Day 2 – Spean Bridge to Inverlair


We mustered at 9am and headed up the main road then turned left onto a smaller road for a mile or so. We met the first walker of the journey, a solo man from Suffolk who was walking to Kingshouse and then onwards from there. He walked with us until he continued to the right and we went left down towards the Insh scout campsite. A nice track through mixed woodland, with the river below us on the left.


After leaving woodland we walked on trails through heathland and fields with sheep as company. The old disused railway, the Puggy Line, was up on the right as we walked on.


We took lunch at Achnacichine, at 12 o’clock, sitting on stones which were usually underwater. The dry spell had reduced the size of the River Spean considerably. We sat eating with our feet in the water, Charlie feeding some of his sandwich to the small fish which were swimming at his feet.


The first way marker was encountered for the EHW as it directed us down a narrow trail and then over some lower ground by the river.


We then had to ford a stream, Alt nan Bruach, not too onerous, again due to the low water.


From here we turned upwards into former woodland which had been cut down. The walk provided no shade other than when in the lee of log stacks.
At this stage the sun was full out and the temperature was up to 26 degrees. We phoned to ask our landlords to pick us up at Inverlair Lodge. (The Vodaphone 4g signal was fairly constant on the whole walk).
We arrived some 15 minutes late and got a lift back to Roy Bridge where we were spending the night.
Our walk in total was 11.32 miles and we finished 5hrs 10 minutes after we started.
We checked in, showered and changed, and then went for a drink in the Stronlossit Inn. Were it not for these pubs, we could have lost a lot of weight doing this walk, but it does help you to relax after a long day, and it isn’t often after a walk that you can have a pint at the end of the day as you usually have to drive, so make hay as the saying goes.
We headed to The Roybridge Hotel where we were treated to a Local Hero moment. The receptionist guided us to the bar. The same guy then reappeared and served us our beer. An hour later he appeared from the kitchen to ask if the food was to our liking, dressed in chefs blacks!! Anyway the food was ordinary in the extreme and unfortunately not the home cooked fare our landlady had recommended to us. There isn’t much choice for eating in Roybridge though.