The Lost Valley of Glencow - half a day

[PICTURE] [MAP]

     This is one of the great walks (anywhere). Unfortunately its fame has spread and so if you want a bit of solitude you'd better choose to do it off-season on a weekday. Half a day is perhaps over-stating the time needed. You can get up and down in an hour and a half if you are fit. But most people take longer and linger a bit in the valley itself. It's a good place to linger. The Lost valley (or Coire Gabhail - Corrie of the Capture in Gaelic) has a long history. The residents of Glencoe, famed for their cattle thieving activities were reputed to have used it as a safe haven for the cattle they stole from richer neighbours. It's a good hiding place if you can figure out a way of getting them there in the first place. Start from a car park in Glencoe. As you look across the valley to the south you will see the "Three Sisters" Beinn Fhada (pronounced "Ben Ata", the long mountain), Gear Aonach (the short ridge) and Aonach Dubh (the black ridge). The lost valley is in the gap between the left most and the centre Sister. The path leaves the car park, goes left for a bit on the residual trace of the old Glencoe road and then branches right down to the River Coe which is crossed by a stout wooden bridge deep inside the gorge of the river. The path is well marked for most of the way. There is one point where some people go wrong (we'll get to that in a minute). For the first bit, the burn (or stream) which pours out of the Lost Valley is on your left (ie you are on the true left bank). A few hundred feet up the path enters the valley itself and makes its way above the steep sides of the gorge of the burn. When I take children on this trip, I carry a short length of climbing rope and tie them on for this bit of the path. A stumble and fall, for the most part, is a learning experience and no harm done, but at this point, although the path is two feet wide and easy, a stumble could be fatal. So be warned. It's only for a hundred yards or so. The rest is pretty safe (but exciting).
     In prehistoric times a boulder avalanche fell off the flanks of Gear Aonach and blocked the gorge. The boulders are the size of houses. The river finds its way underneath this and has built up a big deposit of small stones to form a natural "Shangri-la" meadow behind the stone fall. To reach it you either have to climb over and round the boulders or you can thread your way through it. The second way is exciting but not for people who don't like scrambling. It feels like you are an ant crossing a gravel path. Even the other way is not too easy. There are big cliffs on the other side of the stream, but at one point they recede a bit and that is where you cross the stream. That is where some people go wrong. There are stepping stones but they are partially submerged in most weather conditions. (Well I keep telling you about wearing sensible shoes). Climb up on the left hand side of the boulders by scree slopes and some rock scrambles, to a point where you can look down into the meadow itself. Descend a couple of hundred feet or so and you are in the Lost Valley - a flat bit of ground covered in short grass and loose stones like a Japanese stone garden which is surrounded by high mountains which carry snow until late spring. Please resist the temptation to spell out you name in pebbles on the grass. This is a wild and beautiful place. Let's keep it that way. Keep your graffiti for a lavatory wall if the urge is irresistible.