Starting from Glen Nevis visitor centre the plan was to run up Glen Nevis, through the gorge, past Steall, continue on to Luibelt / Meanach, take a right down the Glen passing behind Kinlochleven picking up the west Highland Way back to Glen Nevis, 30 something miles, about 6 or 7 hours. Bit of an epic so a few pictures included to highlight the route.
Ran up Glen Nevis in an enjoyable mixture of sun & snow passing a few tourists snapping away at the surrounding snow covered mountains. Jog walked up the gorge track mindful of the drops to the river below. Stopped at one of the ledges for a picture back down the Glen to a snow capped Mullach nan Coirean.
At the top of the Gorge ran through the aptly named Steall Meadows and on into the upper reaches of Glen Nevis, the Mamores towering above to the South.
The track turned out to be not much better than a sheep track, although not too steep so tried to maintain a jog which was pretty hard going through rocks & over streams, realised what the word "ford" meant. Continued to climb up the Glen into the snow pausing for a look back towards the relative calm of Steall meadows with Sgurr a' Mhaim towering behind..
On up the Glen into the snow, the tracks and trods contiually splitting and found myself choosing what appeared to be the best path only for it to disappear into mush a few hundred yards later as the river and its flood plain meandered across the valley floor. The constant sluicing of freezing water in & out of my shoes turned my feet to blocks of ice.
Found myself constantly stopping to check the map or go back and get it? The herds of Deer providing respite as they watched my painfully slow progress towards Luibelt and what I hoped would be better going. Gradually the terrain eased and the snow began to dissappear, the river suddenly got a lot bigger and changed direction too, ok it was a different river, I had left the Water of Nevis behind and was now running beside the Abhainn Rath, pushed on as this meant I was only a mile or so from Luibelt, only trouble was the river crossing to come. Arrived at Luibelt and stopped for some food and a drink before the river crossing so that I could run myself dry hopefully without freezing!
From Luibelt you pickup a landrover track which runs through the Glen passing a couple of small lochs gleaming in the sun on the way to Kinlochleven. All the time views to Loch Leven and mountains beyond gradually open up.
Continuing towards Kinlochleven the aim was to avoid going through Kinlochleven & the 1000' descent & re-ascent that would mean, easy enough in the end as the tracks matched the map snaking off to tthe right, great views past the Pap of Glencoe down Loch Leven.
Met up with the WHW runners just after Kinlochleven for the 10 or 11 miles back to Fort William. The day's effort beginning to tell, walking as much as jogging. Gradually worked our way back with great views of Ben Nevis pulling us on, managed to pick up the pace for the run through the forrest familiar from a previous out and back run from Fort William.
Good run back down the forrest tracks on the side of Glen Nevis to finish in 8 1/2 hours, a might longer than expected, the run from Steall to Luibelt a toughie. Home for a few beers to celebrate Georges birthday. A few more pictures in the Galleria.
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