GLENCOE’S Easiest, Most Spectacular Walk

This is an absolute belter of an easy walk, all year round, as long as weather conditions allow for decent views.The scenery is just stunning, absolutely gorgeous and you feel well away from the crowds below.Yes, there is traffic noise but it also seems to disappear amidst the grandeur.

Start:the parking options are described coming from the north/Fort William.

Option 1: keep driving beyond the large car and coach parks opposite the Three Sisters range where most stop for photos.Drive round the sharp bend, over a bridge and a short way further on round another bend, there is signposted parking on the right.This isn’t huge but is the parking for the Two Lairigs walk and Buachaille Etive Beag.The map below shows the parking/general area I mean.Opposite, is an unusual beehived shaped stone cairn.

https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/maps/map2_32fw.shtml

Simply cross the A82 (carefully!) to the cairn, cross the small burn(usually very easy) and the old road is straight in front of you.It is a little elevated from the moorland but its edge is obvious.

This car park fills up very quickly in good weather and weekends so it might be full.Fear not, you have two more options.

Option 2: just beyond this, on the left hand side of the A82, is another small parking area (cars will be parked singly along its shortish length.)The river is down below and a bridge crosses it.There is a short bit of pavement that allows safe walking onto the moorland(sometimes a bit boggy), from where you will quickly see the old road.You will also see a gate standing all on its own and doing nothing essentially, off to the right.There are photos below of this parking area.

Option 3:drive on to a small pull in area big enough for two cars beside this gate which is a very short way beyond the Option 2 parking area.

Length: around 1 mile each way if you go the whole distance.

Time; about 40 mins each way depending on how far you decide to walk

Difficulty: easy though waterproof shoes/ boots best as it can be quite wet in places.

Rating:5 stars

With short time or simple laziness or with companions who are not up to anything very strenuous, the stroll along GLENCOE’s old road is absolutely superb.The famous and stunning glen is often just a pit stop for a 5 min stare and some photos with visitors unsure of how to enjoy it a bit longer.And it does deserve much longer! While most walks or hikes in the glen are up, up up onto the big peaks, they rise so steeply all around, this easy wander makes the most of the old road through the Glen of Weeping, high above the traffic and the crowds below.

If parking at the pull in area beside the gate, the path is very good from the start.

From the larger parking area some rough, boggy ground needs to be crossed to access the old road but it really only takes a minute.

Last month in February, we parked at Option 2 which also gives a nice view of one of the three rivers which rush through Glencoe.

There is a great view from here of the Three Sisters, the craggy mountains which dominate the glen.Behind them , lies Argyll’s highest peak, Bidean nam Bian at  1150m/3772 feet.

We walked a few metres to where there was an obvious crossing of the river (a tiny burn at this point) which led to a very boggy area of moorland.Cross the burn where the black car is parked.

Not much of a burn to cross…

Bog Alert!

But we dodged our way over it and were soon on the main path – the old road.

This gave us a delightfully easy walk with only minor ups and downs and with the mountains all around.The road lay below and felt a long way away somehow.We felt far from the madding crowd.The Three Sisters range below…

There were little waterfalls to admire…

…and the beautiful winter colours of the mountains (we’d had very little snow this year) plus a chance to gander at the various high level routes we’d climbed over the years.The snowy mountain on the left is Buachaille Etive beag, the easiest and shortest ‘biggie’ in the glen.

It was really windy today so another reason to stay low…the winds on Buachaille Etive Beag’s summit…

The sun was beginning to shine too – a major bonus after the cloudy, slightly gloomy start.But in all weathers, Glencoe looks magnificent.Zoomed to Bidean nam Bian, the highest peak in the glen.

Although just above sea level , if this were the Alps, it would be as if one were up in really high country seeing the topmost peaks.Many of the Scottish mountains are so accessible which I think is a great advantage and makes them so appealing.No need to slog for hour and hours or days to get to the good stuff.It’s right there!

We sauntered along to the end of the path, lots of puddles in places given the rain we’d had recently.A lovely old stone wall marks where the old road descends to the newer A82 with great views up to the steep slopes of the Aonach Eagach ridge.

Close up views of the Three Sisters (or two of them!) at the stone wall…

The famed Aonach Eagach ridge on the right…

Away down at the bottom of the glen, hidden from here, lies Loch Achtriochtan, another lovely stretch of water and well worth a stop to enjoy; it has a small car park.

We’ve done this walk in high summer when the mountains are at their greenest, a deep emerald but today the colours were tawny and gold with snow dusting the higher slopes.

There are golden eagles in the glen though we didn’t see them today.

It was then a case of simply walking back, a minor climb up to the more level section of the path.We met a couple of photographers, tripods over their shoulders, heading for the end of the path – it’s a favourite haunt of those who are serious about their hobby.

For a cuppa, something stronger, a snack or lunch, the two best options a few mins drive away are the Clachaig Inn, a well known climbers/walkers pub or the more upmarket Kingshouse Hotel.Both are in stunning locations with fantastic mountain views.

The Kingshouse here with Buachaille Etive Mor (the Great Shepherd o f Etive) in the background.

As easy a walk as you could wish yet delivering a grandstand view of a fabulous glen that deserves far more time than is often devoted to it.