We tried to park at the point where the Aonach Eagach climbers start but it was totally full. Even in the larger park further down we had to make a space, it was so full. Presumably because of the decent weather and weekend. Again no problems in route finding and the path wound up the hill close to the river. It looked terribly steep but wasn't quite so bad when on it. A very pleasant path but I was having problems, feeling very weary and was really slow. The hill walk was very popular with lots of people, all of them passing us and I was very conscious of slowing Graeme down. As we got higher up the gorge the path wound into huge rocks and more or less disappeared. A group of people who reached this point at the same time were convinced that we should have crossed the river and gone up the other side. They retreated and we later saw them high up on the other side. As for us Graeme wanted to continue so we did and had an entertaining mild scramble over and round the boulders. The path re-appeared and eventually we found ourselves entering Coire Gabhail, the so called lost valley. Perhaps I had expected too much but while being a pleasant place surrounded by huge mountains the valley floor wasn't that special, being all pebbly and stony. Nothing like Glen Nevis's upper valley. Initially puzzled we eventually worked out that we needed to walk to the end of the corrie and find a path up (with hindsight fairly obvious but we were thick).
The path from the head of the corrie led up along the edge of an ever deepening gorge and some fantastic waterfalls. At times the path got a bit hairy going right alongside almost sheer drops into the gorge. At the top of the gorge we came across another path joining us and wondered how we could have missed it when lower down. Compared with what we had done it looked level and easy. Someone coming along told us it had started at the gravel of the corrie and when we got higher we could see right down the gorge and saw that the two paths actually started virtually together at the head of the corrie. Don't know how we missed it but I suppose that, expecting a path at the corrie head it hadn't occurred to us there might be an alternative. Upwards the path went towards a notch in the cliff ahead. In fact the approach was very similar to Buachaille Etive Mor though in this case it looked impossible to breech the cliff top. In fact it was straightforward but tough and steep, first climbing over red scree and then up a gully. This went sideways, Graeme taking a more direct vertical route which afterwards he said he wished he hadn't, it was so slippery. From here it was a simple but tiring ridge walk, narrow in parts and a bit longer than the book's "short walk to the summit". After about 4/5 false tops (by now it was quite misty though still dry) we hit the summit where a crowd of people sat.
The weather by now was beginning to clear. At first we thought all we needed to do was go down to the col and down to the glen but soon realised we had to climb Stob Coire nan Lochan first. Groans from Graeme but there was no option. The descent and ascent actually turned out to be very pleasant clambering down rocks and very narrow paths - usual story for me, easy to come down but looking back I can see I would have had qualms going up. The journey wasn't as bad as we feared and we were very soon at the top of Stob Coire nan Lochan. It was worth it as the views from here are lovely. Stob Coire nan Lochan is the summit you can see behind the Three Sisters from Glencoe and is often mistaken for Bidean. I had always thought this was Bidean when looking up at it. Coming off this mountain was also entertaining, going over huge boulders and at one point going over an area of high blocks, almost like columns, most peculiar rock formations. The path took us round some brilliant cliffs and buttresses down to a path off to the right, off the ridge and down into the valley where we hoped to pick up a path. The path when picked up led all the way down to the car park but it was agony. It went on and on and on.
From Buachaille Etive Beag
