Brave or extremely foolhardy.

Aug 3rd

 The weather has turned nasty, rain most of the night, we woke to it this morning and apart from a few breaks, not stopped all day. It was going to have to be wet weather gear again as we made a decision to visit the second highest waterfall in Scotland, Steall Falls. 

It was a good job we left early, Ian had read somewhere that the car park was small. As always, the biggest problem is fitting MB into a small car park, so the earlier to get there, the better. 

Ian, is always game for anything but seeing the sign at the start of the lane leading to the car park, stating not suitable for large motorhomes, made me wonder at his sanity, but this didn't faze him one bit. His, "The motorhome is only small" was supposed to reassure me...it did not! Anyway, although the lane was very narrow and a couple of small bridges had to be crossed with a weight limit of 3 ton (I did ask what MB's weight was, and he said about 3 ton...eek) nothing was met and a "I told you so" from Ian declaring he was always right!

 

The car park was already filling, it was only about 9.30 am. I'm very grateful Ian decided to turn MB when we arrived, as no way would that have been possible on our return! In fact, trying to leave, we only just managed to get out from in-between parked cars! But hang on... I'm getting ahead of myself.

So the rain, aren't midges supposed to disappear during heavy rain? These little blighters obviously hadn't had the memo because they swarmed in their hundreds. We started the walk smothered in anti midge spray, as we progressed we were still being bombarded by them, especially our faces, so on went the anti midge nets purchased at Corrieshalloch Gorge. 

Easy start. Little did we know what was coming.

The description of the walk, easy to moderate, it was 3.5 km hike and would take roughly two hours. Another attraction right beside the falls was Glen Nevis rope bridge, 'A bridge not for the faint hearted' was mentioned. We like rope bridges and had plans to walk across! Setting off on relatively flat and easy terrain, it wasn't long before the path became very rough and rocky with steep drops on one side. As we progressed, it became obvious to us that this was not going to be a walk in the park. In fact, for us oldies with some knee issues, it became one challenge after another. And with the continuing rain, rocks were becoming slippery. People a lot younger than us passed by, and we hadn't even reached the falls when they were on their way back! The photos don't do it justice, but rest assured, it was blooming hard to scramble up some of those rocks and to think we had to negotiate them all on our return made me wonder if we had done the right thing.

 

Some lovely views to be seen on the trek.

Finally, after almost 90 minutes of effort, we came to meadow. Another 5 minutes, and we arrived at the bottom of the falls and that rope bridge.

As much as we love a challenge, that bridge was not going to be something we would cross. For a start, how to get up to it? And with only one large wire for the feet and two wires for hand holds, nop, we could see why it said not for the faint hearted!

 But then, from the opposite bank, a chap appeared. Not only did he start the crossing, but on his shoulders sat a very young child. OMG, was this man very brave or extremely foolhardy. If he had slipped well, the outcome would have been catastrophic.

The dreaded return journey was upon us, we both were not looking forward to that at all. In fact, we shouldn't have worried because somehow, climbing down was easier than going up. And as a bonus, the rain stopped for a while, giving us a glimpse of the sun. Those midges became even more annoying and even with the anti midge net, somehow they got to my face. Still of all the folk walking that route today only one other couple had nets and so many people remarked on what a good idea they were.

By the time we got back to MB, the car park was heaving and cars blocked the lane waiting for cars to leave. We would have stayed for a welcome cup of tea, but Ian quite wisely said it would be best if we went. As mentioned above, Ian only just had enough room to squeeze past those cars, we met several more along the lane, good job plenty of passing lay-bys along the way. Just by the bridge where we rejoined the main road were more falls. These were called Steall Lower Falls. I really had no energy to exit MB and those midges without the nets would have eaten me alive, so Ian braved the onslaught and took these photos.

 

Gosh, we were knackered! Ian, poor lad, had to now drive to find somewhere to stop for the night. The first place we missed completely, carried on along the road and right by Loch Ailort was a deep lay-by. A small waterfall was nearby, so we stopped. This was not an official overnight stop, but the road is really quiet and if truth be told, we really didn't want to drive much further. A sudden rainstorm took us both by surprise. One minute it was dry, the next a tap had been turned on full, and we were in a deluge!

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The view from MB