Dun Deardail....Fort William

It was one of those days, grey and drizzly. The good lady was with me today, we wanted a walk with a view but it had to be relatively low level for the good lady's knees do not take well to hard descents. A review of the literature we had brought with us included walks in and around Glen Nevis. I had never been on Dun Deardail before so at least a 1st was welcome for today. Its height of 340m would give us views of the Nevis glen and in particular Ben Nevis if the conditions remained like this.
The walk includes a small section of the West Highland Way. It is a mixture of wood land paths and then open countryside. 

They all look the same

We parked at the Braveheart car park which was a good place to spend some time at the end of the walk. This is the same start for Ben Nevis and I looked jealously at the small groups making their way onto the Ben. We crossed the road, took in the field of Highland coos (Mrs B always stops at them, come along dearest we have only just started!!) and moved onto the path marked WHW. You are now entering the forest path. Whilst climbing keep following the WHW markers or you are in danger of going onto the Cow Hill track which would take you back to Fort William. A pleasant enough walk in its own right but not for today.

Camp site can just be seen

The walking is a little bit of the normal forestry track trudge. Still, listening and watching out for the normal forest birdlife keeps me interested until we break through the treeline and get the views. So far the normal culprits: blue, great and coal tits; chaffinch; blackbirds and song thrush but not a lot else. There are a few dog walkers around, particularly at the lower levels but all in all we have the lower stretches pretty much to ourselves. The fine rain continues but thankfully goes off as we start to break out of the trees. The sun even starts to make a brief appearance brightening things up. There have been a few twists and turns but so far it has not been the most exciting walk, but we are outdoors and that's what counts.

Ben Nevis

Now that we have broken the treeline the views are superb particularly of Ben Nevis which is on our left as we walk. From here I can train the binos on the Ben and I can see a good number of walkers making their way slowly up the 1st section of the walk. In this picture you can just make out the faint line of the trail going upwards from left to right. the path then winds behind the hill ( about the middle of this picture) before going upwards again. Through the binos I can see walkers quite a way up although from this angle you don't see the summit.

Mrs B nearing summit

Our path is now more pleasant walking. We have turned away from the WHW path which will go south to Kinlochleven and Glencoe. There is a lot of forestry work going on which would detract from the scenic views for the WHW walkers. the path is more grassy and with the views all around much more fun.
A raven flies over unmistakable due to its size and its fan tail as well as its call, searching for its partner.

Light snow on the peaks of Stob Ban

The name of the hill is taken after the Iron age fort that stood here. It is a vitrified fort which means that the materials used to build the fort were bonded together by heat as the outside of the walls were covered in timber and set alight. 

Me with Ben Nevis as a backdrop

These are all covered in grass and the slight height reduction took the edge off the wind and was a nice place for our picnic. The views were excellent.
As always I spent a few minutes surveying the landscape through the binoculars and I was rewarded by catching the movement of a golden eagle on the flanks of Ben Nevis. This side is a long way from the walkers so there were no people around here to disturb it. Along the ridge it glided then back again, it looked effortless. Then circling in a tight spiral it went higher and higher until even with the binos I could no longer keep it in sight. This sighting made my day and the memory of the walk. If I had been scanning with just eyesight there was a good chance that I would not have spotted the eagle against the background. 

Looking back towards the Banavie area of Fort William

After that it was time to make the return. This was simply a case of returning by the same route. Maybe it was the time of day but we met more walkers coming off the WHW looking fatigued but happy that there trek was coming to its conclusion.
I'm afraid to say but the walk back through the woods was again a bit of a trudge and not terribly exciting.
When we returned we spent some time in the centre before heading back to Fort William. It had all went to plan, a walk with super views at the end with the reward of the golden eagle. Now it is to be rewarded by a visit to the Grog N Gruel in Fort William to sample at least a couple of pints of whatever real ale they have on tap. If you like your beer do not pass up on this pub.