Hike from Glen Etive up Bidean Nam Bian

Glen Etive

We did this awesome walk out of Glen Etive up Bidean Nam Bian and Stob Coire Sgreamhach when we were staying in Glen Etive a year or so ago (at the same time as we did this walk) but I never had the chance to log the hike so here it is.

We started off from the car park in Glen Etive (158508) and walked northerly up the road until we reached the stream (164509). We left the road heading along a hiking trail straight towards Stob Coire Sgreamhach with the stream on our right hand side.

The ascent of Stob Coire Sgreamhach

We went for a full frontal assault of Stob Coire Sgreamhach which was heavy going as it was pretty steep but the views down Glen Etive were spectacular giving views of the whole Glen through to Loch Etive (see the above photo). We were pretty lucky with the weather too, some of the guys had been up a couple of years earlier to try the same ascent but had low cloud so had rubbish visibility and gave up through safety reasons with much frustration.

We continued along the hiking trail to the top of Stob Coire Sgreamhach and took a breather whilst we took in the scenery, the beauty of this Munro was the fact that this was a touch off the beaten track and so was pretty quiet.

View of Bidean Nam Bian from Stob Coire Sgreamhach

Once we'd caught our breath we set off for Bidean Nam Bian which wasn't to be too far. We headed up the ridge with what was apparently the hidden valley to the right, I don't think this is its actual name more a name give to it by the chaps I was with from an earlier visit, no matter it was awesome.

The Hidden Valley?

It snowed, which seemed to bring the temperature down further, but it didn't last long and we were kitted for it.

We hit the top of Bidean Nam Bian not long later and met a throng of other hikers at the top who must have taken a different route of ascent as we'd barely seen anyone to this point. Fair play though I can see why it's so popular, the views were breathtakingly staggering.

Looking for a way down

With the photos taken we commenced our descent and rather than heading back the way we came we headed over the top of Bidean Nam Bian and descended to the saddle at the top of Glean Fhaolain. This was fairly unstable underfoot meaning we all headed down one at a time for fear of falling debris.

Unscathed we all met at the top of Glean Fhaolain (136537) for the last leg of the walk into Glen Etive.

Glean Fhaolain

My dodgy knees were giving me a touch of gip at this point but they'd had a fair hammering so couldn't really moan. In the absence of a hiking trail we followed the stream down Glean Fhaolain and into Glen Etive to the finish point, spotting a few deer on the way, which was a great way to finish the day.

Back where we'd started at the car park in Glen Etive we'd done 7.7 miles and bagged two glorious Munros - an incredible day.

A trek through Glen Etive to Loch Etive

We recently spent an incredible weekend up in Glen Etive near Glencoe. We were blessed with awesome weather and managed to get two reasonable yomps under our belts in the three days we were there (the other was spent roaming the loaclity taking some snaps).

A Lochan reflection in Glen Etive

 

November could be expected to be a bit hit and miss with regards the weather but we couldn't have had it better, it was foul as I drove up Glen Etive but by the time the rest of the blokes arrived about an hour or so later the clouds had parted exposing all the peaks around the valley.

The landscape of Glen Etive

 

We left the car park in the morning with the view of getting yomping cross country down Glen Etive to the Loch to take some time lapse footage some time late in the day. We took maps and the trusty Satmap Active 10 but really just sidled down Glen Etive with no real route in mind. A couple of days earlier we'd been bagging Munros so a few of us were keener for some lower level stuff. We started by hugging the River Etive which was pretty impressive and picturesque not coming across another soul. We had to take a right when we hit a tributary that would have given us seriously wet feet, ankles, knees and waist and head towards the road. This actually ended up taking us across a small footbridge but we still had to hit the road eventually.

 A flowing River Etive

River Etive

We continued up here until we came to another road which led to a bridge across the river we'd just followed. We wanted to try to get up the hillside on the eastern side of Loch Etive as we thought we'd get a better view. This proved to be far tougher then we'd anticipated but I've not laughed so hard in some time.

A Golden View

Once over this bridge we were guided around a property where it started getting really boggy and was tough tough going. This didn't get any easier and before long we had a river to cross, which was no great shakes and we decided to take a spot of lunch here in the middle of the tributary.

Crossing the dry river bed

 

Once over the river the bog turned to marshland and was just wet up to about the ankle. We persevered and headed back down to the river we'd crossed as there was a dry bed which would at least have furnished us with some better footing. It didn't as it turned out and only served up larger doses of humour. We decided to get off the river bed and back onto land - into a patch or gorse where we couldn't see the way through or way out. this led to dead end after dead end and cries of help were heard all around - these were met with cries of hysteria.

A look over the marshes of Glen Etive to Loch Etive

 

Once reunited on the far side we decided unanimously that the ascent up the hillside was a painful idea and that we'd be better off catching the shot from the edge of Loch Etive. This therefore meant that we had to cross the river again. There was no bridge however which was going to prove to be a touch tough as there was no clear way it could be crossed without a bit of an inconvenience unless we walked back up to the bridge which no one was really keen on. One of the boys spotted a wide part of the River Etive which he thought looked relatively shallow and went for it.

Crossing the River

It was only when he had crossed it that he realised that he'd only crossed the river to the same side that he'd ultimately started from - he was confident his boots had held out though and his feet were still dry. In the end half of us were down to our pants and the others risked it with gaiters on. It was cold but brief and relatively painless.

A river reflection

We were not long before we were back on the road and heading for Loch Etive. We timed it pretty much bang on and got the sun disappearing over the horizon. At the same time a canoeist appeared at the far end of the Loch, not sure where he'd been but he was met by a seal proving that there was access from the sea to here albeit being a touch of a hike.

Loch Etive

Once we'd got the footage we required we kicked off on the lengthy hike back up the road. It was too dark now to go cross country again - that would have been painful. What seemed like a fair age later we were back at the car park. Not the most conventional of days walks but totally varied terrain and what seemed like an awesome adventure in an incredible part of the world, it was totally stunning.

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