Day Three: The Devil's Staircase and the Top of the West Highland Way

I was still a little stiff from yesterday’s climb, but alas! Onward and forward. We left the hotel at 8:30 or so and started on a flat section for a little while before ascending the "Devil's Staircase", a series of switchback pathways leading to the highest point on the West Highland Way. It was a bit rainy and misty, but not so bad that I didn't strip off first my rain pants and then my coat as I heated up while heading up.

Heading out from the Kings House in the morning mist

Pretty clear what we were in for: Public Footpath to Glencoe via Devil's Staircase, Altnafeadh

Setting out single file on the flat section before the climb

We were walking up out of Glen Coe, scene of the 1692 massacre of the MacDonald clan. The same valley Corrag tried to warn about, sword in the loch and all. I‘m really making an effort to engage my imagination and think not just about the place I‘m in, but about the history of the place. What happened here? Who walked these paths? William Wallace? Robert the Bruce? This path we were on today was made by the military as they made roadways between different fortifications around the country. The little town we were headed to was built around a dam meant to power an aluminum plant in the early 20th centure. History has these layers that we need to peel back.

One of the West Highland Way markers, white symbol on dark wood

A stile over a fence and another marker pointing the way

Crossing one of the wooden footbridges over a burn

Another bridge, this one with a much more dramatic burn rushing underneath

A smaller burn coming down right alongside the trail

Our guide running through something at one of the stops on the way up

A lone white cottage tucked into the glen, the mountains lost in cloud above it

The scree slope ahead disappearing straight up into the cloud

All in it was about nine miles, five or six hours, with somewhere between eleven hundred and fourteen hundred feet of climb up to the pass at the top.

A hiker ahead of me on the flat at the top of the staircase

Coat off, rocky glen stretching out behind

Catching my breath at the pass, the glen opening up behind

Looking down over a burn and the mist sitting in the valley below

Another burn tumbling away down the slope

The trail running on with the distance still locked in cloud

Into the birch woods on the way down, ferns everywhere

A small waterfall running past an old stone wall

Coming out into the valley toward the end of the day

In the little village of Kinlochleven there was a gorgeous waterfall, the Grey Mare's Tail I think, just beautiful! There were folks climbing the rock wall beside and above it, but we didn't opt in for that. After a long day, it was good to relax in the hotel before heading to "whisky corner" for David Wright's lecture.

Coming into Kinlochleven with the burn running past

The little woodland walk up to the falls

Looking down into the gorge below the falls

The Grey Mare's Tail itself, dropping down through the moss and rocks

David did a great lecture on photography and a bit about his career, and a practical guide to some of the locations we've been so far and where we're going in the next few days.

David Wright giving his Travel Photography lecture at whisky corner

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