Sue and Martin in Mallorca 2019

Sue and Martin in Mallorca 2019
On the Archduke's Path in Mallorca

Thursday 12 September 2019

Backpacking with Markus - Lubnaclach to Bridge of Gaur Guesthouse


 

 

 

 
Thursday 12 September 2019

A 21 km walk, taking us 6 hours.

After a showery, drizzly night in diminishing wind, we both woke, after very good sleeps, to see thick cloud draped over Carn Dearg, the Munro in whose direction our tents were pointed, and which was on Markus's itinerary for today. He looked out, and crossed it off.

We exited our camping spot (luckily no vehicles had come to run me over, and we didn't see a soul all morning) in light rain at 8.45. A boggy path, up to the bulldozed track linking Rannoch with Corrour, annoyed Markus, whose leaky Meindl boot had him cursing about his wet foot. Astonishingly, my old Scarpa Delta boots, with about 2500 km on the clock, have kept my feet perfectly dry despite the wet terrain we've been walking through.

After the uphill grind to that main track, with views back to the misty environs of Lubnaclach, the track towards Rannoch was easy going. We stopped for a brew in the drizzle at the derelict site of the sanitarium at Corrour Old Lodge. Hard to picture what it must have been like in its heyday. Far from what you see in today's top picture.

Then an uneventful stroll (second picture) to an early, drizzly, lunch stop in the shelter of some power company sheds shortly before a bridge over the Allt Eigheach river. Not much by way of views, but the weather was improving and the mist was slowly clearing from Sron Smeur, a small hill with a good viewpoint.

My suggestion that we go up Sron Smeur was vetoed on 'wet foot' grounds and we continued our gentle stroll to join the quiet road between Rannoch and Bridge of Gaur.

The weir at Dunan Power Station was most impressive, with the River Gaur in spate. We had another break, now in welcome sunshine, here.

Continuing our stroll, we reached my favourite guesthouse before 2.45 pm. Soon we were ensconced in the living room with tea and coffee and the imminent prospect of a hot bath.

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