i was hoping for more for lunch but apparently they only do soup at lunch time & their menu starts for evening time. unfortunately not going to sit around all day waiting for that, so sandwiches are perfect. we managed to get our bottles filled up here too at their outside tap & it kept us out the sun for a while.

we spoke to a few lovely people inside their bar area. two guys had already finished for the day, having walked from tyndrum to inveroran doing the 10 miles before 1 oclock & decided they'd rest for the remained of the day instead of pushing on further. absolute fair play to them! there was another couple who was telling us stories of their previous west highland way trips as they'd done it 3 times prior. a lovely chat we had with them all but as we'd sat here for 2 hours, it was time to get moving.

the employee working behind the bar was helpful, giving us advice & tips about the remainder of our hike. he said we could easily make it to kingshouse today if we wished as the majority was just on the drovers road. i took this into mind & decided i'd see how we were getting on to judge what we do.

the road after the hotel to the victoria bridge is tarred so it made for some easy quick walking. it was quite a busy wee area around the bridge, with lots of tents set up by the river & cars filling the lay bys nearby. the ground was great though, plenty flat pitching spots for tents. this likely would've been our next option for the night last night if we couldn't get a spot at bridge of orchy, so it's nice to see we could've had options.

the victoria bridge was lovely to walk over & we see a few deer in the area too. we stopped just off trail as little needed a break, so we sat here for a minute. just after this would be the last part of the tarred road & we would be onto the drovers road. i somehow expected this to be easy but it wasn't, for us anyway.

i had read so much about how this section could be done quickly due to the terrain & gradual elevation, so in theory we could fly through it. in reality, it drained us. the cobbles took absolutely everything out of us as we were having to watch our steps constantly to make sure we didn't trip or land funny & it was just mentally & physically tiring. the erosion on the ground from people going around the path showed we weren't the only ones to be struggling with this terrain. we stopped about 5/6 times within a mile section because we both couldn't get going & at this point i started to worry about our camp situation for the night. rannoch moor is extremely exposed, it's bog ridden & remote so the options of good wild camping spots are pretty slim. they were mainly around the half way point of the moor so if they were gone we would have to continue onto kingshouse, which would've been fine, if we had the energy.

we passed a lovely man called andrew on the moor & he was telling us that he was going to camp around ba bridge to try get the second wave of the northern lights. thats where i wanted to head, so if he was going there too, then how many others had also planned this? they were all much quicker so it would likely be us carrying onto kingshouse. oh dear, not much we could do about that! we spoke for a little bit & then he continued on his way. i later spoke to him through one of the west highland way facebook groups & he told us he didn't manage to get the display he was hoping for but enjoyed his camp anyway.

by around 3 oclock we were both running on low & needed to lighten the mood so i suggested to little that we take some photos. she loved this idea & was happily posing away. she loves setting the timer on the camera & running, so we did a few of those. as we were doing this an area just off the path caught my eye & i had to go check it out. it looked like it could be a spot for camping, which would be ideal given we were both fed up, but my hopes weren't high due to the location.

turns out it was the best thing i could've spotted. it was completely flat, sheltered, next to a stream & pretty well hidden from the path. i couldn't believe that no one else had nabbed this spot! i looked at the map & seen we were 2.5 miles away from where i had originally planned to start looking for a spot, but decided this was as good, if not the best, we could find so i called it here. i wasn't even looking for a camp spot but this was a sign that we should stop before we started resenting this day. finding this spot when we were both slumping reminded me why i decided we should camp / wild camp this hike, for moments like this. when little needed to stop or we found a good spot to miss, we would stop for the night & that's what was going to happen tonight.

taking my bag off my back was such a relief & honestly i was glad to be finished on this path for the day. i knew the extra 2.5 miles wouldn't be enjoyable in the morning but at least they weren't a now problem.

i couldn't believe our luck still as i was pitching. the ground was so flat & dry & there was barely a wind getting through the mound. as i was getting everything set up, little took it upon herself to be on watch patrol. she stood on top of one of the mounds looking down on the path & was saying hi to every hiker who passed by. i almost felt a bit smug that we were stopped here & others were having to continue on the horrid cobbles for a bit longer.

we had a nice easy noodle dinner then watched some more hikers pass from the mound. it was a good vantage point from up there, we could see the hikers coming & going for a while which passed the time quite nicely before bed.

as we were washing our dishes in the stream from dinner, a lovely couple stopped to chat to us. they were doing the great outdoors coast to coast challenge & honestly, i was in awe. it was a 2 week challenge which they were smashing & it was nice to have a different thing to speak about. usually we were speaking to other hikers who were also doing the west highland way, which don't get me wrong was lovely, but because these two were doing a different challenge it felt like a refreshing change of pace & conversation. i had never heard of this so decided to do a wee bit of bed time reading about it.

having heard & seen quite a few weather reports about a thunderstorm due in tomorrow, i decided to call bed early. rannoch moor was not the place to be stuck on during a thunderstorm, given it's vast nothingness, so i wanted to be up & away early to try get as close to the kingshouse before it was due to hit. i think we were both asleep by around 8 oclock. the dovers road made sure we were sleeping well tonight, that was a given.