BRIDGE OF ORCHY TO KINGSHOUSE

Today’s leg of the West Highland Way was a 12 mile stretch from the Bridge of Orchy, across

Rannoch Moor to Kingshouse.. Kingshouse is a historic inn on the road from Bridge of Orchy to Glencoe Village, and it’s the traditional overnight stop at the end of this leg. But right now, the old inn  is closed for renovation/restoration. So the end of our walk was a shuttle from a nearby ski lodge into Glencoe Village, nine miles away. 

The forecast for today was for persistent rain, and when we started it looked like they had the forecast right. We left Bridge of Orchy Hotel with packs covered, and rain gear on. We crossed the bridge beyond the hotel, and headed uphill into the forest.  After a few minute, we got above the trees, and kept going up for the next 45 minutes. By the time we crossed the ridge, the rain had started to let up. The rest of the day was cool (low 50’s) and grey. Good hiking weather.

Down in the next valley we followed a back road that took us to the 200 year old military road crossing several miles across Rannoch Moor.

Just before we got to the military road, we had one of those magical experiences that turn up on these walks. We were crossing a bridge over a pretty good sized river when off to our left we saw a large deer crossing the river. We stopped to watch, and then a second, third, and fourth followed behind him. They showed us a little curiosity, but finished their crossing and started grazing the grass that was greener on their new side of the river. We moved on.

Rannoch Moor is the largest uninhabited “wilderness” in the UK. The old military road gave us a pretty straight shot across the Moor, which soon opened up and gave us awesome views for miles in every direction. We had good footing on the old road, only a slight altitude gain, and cold gray weather. Great hiking conditions, so we made good time for 8 miles across the Moor. We left the moor with another uphill, then down into the valley of Glencoe, and the shuttle pick up point.

Without particularly hurrying, we’d done the 12 miles in  4 ½ hours, including a short stop for lunch, and several stops for Kodak moments. The downside was, we’d gotten to the end of the walk more than an hour before the shuttle was to arrive.    Upside was, the ski lodge was open and we chilled there with some refreshments until the shuttle took us into Glencoe Village.

Glencoe Village was the location of the Glencoe Massacre, known in the Scottish Highlands as simply, “The Massacre.”  Whenever you tell a Scot that you’re going to Glencoe, he’ll make sure you aware that was where “The Massacre” occurred. 

“The Massacre” that is fresh in every Highland Scot’s memory occurred over 300 years ago. King William III offered a pardon to all the Highland clans that had fought against him if their chief took an oath of allegiance to him in front of a magistrate by January 1, 1692.  The MacDonald clan chief, MacIain of Glencoe initially refused, but subsequently agreed. He travelled to Fort William to sign the oath, but the magistrate wasn’t available. He finally reached a magistrate on January 6, signed the oath, and thought that was the end of it.

It wasn’t. A force, led by Robert Campbell, was on its way to Glencoe with orders to kill the entire MacDonald clan. They arrived in Glencoe, and the MacDonald’s not knowing what was going on, invited Campbell and his 130 soldiers into their homes and hosted them for 10 days.  On the 11^th day, Campbell received his orders from Signal Rock to kill all the MacDonald’s under 70 years old. Early the next morning, still in darkness, Campbell and his soldiers rose from their beds and began the massacre. Dozens were killed and dozens of others fled and died in the cold in the surrounding mountains. The Scots say that the treachery in response to the hospitality of the Highland people  is what really ticked them off. And the MacDonald's certainly haven't forgetten it was the Campbells who were responsible.

We’re staying in the Clacaigh Inn tonight just outside Glencoe Village. Signal Rock, where the order was given for The Massacre in 1692 is in the forest above the Inn. After dinner tonight we took the 45 minute walk to go see it. It’s a prominent rock on a hilltop, but is now  in a deep forest.

We catch the shuttle tomorrow morning back to Kingshouse. Our walk tomorrow is relatively short, 9 miles. But early on we’ll have to deal with the Devil’s Staircase. The Devil’s Staircase is a series of switchbacks going up a 500 foot wall, before the trail heads on to the village of  Kinlochleven, our stop for the night. Tomorrow night we’re staying in MacDonald lodge in Kinlochleven . I’m thinking it would be really bad form for one of us to sign the register as a Campbell and ask for an early wakeup call.