Thursday 11 June 2015

Ardgour Gold

Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award Expeditions are some of my favourite bits of work, big on wilderness and wildlife, motivated kids and challenge. Sometimes, I get to do expeditions in new areas, and the Gold in Ardgour at the weekend was one of these.  I'm fairly familiar with the shores of Loch Shiel, but this time we accessed it via the Corran Ferry and Glen Cona, all pretty much new to me.

We set off on Saturday on the tail end of a filthy storm that dumped epic amounts of rain and saw the burns in full spate. The map shows a number of fords in Glen Cona so we were prepared to have to wait for water levels to drop, but in reality most of these are now bridged, and we were able to find a camp near the pass to Callop.

Storm light in Glen Cona

The following day, the weather softened, as we descended the pass towards Callop and Glenfinnan. By the afternoon the sun was shining, and fluffy white clouds adorned the blue sky. We took to the forest road on the shores of Loch Shiel and found a campsite a few kms to the north of Polloch.

The peaks of Glenfinnan.

We woke up the next morning to a breathless Loch Shiel.  Whilst the midges were a menace, we were more than rewarded with dazzling reflections of the hills and sky.


From Polloch, it was over the hill to Scotstown, and through the beautiful woods at Ariundle, to a camp in some remnants of ancient woodland below the Strontian lead mines.



On the final day, we passed through the bog of Glen Gour and out to Ardgour. The sun continued to shine.  I was pretty delighted to emerge on to the road with my feet still dry after 4 days and 80km of boggy hill and landrover track.

Adder in Glen Gour

Glen Coe visible as we emerge from Glen Gour.

Safely back at the Corran ferry.