photography, San Miguel de Allende, Scotland - West Highland Way, Writings

Hiking the West Highland Way: Day 8, into the land of the gods via lochs, munros and moors

Scotland’s most photographable structure: Black Rock Cottage (now known as The Ladies’ Scottish Climbing Club). Behind it rises the formidable-looking Bauchaille Etive Mor (“Great Herdsman of Etive”).

In Scotland, there are beinns and munros (hills and mountains). Hills are most anything below 3,000 feet and that is what we’ve been mostly skirting on the West Highland Way. They are impressive as you walk trails carved into their lower regions. They form majestic, sloping walls on either side of gentle glens.

Today we are heading into munro country but to reach it, we must cross 50 square miles of the Rannoch Moor, a boggy region of grasses and heather and scores of small ponds and lochanes. I don’t think anyone who wanders off across the moor would ever be heard from again. It is a beautiful and unforgiving place.

Continue reading
Standard