A Tour of Three Bothies from Corrour
Date(s) walked: 20-22 June 2026
Please note: the GPX track is for illustrative purposes only - I take no responsibility for its accuracy!
I’d been eyeing the glens to the west of Corrour for a while, thinking it would be nice to connect them into a longer walk. It can be tricky to find low-level walks that are still exciting (I’m having to avoid too much ascent due to tendon issues) but the region near Corrour seemed to fit the bill. I have no general background (historical or otherwise) to report on this one so let’s just dig in!
Day 1: Corrour station to Loch Treig | 5.65 km
To avoid getting up at an ungodly hour, I had decided to get the train up to Corrour the evening before instead. I left Edinburgh at about 5pm on a busy Saturday night train, picked up some food at the Sainsbury’s near Glasgow Queen Street and got on the train to Corrour. It was another fairly busy train, which surprised me a bit given that it’s a late one, finishing at Mallaig just before midnight. It seemed to be mostly tourists on board, can they get into their accommodation that late at night? Arrived at Corrour around 21:30 with the setting sun.
There are two ways to go north from the station - either a direct but boggy route or a longer one on good tracks. Because I was short on daylength, I reluctantly went for the former option. The beginning of the track was in good condition and presented no problems.
A bit further along the track is Corrour Summit. At 411 metres, it is the highest point on the UK’s railway network.
The whole West Highland Railway Line is quite the engineering feat, having managed to tackle steep climbs, wide rivers and a huge section of waterlogged bog. A very entertaining and not entirely factual account of the line can be read here.
Speaking of waterlogged bog, after the summit the track deteriorates fast.
Some of the boggy sections were deep enough to exceed the height of my waterproof socks and wide enough to make escaping around impossible. So through I went and wet I felt. At least the suffering was relatively brief, after about 2 km I emerged onto a vehicle track. I passed a Big Agnes tent set up right by the track with a dog ferociously barking at me from inside.
The track was built for a hydro scheme set up along Loch Treig and descends quite steeply down to the loch.
I thought I had scouted some suitable ground for camping where the track meets the loch but as I arrived, the ground was most certainly not camping-friendly. I got a bit stressed as it was getting rather dark but decided to try and see if I could find anything further along the loch to the south.
I ended up being very lucky and happened upon a great spot in the end. Apart from that spot, there would have been very few options for a long while…
I set up the tent as quickly as possible as it was very still and the midges were around. By this point it was past 11pm, I’d had a sandwich for dinner on the train so I headed straight for my sleeping bag. However, sleep would not come - I was freezing cold! It was probably not much below 10°C and I had my gear that I’ve slept in when it’s been around zero degrees so it was quite unexpected. I got up and ate a snickers and some peanut M&Ms (after brushing my teeth… the nut residue… eugh!), went for a pee and put on my rain trousers as another layer. It really didn’t take long and I was warm again and able to fall asleep. Based on this, I think having some food before going to sleep must be quite important for my body to be able to generate enough heat to keep me comfortable. Lesson learned!
Day 2: Loch Treig to Loch Eilde Mòr | 17.29 km
Woke up to glorious sunshine!
Had a leisurely breakfast accompanied by a few morning midges. The plan for the day was to tackle Gleann Iolairean (“the eagles’ glen”) and skirt around some hills into the next glen. I packed up and entered the glen via a very overgrown path.
…and then straight into some bog.
I was surprised to see some new-looking signs pointing the way, perhaps to dissuade people from straying towards a new-looking fenced area (for deer?)?
Looking back, there were nice views of Loch Treig - note the very straight treeline on the hill by the loch - that’s the railway line!
The path kept climbing gently, giving even nicer views back.
As the loch then disappeared from view, the path gradually got better.
It was just green in all directions!
For much of the length of the glen there were remnants of an old metal fence.
I wonder how long ago the fence was built? Usually you see either old stone walls or modern fences but rarely anything in between.
I also spotted a lizard!
No eagles, though, although to be fair I wasn’t really looking out for them.
I stopped for lunch on this rock to the left of the path with a nice view to Loch Chiarain and the hills beyond. Just visible is also the bothy on the loch shore.
I followed the path to the loch, fording a few streams on the way. It had been quite dry so they presented no real challenge.
I hadn’t yet decided whether I would actually go and visit the bothy or not. I’d never gone into one before, they just spook me out a little. There are so many stories of weird experiences in bothies - I’m not really superstitious but I’m quite easily unsettled by my own imagination. I decided to postpone my decision and made some coffee sitting on the steps of the bothy.
I was basking in the sunshine, having a nice time until I noticed a tick crawling up my foot… I don’t understand ticks! I go through the worst overgrown paths without picking up any and then I sit on a concrete slab surrounded by short-cut grass and that’s where they decide to hide?? I knew it wasn’t a hitchhiker I’d picked up earlier because I had taken off my socks and was barefoot in my crocs when I noticed it starting its way up my foot. The tick propelled me into action and I decided to go check out the bothy.
It was nice and spacious! Mild creepy vibes still but considering it’s a free shelter I bet it would be very welcome in bad weather. Having visited several more bothies now, I think this one might be my favourite out of the ones I’ve seen so far.
I had a wee browse of the bothy book, last entry was from a week ago but there was no pen anywhere so I suspect others like me had visited but never signed the book. It’s one of the quieter ones, though, there are no big hills right nearby and the walk in is quite long from any direction.
From the bothy, I got on the path that starts to ascend to Meall na Cruaidhe.
As you climb, views of the Glen Coe hills emerge.
This is also where I came across a fair bit of litter on the path :(
I won’t always pick up after people but this was so egregious, I felt too upset leaving it all there.
The path splits not far from the loch with the main branch going down to the Blackwater Reservoir. I continued up the hill on the much poorer upper branch.
Not far from the intersection I was doing my regular brush-offs of the legs after going through some overgrown sections and saw that I’d caught a tick on my hand. Yuck but also good, I caught it before it could travel anywhere else!
The path quickly became increasingly boggy.
There is one major ford on the path when crossing the Allt Tom Ailein (no, not alien, autocorrect!).
This is where I ended up losing the path. I couldn’t see where it picked up again after the crossing - it’s possible it was there but I couldn’t find it. I ended up just trying to follow where the OS maps “snap to path” indicated that the path should be but there was simply no path to be found. I remember taking this picture of “the path” while cursing OS maps and their imaginary tracks!
I also checked the map on my watch, it too indicating that I was on the “path”. A bit later I pulled out the actual OS maps without the GPX track overlay and that indicated that the path should be about 50 metres above my current position. I decided to check and right enough, there the real path was, running parallel to my “path” but 50 metres further up. I don’t understand why I was routed onto this imaginary path but note to anyone else: there is a path, it might just not be right where the map indicates! I now always check satellite maps ahead of time to determine whether I’m to expect a visible path or not…
Now on the path, I kept climbing and climbing and climbing… I had not realised there would be so much ascent and I was struggling a bit in the heat. At the top, I forgot all about my exhaustion because the views were amazing, which I had also not expected.
Now onto something that has been bothering me ever since this walk. According to OS maps, there is a shelter just to the northwest of the peak of Meall na Cruaidhe but despite looking for it I could not find any trace of it. It’s marked as a beige filled in square on the map which based on my experience with OS maps means it’s an enclosed structure, not a ruin which is usually a not-filled-in square. But there was no trace of it, and neither can I find a single reference to it ever existing anywhere on the internet. I’m so curious - if anyone ever comes across this and has any information on this mysterious shelter, please let me know!!
I carried on for a bit, then had a snack break in the afternoon sun enjoying the views.
This was such a nice section to walk. However, what ruined it a little was how the path had been chewed up by motorcycles (?) or some kind of faster wheeled contraption.
These were not traces of your usual estate or farm vehicle, this was clearly a consequence of lots of thick two-wheeled motorised transport passing through. Not very responsible.
The descent to Loch Eilde Mòr was on the steeper side but with nice views.
Once down by the loch, it was another messy bog situation.
The sun was beating down on me and I started feeling a bit faint.
I’d been feeling mildly uneasy for much of the day, not for any clear reason. Walking this section, I realised what I felt was alone. I think in part it was feeling vulnerable in the heat, realising no one was around to help immediately if I wasn’t feeling well but I also just generally wished I could share the experience instead of enjoying it by myself. An interesting mental shift, because I had always been happy to be by myself before, even preferred it.
Coming to the southern shore of the loch, I sat for a while in the shade of a dam building (so many dams in this area!). There is an old pipeline running from the dam to the Blackwater Reservoir built to help supply water for an aluminium smelter in Kinlochleven. Before World War I, Germany produced almost all the aluminium in the world. With the war then both preventing any aluminium imports and ramping up the need for the material, domestic aluminium production was sorely needed. The smelter in Kinlochleven became a hub for production, requiring more water to be funnelled from nearby lochs, including Loch Eilde Mòr. In another interesting piece of history, the pipeline from the loch was actually built by prisoners of war during WWI, housed at a camp not far from the dam. There is something of a path following the length of the pipeline down to the Blackwater Reservoir, although it is reputedly quite an arduous walk (that’s a no from me despite the fascinating history).
By this point I just wanted to set up camp for the night and found a nice spot not much further away.
I sat by the loch and enjoyed my dinner, a breeze keeping the midges at bay. The moment the sun set behind the hills, the breeze died down, though, and the midges came out, forcing me to retreat to the tent. I thought I had chased all the midges out but throughout the evening I kept finding them inside the tent. Either they were hiding really well or then the mesh is not quite midge-proof in the Lanshan… Based on some measurements on the mesh pore size I have my suspicions about the latter. I couldn’t find any reports of other people having this problem, though, so I’m not entirely sure. I slept with my headnet on in any case.
Day 3: Loch Eilde Mòr to Corrour Station | 24.11 km
Woke up to grey skies and cloud-covered hills.
I was not feeling particularly inspired to walk, knowing I had a long section of vehicle track ahead of me. But I had to get going because the midges were out in full force.
The walk along the loch was about as monotonous as I expected. I passed another hiker scooping out water from the loch and a vehicle had passed me earlier, presumably on some kind of dam business.
At the northern shore of the loch, I came to an interesting ruin, though. It seems to have been some kind of bothy, but there is scant information about it online. It seems to be quite popular to camp at as well…
Past the second loch, the track veers inland and ascends slightly in between the hills.
While the track was wide, it was frequently submerged, making progress slow. Spotted a Pac-Man stone by the track:
The track comes to an end at Luibeilt. Here stands a ruin that has reached some notoriety in recent years.
As so many of these “newer” ruins, Luibelt Lodge was originally a stalker’s or gamekeeper’s cottage and once abandoned was adopted by walkers as a bothy. There are stories from the 1970s of walkers experiencing all sorts of spooky occurrences at the lodge when it was still an intact bothy, some of which were featured recently on BBC Radio 4’s podcast Uncanny. There are major inconsistencies in some of these retellings of poltergeist activity that are difficult to ignore but the lodge now has a strong reputation of being haunted nevertheless. There are loads of reports online of people recounting their experiences camping at the “haunted house”, which was also reflected in the evidence of human activity I saw at the site… Is poltergeist tourism now a thing in the remote highlands as well?
At Luibelt, I had to cross the Abhainn Rath, my trickiest river crossing to date. Most people seem to cross slightly downstream from Luibeilt Lodge but I didn’t like the look of it so I searched for a better crossing point upstream. I didn’t have to go too far to find a wider spot with shallower water.
I managed to just about get across without the water level rising above my mid-height waterproof socks.
I made my way to Meanach Bothy on a non-existent path.
It had started to rain so I sat inside and had my lunch. The bothy was nice enough but there was a slight musty smell inside that put me off. I didn’t linger and set off in the drizzle, crossing some major bogland to find something of a path by the Abhainn Rath.
I was feeling a bit miserable, trudging along, wet both underfoot and from above (rain). I’m sure the experience would be quite different in a dry spell. The river was actually very idyllic, with some small waterfalls and trees.
No more than 3 km from Meanach is another bothy, Staoineag. In Gaelic, the place name refers to juniper berries, but many sources also seem to imply that the name might come from Old Norse where “stein” refers to stone. “Stenig” is stony in Swedish - I can’t believe I never spotted the resemblance. The latter name would make sense as the bothy is perched on a rocky outcropping above the river. Access to the bothy is either by following the south bank of the river on mostly pathless ground from Loch Treig or in dry conditions by crossing the Abhainn Rath on some stepping stones.
The river wasn’t too high so I went across on the stepping stones which was really fun - photo above is looking back from the bothy. I could see that there were some people in the bothy as I approached but I decided to be brave and go in anyway. It was a group of 6 or so lads, friendly enough but after taking some pictures I made my escape. I don’t know how comfortable I would have been staying overnight in the bothy with a group of them there. Perhaps another reason why I’m not really seeking out a bothy stay - you never know who else will be sleeping under the same roof as you - ghost or not. The bothy was not particularly attractive from the outside but I quite liked it inside - it’s hard to communicate the vibe in pictures but here are a few nevertheless.
From the bothy, the path climbed up above the river.
From the top, there were some nice views back down to the bothy.
The lads from the bothy overtook me here and I was entertained by their identical orange raincovers bobbing along ahead of me on the path to Loch Treig.
Coming back down to the river I was faced with another bogfest, but what is some more after you’ve already been soaked through.
The “path” ends at a bridge that has recently been upgraded and sits high above the river to cope with any changes in water levels as Loch Treig is dammed and undammed.
A proper path then follows along the south shore of Loch Treig.
Here the effects of the damming were really obvious, you could see the tops of some trees just peeking out above the level of the water.
Loch Treig is home to at least two self-proclaimed hermits. The more famous of the two is Ken Smith, whose autobiography (The Way of the Hermit: My 40 Years in the Scottish Wilderness) I read a few years ago. He has been featured in several documentaries as well but still manages to remain hidden away in his little remote log cabin. Davey McDonald has also made the loch his home, although he lives in more primitive conditions in a series of tents.
I kept following the track around the loch, passing the point where I had turned off the day before. The uphill from the hydro building was quite gruelling and I was glad to have my poles helping me propel myself upwards.
This time I chose to take the longer but less boggy track to the train station. There was some more uphill but the views to the train tracks and hills were very nice.
The track goes almost to Loch Ossian and then turns to the station.
The station pub was teeming with people, many of whom were waiting for the train. There were also quite a few cars parked around the station which surprised me given that there are no public roads leading there. Must have been locals. The train was about 45 minutes late, which I only knew from someone else who had phone signal and was able to check - the station board does not show any live times and my phone did not have any signal. There were about 20 of us waiting on the 18:25 train, which felt exceptionally busy for such a small place in the middle of nowhere. Most were clearly walkers and some day trippers who ended up getting off the train at Rannoch, the following station to the south. It was a quiet journey home, we made up some time and arrived in Glasgow only 20 minutes late at about 10pm. I went to grab a quick dinner (Five Guys) and ate it at the station waiting for the next Edinburgh train. Made it home sometime before midnight, very tired.
Concluding remarks
This is one of the only trips that I think back to more negatively than positively. There was a mix of things: being too hot, then getting rained on much of the other day, midges, boggy and poor paths… I think I was mentally in something of a weird space as well. Perhaps I had been out too many weeks in a row. Sometimes it’s like that, though, you can’t always have the best of times. We rest and then go again.
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