A Journey on Foot in the Scottish Highlands

The way some Britons from the past told it, few people wanted to set foot on Glen Coe, one of the most spectacular mountain enclaves in Great Britain.

To Dorothy Wordsworth, who journeyed through the great Scottish gorge with her brother, William, in the early 19th Century, it seemed a “wild and desolate spot.”

To Charles Dickens, a few decades later, Glen Coe was “perfectly terrible . . . an awful place. If you should happen to have your hat on, take it off that your hair may stand on end.”

Glen Coe remains wild even today, but “perfectly terrible” it is not.

Dorothy Wordsworth got it right when, after her maidenly Victorian shuddering, she selected another adjective to describe the scene: “sublime.”

And though there is a luxury hotel at one end, a tourist information center and a paved road through the pass, Glen Coe still rates its share of hyperbole.

With its yawning chasms, its beetling crags towering above and its hawks hovering against the skyline, Glen Coe remains the metaphor for 19th-Century romanticism. For once the cliches hold true. And as if this weren’t enough, there is its history containing a bloody, brutal massacre involving the Macdonalds and the Campbells of Glenlyon.

Outdoor Paradise

Today Glen Coe is famous for being an outdoor paradise. The beetling crags are used by climbers and the towering peaks by a growing contingent of nature-lovers and hikers, a group I joined recently for a week of walking the High Tops.

I soon discovered that within 20 miles of Ballachulish, the snug village at Glen Coe’s foot that we used as a base, there lies some of the most magnificent walking country in Europe; and with its road and rail links to the south, some of the most accessible in terms of true wilderness. Glen Coe also is close to the heart of the splendid Scottish Highlands.

From Bridge of Coe, which marks the beginning of the gorge, to Meeting of Three Waters at the head of the pass, Glen Coe is six miles long. Within a short distance are many of Scotland’s finest peaks, including Ben Nevis, Britain’s highest, and the lochs and islands that form a picturesque backdrop to the mountains.

Genuine Mountains

The Scottish Highlands, despite their diminutive size (Ben Nevis is only 4,406 feet high) are real mountains, with knife-edge aretes, cliffs hundreds of feet high and weather that notoriously can bring blinding midsummer snowstorms.

Because most of the peaks rise abruptly from sea level, the climbs are equal to any in the Eastern United States.

In Glen Coe, 12,000 acres of the finest wilderness are overseen by the Scottish National Trust, permanently protected from commercial exploitation.

In the week with the British hikers we scaled six of these mountains, each involving more than 3,000 feet of climb and at least a 12-mile hike, with such evocative Gaelic names as Buchaille Etive Mor, Sgoor Dhearg, Beninn a’ Bheithit and, most tongue-twisting of all, Stob Coire na h-Eirghe.

Of these the grandest by far is Buchaille Etive Mor, a majestic, naked pyramid that dominates the pass of Glen Coe and Rannoch Moor, a desolate plateau to the south. Buchaille Etive Mor means “big herdsman , “ and its presence is appropriately commanding.

Winter Ice Climb

The Buchaille is known for its tensile rock--a rough rhyolite--and for Crowberry Ridge, an ice climb used in winter as a practice run by the original conquerors of Mt. Everest.

But the peak also contains more modest ascents. Our group contained three leaders and we had three choices: a tricky rock ridge that was a low-grade technical climb beyond my capability, a hike of alleged “medium” difficulty that joined the ridge route at the summit and a walk up Devil’s Staircase, which sounded scary but was actually an old military road from 1750, a snap!

The medium hike seemed about my speed, particularly as two plucky sisters in our group, Mary and Elizabeth, both in their 70s, went along. If they could walk it, I (a fairly spry 62) also could do it, or so I thought.

The trail led steeply to a deep gash in the mountainside, corrie as the Scots call it, with a wall that, from below, appeared uncompromisingly vertical.

What appeared perpendicular was a series of rock slopes that could be surmounted. Nevertheless, a slip could have resulted in injury, and the climbers certainly would have been safeguarded by wire ropes on crags in the Alps.

There were some tricky moments but we made it to the top, puffing and panting, elated and triumphant as we looked back.

We were rewarded by an exhilarating ridge walk, the kind that abound in Scotland, with sweeping views of the surrounding valleys.

Munro’s Mountains

The several peaks we climbed around Glen Coe go by another Scottish sobriquet: Each is a Munro, a title given to mountains 3,000 feet and higher, and first listed by Sir Hugh Munro, a Scottish mountaineer.

There are 276 of these peaks, some remote and some many miles from the nearest highway. But a growing fraternity of Munro addicts’ aim is to climb the lot.

Munro- bagging, however, can become a costly and time-consuming obsession. A friend living in the south of England drives at least 1,000 miles (at $3.40 a gallon) on long weekends to nab a few extra peaks. He has climbed 180.

The most celebrated Munro is the “Cloud-Capped Hill of Heaven” or the “Heaven-Kissed Hill,” depending which translation from Gaelic you prefer for Ben Nevis. Thousands climb Ben Nevis each year and our group was eager to join the pilgrimage.

Over the years the climb up Ben Nevis has gained the reputation of an easy amble: An automobile chugged to the top in 1911 and there have been numerous gimmicky ascents since, including a grand piano that was propelled up the trail to publicize a charity.

Trail Demands Stamina

Runners sprint up and down the 10-mile round trip on what is condescendingly known as the “Tourist Path.” The record is under 90 minutes.

Even so, Ben Nevis demands stamina. Sometimes it kills.

Often, the mountain is slashed by hurricane-force winds and rain and the summit is shrouded in impenetrable mists.

Snow sometimes lingers throughout the year and glaciers could form if the peak were a few hundred feet higher. In a recent 15-year period 50 deaths were recorded, some due to exposure.

Our group continually was warned to prepare for the worst. But for us, Ben Nevis put on a rare smiling face: sunny, cloud-flecked skies, temperatures in the low 60s, a perfect crystal-clear day.

Our leaders offered two alternative routes: the Tourist Path or a knife-edge ridge with acrophobia-inspiring drops on either side.

I chose the easier way and had no regrets, because it allowed us to spend 90 minutes at the summit enjoying the view.

It seemed that the whole of Scotland was at our feet: from the snowcapped Cairngorm Mountains in the east, across the huge cleft of the Great Glen and on to the Atlantic Ocean in the west with those bizarrely named islands--Muck, Eigg, Rhum, Mull and Skye--rising dreamlike from the sea. Visibility: 150 miles.

A popular hike in the heart of Glen Coe leads to the Coirre Gabhail of “Lost Valley,” because the upper corrie is invisible from below in the glen .

The Gaelic name has another meaning, the Corrie of Capture, and for good reason. There the Macdonalds, the Scottish clan that inhabited Glen Coe, hid their plundered cattle.

It is there, too, that 40 of 200 were killed by the Campbells in the infamous Glencoe massacre, a saga of murder, mayhem, deception and treacherous abuse of hospitality about 300 years ago.

If you climb to the Lost Valley you will find no trace of the carnage. But the hike, a steep but easy climb from the Glen Coe road, is worthwhile. Once above the rocks, however, you’ll suddenly see the hidden valley, desolate and wild, hemmed in by soaring crags.

Here is some information, if you hike in the Scottish Highlands:

It rains, sometimes prodigiously, on Ben Nevis a staggering 157 inches annually. This means that the hillsides often resemble quagmires. Wear good rain gear and tough hiking boots.

Many of the mountains lack trails. Paths sometimes are inadequately blazed or cairned. The British believe this keeps things “natural,” but it can be dangerous.

Mountain know-how is essential, unless you hike with a group and are led on recognized routes.

While the hiking is splendid, don’t spend all your time on the High Tops. Explore more afield in Lochaber, the region surrounding Glen Coe.

A rented car is useful but not essential: A bus route links Ballachulish with rail and steamer services to many nearby lochs and islands.

Medieval Castles

Oban, a picturesque fishing port, and Ft. William, great for souvenir shopping, are a few miles away. Medieval castles seem to sprout from every lake side.

Several British travel organizations offer hiking programs in the Western Highlands. Among them: Holiday Fellowship, most convenient to Glen Coe, with centers in adjacent Ballachulish, alongside Loch Leven and in nearby Loch Awe. The Loch Awe center is a converted railroad hotel with its own railroad station.

Both centers operate late April through early October, with weekly rates between $300 and $340 per person double, including accommodations and meals.

The cost includes guided hikes but not transportation to trail heads. In addition, Holiday Fellowship has an agreement with British Rail that permits round-trip travel to the Scottish centers from London for $55, less than a third of the regular fare. Contact HF Holiday, 142-144 Great North Way, London, England NW4 1EG.

Hiking on Mull

Ramblers Holidays offers weeklong hiking on the Isle of Mull, the largest of Scotland’s Inner Hebrides, from mid-May through September for a tour charge of about $305 per person double occupancy, including all meals.

This operator also offers reduced rail fares but cites them only on application. Ramblers Holidays, P.O. Box 43, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England AL8 6PQ.

Icelandair flies to Glasgow, Scotland, from Chicago and has an agreement with America West for the Los Angeles-Chicago leg of the flight, with connections in Chicago.

A shuttle bus operates between Ft. William and Oban, with stops in Ballachulish. Rental cars are available in Ft. William and Oban.

If you prefer to hike independently rather than on tour, there is a wide range of hotels, guest houses and bed and breakfast inns.

Hotels include Ballachulish, Loch Leven and Alt Nan Ros. Rates fall between $25 and $40 per person double occupancy, with breakfast. B&Bs; are $15 to $20.

There are tourist information centers in Ballachulish and the village of Glencoe, with details of events, hotels, outdoor activities and maps.

For more information on travel to Scotland, contact the British Tourist Authority, 350 S. Figueroa St., Los Angeles 90071, (213) 628-3525.