TGO Challenge - A Walk from Glenuig to Montrose

Day 6 Wednesday - Watershed

I was very cold in the night and I marvelled at people who are able to use ultra lightweight sleeping bags and sleeping mats. I had my Marmot Helium bag and an Exped down filled mattress, but still had to put my down jacket on in the night. I was woken at 8:30 by the morning train.

Today's plan was to walk to Corrour Station and see what the station café had to offer, walk over to Loch Ossian then follow the path south towards Rannoch Station and its café, then east down the glen to Loch Rannoch where I’d camp near the south shore.

As I packed away the tent another Challenger stopped on the path on the other side of the river and we swapped a few words, hoping to meet again at the café at Corrour Station. A short walk took me to the station only to find that the café was closed. This was a blow, I had particularly planned my route to pass through Corrour, the idea of a station with no road leading to it being very appealing. I had known the station was closed on Wednesdays, but had forgotten that by getting a day ahead I would be here on Wednesday. I had a look around and took some photos.

The station has a wonderfully remote feel to it, sitting on this upland plateau with high mountains all around. As I was looking around a person came out of the station house, got in a car and drove off down the track. She was faced with a fourteen mile (23km) drive along the track to the road, and from there quite a drive to anywhere of any size. Wonderful. A great place to get a train to I should think (as in the film Trainspotting), although when I came through here on the train the previous Thursday it looked less appealing in the pouring rain.

I set off down the track with the gorgeous Loch Ossian in front of me.

After a mile I passed the Youth Hostel which is situated right on the shore of the loch amongst some trees, and then turned right to rise up to Peter’s Rock.

You can walk for miles in this part of Scotland without passing any named features, so I was interested to see what Peter's Rock was. It was a boulder, much like a thousand other boulders scattered around in this vast empty space, except it had a bronze plaque fastened to it reading:

“In memory of Peter J Trowell

Born Sept 1949 – Died March 1979 at Loch Ossian.

I have a friend a song and a glass

Gaily along life's road I pass

Joyous and free out of doors for me

Over the hills in the morning”

The path now turned south and contoured along the flank of Carn Dearg, about 600’ (200m) above the moor below. I had thought of going over Carn Dearg, but there was a cold east wind which would make the ridge uncomfortable, whereas I was in the lee of the hill on the path. After all, I was doing the walk for pleasure.

The route I was following now is part of the route called “The Road to Skye”, an old drove road. There’s a well known song describing the route, and by Tummel and Loch Rannoch and Lochaber I would go, but in the reverse order.

I stopped at the ruin of Corrour Old Lodge for a snack. What great views they had looking out over the moors to the mountains, but what a remote place.

A train went south down the line, almost invisible in that vast emptiness.

After a while the path started dropping down from the 1800’ (550m) contour, and at Clach an Fhuarain I crossed the watershed – my feet were now getting wet in water that would run to the east coast. The east coast! In fact I wasn’t even half way there yet.

The track descended to some trees, the first I’d seen since yesterday morning. A group of three Challengers were waiting for the fourth of their party who’d decided to go over Carn Dearg. The path dropped down to a river, and by a bridge I stopped for lunch. The bridges I came across on the walk were of all sorts of shapes and styles, but all were there to help the traveller cross an obstacle, which seems a very friendly thing. I couldn’t help liking them.

After lunch I followed the track on down to the road which runs west to Rannoch Station. I was hoping to make a diversion out to Rannoch Station café, but I realised that it would add too much to an already long day, so instead turned east down the road.

Rannoch Station is on the east side of the Rannoch Moor, that vast upland plateau which motorists travelling from Glasgow to Fort William pass along the west side of. The glen I was now walking down, which doesn’t seem to have a name, drains much of the moor, eventually running out to the North Sea.

The road followed the River Gaur, as it’s called at this stage, down to Bridge of Gaur where we entered a world of trees, cows and meadows. Quite a contrast to the upland wilds I’d just left.

A telephone kiosk marked on the map did in fact exist, and I phoned Challenge Control to let them know I was still alive. Challengers are required to phone in four times during the walk, and part of the planning process is wondering if telephones marked on the map work, or hoping against the odds that there’ll be mobile reception. A bit further along on the south shore of Loch Rannoch the mobile burst back into life with a couple of texts waiting for me.

At Crosscraig I turned south up a track beside the river (the Allt Camghouran) and entered a piece of old woodland. I carried on a little way until at 6:30 I found a flattish spot amongst some trees next to the river.

This was probably the best campsite of the trip with a long evening in which to enjoy it. Dinner was squash risotto followed by rhubarb and custard. The risotto worked really well, and being homegrown rhubarb added something to the enjoyment, but it didn’t rehydrate back into chunks of rhubarb, rather I ended up with a rhubarb soup. The custard was good and worked better than I’d expected, no doubt adding a few much needed calories.

And so ended another sunny, windy day.