Glen Sligachan.
Start. Sligachan Hotel.
Route. Sligachan Hotel - Glen Sligachan - Allt na Measarrow - Loch an Athain - Allt na Measarrow - Sligachan Hotel.
Notes. “It seems as if Nature when she hurled the Cuillins up into the light of the sun said: ‘I will make mountains which shall be the essence of all that can be terrible in mountains. I will pack into them all the fearful shapes. Their scarred ravines, on which nothing shall grow, shall lead up to towering spires of rock, sharp splinters shall strike the sky along their mighty summits, and they shall be formed of rock unlike any other rock so that they will never look the same for very long, now blue, now grey, now silver, sometimes seeming to retreat or to advance, but always drenched in mystery and terrors” – HV Morton.
Don't let the words of Henry Vollan Morton put you off, take a walk with us into the mighty Cuillin, we'll climb no hills just drink in the views on this trek through Glen Sligachan. With the Black Cuillin on one side and the Red Cuillin the other we can wander and dream, dream that one day in this life or the next we'll stand on those jagged peaks.
It was a lovely day for a wander through a glen, a glen like no other, with the savage profile of Sgurr nan Gillean dominating all it surveys we set out from the Sligachan Hotel. A good path guided us under the slopes of Glamaig and Marsco and the lower Ruadh Stac, we passed lochens like diamonds sparkling in the Highland sunshine, Loch Dubha at the mouth of Harta Corrie the site of the last clan battle between the MacDonalds and MacLeods in 1601, it was said the bodies of deceased were piled around a large boulder at the mouth of the corrie named the Bloody Stone. On reaching Loch an Athain in the shadow of Garbh bheinn and Bla Bheinn, we rested, decided we'd walked far enough and headed back for lunch at the Sligachan Hotel.
The Old Bridge at Sligachan acts like a photographers magnet, the views into the Cuillin attract folk with cameras and tripods at all times of the day, when we arrived the place was packed, so the first two shots are a couple I took the day before when the cameras and tripods were still in bed.
The Old Bridge at Sligachan looking to Glamaig and Beinn Bearg Mhor.
The Black Cuillin the principle top being Sgurr nan Gillean.
The Sligachan Hotel.
Dominating the whole of our walk today the Black Cuillin.
Rising above Glen Sligachan, the bulk of Marsco.
Alltdearg House stands lonely in the distance, the only building in the whole of this glen.
The ragged profile of the Black Cuillin as seen over Glen Sligachan.
Wild, lonely and not a soul in sight.
Beinn Dearg Mheadhonach seen over the lower slopes of Marsco.
Views across Glen Sligachan.
Marsco.
Lochan Dubha with views into Harta Corrie backed by part of the saw tooth Cuillin ridge.
Viewing the dramatic rock scenery of Bla Bheinn.
Typical Highland burn, Allt nam Fraoch-chore looking into Am Fraoch-chore.
Looking quite imposing guarding the entrance to Coire Dubh, Bla Bheinn.
Soaking up the views over Loch an Athain.
Views through Coire Dubh with the slopes of Ruadh Stac to the left and cliffs of Bla Bheinn the right, closing the head of the corrie the jagged skyline of Garbh bheinn.
Wonderful colours, a deep pool below the fording point of the Allt nam Fraoch-choire.
Lochan Dubha backed by the Cuillin.
Glamaig in dappled light.