Walk out to Gleann Dubh Lighe

On Wednesday March 9 2016 I took a walk along Gleann Dubh Lighe, which is just under two miles east of Glenfinnan. 

Gleann Dubh Lighe provides a pleasant walk along the west side of the river surrounded by a mixture of coniferous and deciduous trees for the first  two miles.

The track then crosses the river via an old wooden bridge to the east side where, about 400 yards further on, is a very well maintained bothy.

Carrying on past the bothy, the track becomes fairly rough and muddy with coniferous trees on the east side and birch trees on the west side. 

Gleann Dubh Lighe after the deer fence

After about a mile, the trees finish and a deer fence and gate straddle the track. Going through the gate the terrain changes and you are in a wide open valley surrounded, at this time of year, with snow -capped mountains.

North end of Gleann Dubh Lighe with Streap at its head

My aim was to reach the saddle situated half way up the south slope of Streap, just at the snow line centre in the image above. Only approx. one and half miles away from the point where the deer fence straddles the path and a climb of about 1,500feet from the start.

The track meandered through boggy ground littered with mossy bright green humps

The track was quite boggy at this point, and it was here that I spotted my first frog spawn of the year - not really sure what happens to it if the weather turns and it freezes.

Old tree stumps and various coloured grasses add interest to the bog

The track eventually crossed the river again, this time across a well maintained metal bridge. On the map, the track ended here but there was an old vehicle track, which followed the north bank of the river.
Unfortunately that wasn't the direction I was going so I had to make do with finding my own route across the tufted grass and bogs.
On the north side of the river, close to the metal bridge, are the remains of an old stone structure, possibly an old croft house - must have been a hard life if that's what it was.

The remains of a stone structure can be seen just across the river

The weather that day was particularly good after the weather we have been having. It was warm

and dry with just a few white clouds - great for photography.

The only problem I had was, after the extremely wet weather we have been having over the last few months (for months read years!!), the ground was very wet under foot.

Looking over the rocky river towards snow-covered peak of Streap

The good conditions gave me a chance to experiment with a couple of panoramic images. The image below was five images taken handheld from left to right and stitched together in Adobe Lightroom. Can't really fault the result.

Pano image (from left) - Stob Coire Nan Cearc, Streap and Streap Comhlaidh

The climb up the grassy slope of Streap was fairly hard going. It was very steep with many tufts of grass, but eventually I got to the small grassy plateau behind the saddle just at the snow line.

Looking south along Gleann Dubh Lighe back over my route from just below the snow line

Below another image looking south along Gleann Dubh Lighe from just at the snow line, which on this day was 1,450 ft.
Overall a fantastic day in a beautiful quiet Scottish Glen.

Looking south along Gleann Dubh Lighe from the snow line

Below are some photos I took a few days earlier, when I took the track along the north side of the river.

Looking south towards Beinn an Tuim

Looking south towards Beinn an Tuim

Looking south towards Beinn an Tuim converted to mono in Adobe Lightroom.