We awoke in Tyndrum, where our landlady fixed us a delicious breakfast of smoked salmon and scrambled eggs. Today's stage was supposed to be 30km of hiking but we decided to catch a taxi to Bridge of Orchy and save 11km. This shortened stage would help ensure that we'd finish up in time to meet a prearranged ride to Glencoe (location of our night's accommodation).
The walk from Bridge of Orchy was a moderate grade up to the top of a ridge that we followed for an hour under sunny skies and then descended to the Inveroran Hotel. From there, and for the rest of the day's trek, we followed an ancient drover road (cattle-driving road) that was later cobbled, in 1803, for military and commercial use. The grade gently guided us along a valley and across a wide moor. We both felt great and made good time, arriving nearly 3 hours before our ride (I guess we could have walked to Bridge of Orchy, after all!)
The beautiful blue skies displayed the Scottish Highlands at their best and we both snapped many photos, but I'm not sure they do reality justice.
Our trip into Glencoe (17km) was necessitated by the recent closure of the Kingshouse Hostel, up at the top of the glen, where we had originally been booked. We were feeling disappointed about not being able to stay at Kingshouse and, therefore, we were not looking forward to the drive into Glencoe. As it turned out, the trip was a silver lining as the Glencoe Valley is truly spectacular—one of the most scenic drives we have ever experienced!
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