The Espresso Addict ([info]espresso_addict) wrote,
@ 2005-09-19 15:17:00
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Entry tags:mountains, photos, rl, scotland

Scotland I -- Glen Coe
Our first week was near Onich, by Loch Linnhe in the Glen Coe area...

Loch Linnhe...
--At sunset
--Early light breaking onto the loch
--View towards Onich at sunset

Loch Eilde Mor at dusk, with the spiky ridge of Aonach Eagach behind

Weird formations of water-eroded rock in Glen Nevis; and again

Loch Hourn, a sea loch on the wild Knoydart penisula, & one of the most beautiful places I've visited...
--Down Loch Hourn towards Barrisdale
--Across the loch at low tide
--Rocky prominence with Caledonian pines overlooking Runival
--Largely ruined settlement of Runival, emptied by the clearance of 1853
--Open woodland beyond Runival
--Barrisdale Bay at dusk

Bidean nam Bian: a complex E-shaped mountain, the highest in Glen Coe, with two parallel valleys running perpendicular to the summit ridge...
--Waterfall low down in Coire Gabhail
--Coire Gabhail, the Hidden Valley of Bidean nam Bian, where clansmen are supposed to have hidden cattle from the English. (The bum-shaped mountain behind is the end of the ubiquitous Aonach Eagach ridge)
--The main ridge of Bidean nam Bian from just below Stob Coire nan Lochan
--Stob Coire nan Lochan rising up from a lochan-studded plateau
--Basalt pavement and rock pillars at the summit of Stob Coire nan Lochan
--Views of the Aonach Eagach ridge and the Buachailles from Stob Coire nan Lochan

Peculiar conglomerate cliffs at Ganavan, near Oban


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[info]kalypso_v
2005-09-19 05:54 pm UTC (link)
Bidean nam Bian looks sensational! Loch Eilde Mor too.

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[info]espresso_addict
2005-09-19 07:52 pm UTC (link)
Bidean went straight into my favourite mountains list: the two contrasting valleys, Coire Gabhail & Coire nan Lochan, are particularly unusual. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of the latter, as the light had gone by the time we descended, but it's spattered with lochans near the top, then descends through a narrow valley by a burn crammed with waterfalls.

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[info]forodwaith
2005-09-19 05:55 pm UTC (link)
Gorgeous photos! Thanks for sharing.

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[info]espresso_addict
2005-09-19 07:53 pm UTC (link)
Glad you enjoyed them!

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[info]gareth_rees
2005-09-20 11:05 am UTC (link)
Did you cross the wire bridge in Glen Nevis?

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[info]espresso_addict
2005-09-20 11:30 am UTC (link)
Only about half way -- there was a bit of a bottleneck of people who needed to cross, so it seemed churlish to cross it completely merely to recross.

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[info]gareth_rees
2005-09-20 06:38 pm UTC (link)
Yes, the Ring of Steall is very popular (and rightly so: the ridge of An Garbhanach is spectacular).

Glen Nevis is almost Himalayan — you walk up a narrow water-carved gorge and suddenly emerge onto a grassy flat glacier-carved valley. I took D to see it a couple of years ago (but we didn't go on to do the ring, that would have been too much!).

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[info]espresso_addict
2005-09-20 06:52 pm UTC (link)
It's described as Himalayan in one of the guidebooks, but it felt rather like the Canadian Rockies to me. Did you go up to the Hidden Valley (Coire Gabhail) on Bidean nam Bian? -- that's rather similar.

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