Buchaille Etive Beag

Buchaille Etive Beag - Stob Dubh

Buchaille Etive Mor from Stob Dubh

Gregor on Buchaille Etive Beag - Stob Dubh

Saturday, 3 January 2009

Ascent:       970 metres

Distance:    9 kilometres

Time:         3 hours 12 minutes  

Stob Dubh                   958m     1hr  25mins

Stob Coire Raineach   924m      2hrs 19mins

I had always intended to retire at some stage between 2008 and 2010. After a difficult year in 2008, when my father had died and work had become increasingly stressful, I had decided over the Christmas/New Year holidays to retire in late May 2009. I had begun to feel tired by the long hours of work and frustrated by the ever-increasing edicts and inspection from central government. I had also been diagnosed as having atrial fibrillation by the GP over the holidays. I drafted my retirement letter and would give 6 months notice when I returned to work on Monday. After 38 years of uninterrupted service and only a week off with a broken leg in all those years, it felt more like an earned freedom than a resignation. 

It was a perfect morning as Gregor and I left Aberfoyle at 9:00am and the views on the drive to Glencoe were outstanding in the early morning light. Unfortunately, by the time we reached Bridge of Orchy, high grey clouds had begun to fill the sky but the visibility remained good. It was a crisp winter morning with no wind as we started the walk at 10:45am with the temperature at -4°C. We followed the good path up the Lairig Eilde, there were patches of hard ice but it presented no problems. We climbed at a good pace to the bealach at 760 metres achieved in just 45 minutes. We had overtaken a dozen walkers and Gregor had charged ahead arriving 6 minutes ahead of me. We headed south for the summit of Stob Dubh first, it was hard-packed snow frozen hard but we were able to use previous boot steps to climb the excellent ridge that gave stunning views across to Buchaille Etive Mor.

We had some coffee at the summit and soaked in the excellent views in all directions. We returned to the bealach and ascended the northern top, Stob Coire Raineach, which provides a balcony view over Glencoe. Gregor was charging ahead again and we passed another 7 walkers by the time we had returned to the bealach for the third time and began the descent to the Lairig Eilde. There were several difficult patches of black ice that slightly slowed progress. We were down by 2pm and called in at Tyndrum for a roll and some chips to bring in the new year and celebrate my pending retirement.