Unplanned Adventure No.2: New Year's Day up Glencoe

A year ago I wrote about my Unplanned Adventure No.1: New Year’s Eve up Arthur’s Seat. I proposed then that I would see where life would take me when I was busy not making plans. A year on I obliviously took my own advice when we set off on an impromptu trip into the highlands to celebrate New Year 2013. And, although I wouldn’t like to toot my own trumpet, I’m now convinced that spontaneous action is the most fun to be had in the world. Here’s why:

We drove through the sunny Scottish countryside on New Year’s Day hoping to find somewhere to eat and walk and with only one thing planned for the day; to sleep in a Microlodge Hobbit in Kinlochleven that night. But before we had time to formulate a PLAN we came across the ski lift for adventurous types hoping to test their mettle on the slopes of Glencoe. Without so much as a ski pole between us we decided we should ride the lift anyway and see what was at the top of that snowy mound. So we did!

Here’s me looking mighty excited in my legendary knitted aviator hat and a double dosage of coat!

When we reached the top we discovered the winter wonderland I had been wishing for at Christmas! Only ten times better because, whilst the skiers flew off the ski lift and on to the slopes, we decided to walk off in a snowy direction where no one else had been. We found a waterfall cutting through folds of the mountain with icicles hanging from its edges and ran down a perfectly white cleft which turned out to be covering the hidden river and so ended up with a foot each through ten inches of snow and into the flowing water! Brrrr.

We spent the rest of the day getting back down Glencoe on an epic mission which we kept likening to Touching the Void (ehem) Covered rivers morphed themselves into potential crevasses in our tired minds and the constant threat of attack from overhead (teenagers on the ski lift throwing snowballs at us) wearied our already battered morale. But we made it! And this was our reward.

We dried off and warmed up at the Clachaig Inn and stayed to have a much needed dinner of pie and chips, a game a pool and a sing along to some live country music! And as if it needed to get any better we stayed in a round wooden cabin which we named ‘The Hutch’ overnight and got up the next day in time to catch the early mist over Loch Leven.

What a way to start 2013. Happy New Year! x