Day 10: Loch Leven and Glencoe

Another shortish day with a bit of sightseeing.  Not without a few hills but thankfully without rain.  It was grey and cold when we set out from the bunkhouse.  Loch Leven is just round the corner, and on the way we stopped to look for Inchree Falls, unsignposted from the main road and up a short, just-rideable track.  The falls were impressive. In England they would be a major attraction with a cafe and probably an entry fee.  Perhaps even better due to the recent rain.

One of the Inchree Falls

Looking back across Loch Linnhe

The road round the loch is a very quiet and beautiful lane, fairly flat on the ten miles to Kinlochleven at its head.  Lovely scenery surrounded by huge mountains, but it all looked a bit grey without any sunshine.

Loch Leven

Loch Leven

We passed a cafe at 10 miles, safe in the knowledge that Kinlochleven had a multitude of cafes and bars.  As you might guess, they were all closed, so we had some rather good Eccles cakes from the Co-op.

River Leven, with power station
outflow

On to Glencoe village. With some difficulty we passed an attractive looking cafe and headed up the valley to the Clachaig Inn for lunch.  It was in the desirable and uncommon state of not being shut, not being full, and not requiring bookings. Dave had the freshly-caught local haggis, and we both had apple & blackberry crumble, with custard of course.

Glen Coe

Glencoe is famous for the huge Glen Coe valley, and for the Glencoe massacre, when in 1692 the British(English) forces massacred 38 members of the MacDonald clan, for refusing to swear allegiance to the King.  It was suspected that the rival Cambell clan was involved, and this led to generations of hostility.

Our way back went through North Ballachulish, much smaller than Kinlochleven but with masses more refreshment opportunities.  We'd only done three miles since lunch, so we passed, returning over the bridge & back 'home' to Corran Bunkhouse.

The Bunkhouse isn't what you might imagine.  It's described as a five star bunkhouse.  Modern, with nice rooms , comfortable beds (no bunks), a heavenly shower, spacious and light lounge area, and a well equipped kitchen, bookable by the hour for one household at a time.

The staff couldn't do enough for us.  When we enquired about eating places,(very limited options without a car), they offered to get some shopping in for us, and refused to take payment for it.  When we couldn't get ITV4 to watch the Tour, they were all over the TV to fix it for us.

Lounge

Socially-distanced private room

Corran itself is tiny. There's a restaurant and a pub, both of which are still shut after lockdown, and an Inn across the loch at Ardgour, reached by the half-hourly Corran Ferry.  Another option requires a 2 mile bike ride on a nasty road with a nasty bike lane - we might try that tomorrow, but tonight we're eating at Ardgour.