TGOC'24 Day 5 Loch Ossian Youth Hostel to Lochan na h-Earba May 14, 2024

It rained most of the night, but I couldn't tell you, as I was asleep the moment my head hit the pillow.  It continued to lightly rain most of the night, so the morning was wet. I didn't need to get out early as today was about 18 miles and with plenty of time, I could linger and have breakfast with various people staying in the lodge (most of them where not challengers but young people doing various activities, like biking and Munro bagging). It was good to sit with David and Andy for a bit, as well. Andy was planning out how to get from place to place along the Challenge for the next week or so, since we had withdrawn last night. I had to do the same thing with Vicky in '14 and '18, when she got injured. Last night everyone had placed all their wet clothing items around the fire and on the drying rack, which was hoisted high above the stove into the rafters of the kitchen area, where the stove was located. Yes it smelled a little "dank". 😆 

I didn't take any pictures this morning as people were coming and going from the kitchen area in various stages of being dressed for the day. 

Loch Ossain Youth Hostel 

Today I had a choice starting out, I have to walk down the entire length of Loch Ossian, so I can choose either side.

The South side ends with having to walk through the Corrour Shooting Lodge area and has less woods, so I choose the North side as it seemed a bit more "pleasant" walking and it has more woods, so for today, it will have more cover from the drizzle. 

In retrospect I should have taken the time to go by the Corrour Lodge as it is a modern building of some note and would have been nice to see in person  

internet photo

Leaving the YHA in the drizzle, the view back to its location on the loch is beautiful. (below)

Trying to stay dry right off the bat. 

The walk is exactly what I expected, I am glad the road was not hard paved, the gravel was a bit more comfortable, but a fabulous greenway, with absolutely no one along the track.

The rhododendrons were out in every color. This red is one I have not seen much and it was beautiful. 

Plenty of water flowing into the loch as well. 

about half way down the 2.5 mile loch you get some views to the other side. 

you get past the shooting lodge and break into more traditional glen scenery. 

This is no ordinary glen however. It is Amar Srath Ossian and it is stunningly beautiful. It follows the River Ossian between two ridges of about 2300' in height

A word about this Challenge. It was my plan to walk through Glens. (or Glenn=valley or narrow valley)

I am going to go to higher peaks later in the Challenge, but it was my goal, partly because I knew I would not have much time to train, but honestly I wanted to walk in beautiful places and be able to look around and enjoy myself. After all, this is a bit of a holiday and I didn't want to spend two weeks at the limit of my energy every day. 

This place delivered it in spades! Please click on the images to make them much larger and just enjoy!

In the photo above you can see the grove of trees in the center, this is Strathossian (a house name). I was suppose to walk right by it, you can see that on the map. I accidently (on purpose) took the higher track, so I could get some better views of the entire valley. (the photo above and the photo below) 

I took the path in red. Also regardless of the Scottish access laws, which allow me to walk there,  I never feel comfortable walking in front of someone's house! 

There is a short stretch above Loch Ghuilbinn where the valley widens and you start to see the next cluster of hills (photo above)

You exit the Corrour Estate property (above) at a gate with surveillance?  

On the map you enter a large forested area. In this case half the forest is now missing. I have noticed that on this crossing there is more extensive forestry work going on this year than in previous years, I have been in Scotland. The green area is the forest. The orange area is now missing forest.

My lunch view- no more trees.

This one person, in this one small machine, is able to process all these trees very quickly!

Some of the Cairngorm Mountains in the background here:

I think the tall one on the left is the Munro Beinn a Chaorainn (3451')

The last half of today had been particularly dry.  I have noticed that when there is a lot of logging going on, the water stops flowing from the hills. I passed a house called Luiblea. It is a beautiful Scottish farm house with a mix of old and modern, but it did not have an outdoor water spigot. In fact not many Scottish houses do. I was short of water all day today. Around 5 pm, I reached my destination, a lochan called Erba. This was a very nice setting, suggested by my Vetter, but as you can see from the photo the clouds had moved in. I had passed another Challenger less than a mile back (who we will see again tomorrow, that said there was forecasted a good sized storm with high winds. 

I arrived and set up my tent at the end of the loch to afford the best views and got some water. I drank about 2 liters just sitting in my tent. 

Looking out behind the tent at the outflow of Lochan Erba.

I enjoyed the views out my tent for an hour or so and didn't really do anything but relax and watch the loch. However, all this time the wind was building and it was coming straight down the lochan.

I had set up my tent based on views and knew pretty quickly I had made an amateur mistake. The wind was now coming in waves about every 5 minutes and gusting close to 60mph. 

I was having to hold the tent poles to keep my trekking poles from bending to the point of breaking. 

After about 4-5 times of holding my poles and not looking forward to having to do it all night, I had enough. As soon as the next wave was over, I dropped the tent and made a dash for a more sheltered spot across the lochan and up to a slightly more sheltered spot out of the direct wave of wind coming straight down the lochan. I worked well enough. The wind shook the tent but not enough to really worry about and I was able to settle down and make my dinner and have a good nights sleep, only occasionally being woken up by the wind and rain. 

My better camping spot (below)

Today's route and elevation profile