The Walk-in to Luib-Chonnal Bothy in Upper Glen Roy

Tuesday 14th May 2013 

A short evening walk into Luib-chonnal bothy to meet some TGO Challengers for the evening

Distance: 7km; Ascent: 150m; Overcast and mainly dry; Solo

Route map will follow next week

As I drove away from Newtonmore this afternoon I passed several TGO Challengers on the A86, including Ian C who I stopped to chat to for a few minutes.  My destination for the evening was Luib-Chonnal bothy in Glen Roy and I had decided to drive round to Glen Roy rather than approaching it from Melgarve as the Glen Roy approach is slightly shorter and has a better track most of the way.

At the end of the public road in Glen Roy I met Mike Knipe who I walked with for a few hundred metres before I realised that I'd left my gaiters in the car!  Given that the hills I had planned for tomorrow were quite peat haggy in places, I opted to return to the car to retrieve them!

Confluence of the rivers Turret and Roy

Bridge over the River Turret

I set off again from the car at quarter past six up Glen Roy at a fast pace.  It was mainly overcast but at least it was dry!  And there were good views of my onward route further up the glen.

Glen Roy near Leckroy

Falls of Roy

Shortly before the Falls of Roy I past Mike who was setting up camp for the night down by the river.  I continued on up the glen and about 30 minutes after passing the Falls of Roy I came to this new-ish looking bridge across the river, which I guessed could be useful to me on a future TGO Challenge route.

New-ish looking bridge in upper Glen Roy

At around 7:30pm I reached the bothy after walking across boggy ground for the last few hundred metres.  There were no tents outside, so I assumed that everyone was inside the bothy.

Luib-chonnal bothy

I headed inside and found Andy, Andrew, Alan and Phil all sat round the wood burning stove upstairs in the bothy.  After having my dehydrated dinner we cracked open the supplies of wine, cheese and port that I had carried up the glen.  Later on Richard arrived at the bothy after having spent time up on the hills above Glen Roy.

The cheese & wine party in Luib-chonnal bothy

The six of us enjoyed a good sociable evening in the bothy and by the end of the evening my supplies were exhausted, which was good as it meant I didn't have to carry them back out again!

Edit 12/06/13: Alan and Andrew have now written up their excellent accounts of today, including the cheese & wine party; follow the links above to read them.  Also see here for my Social Hiking map from the two-day trip.

N.B. 18/06/13 - Post date updated to actual date of walk, i.e. 14/05/13 (from 18/05/13).  Link to social hiking also added.