Hike to Buachaille Etive Beag Peak, Glencoe, Scotland (August 6)

2025-08-06T23:00:00-07:00hiking, scotlandNo comments

Wednesday, August 6, 2025

Start: #7 Seabeds Luxury Lookouts, Woodlands, Glencoe, Scotland

End: #7 Seabeds Luxury Lookouts, Woodlands, Glencoe, Scotland

Highlights: Hike to Buachaille Etive Beag mountain top, Hike to Glencoe Lochan, Hagrid's Hut, Skyfall Waterfall

After waking up at 07:30, I showered and dressed. I noticed that our breakfast basket was delivered to our room. The basket contained one plain croissant, one pain au chocolat, bread slices, raspberry jam, cheddar cheese, and two glass containers of yogurt with granola.

I made coffee in the room's Nespresso coffee machine, and we enjoyed the yogurt (which was excellent) and the bread. The croissants were mediocre. Finishing breakfast, we started our drive to our first hike at 09:30 (a bit too late, as it turned out).

We wanted to hike the famous Coire Gabhail trail, but all the small car parks near the trail were completely full. I had read on Alltrails that one needed to arrive before 09:00, and that was undoubtedly true. Eventually, I found a space much further away (over 1 mile) at Buachaille Etive Mor Car Park.

We decided to hike to the top of Bachaille Etive Beag instead of Coire Gabhail (to avoid an additional 40 minutes of walking). The trail started out flat but quickly became a steep, rocky climb, frequently crossing small streams. The surrounding views were breathtaking. The trail turned out to be quite tricky, with a 3-mile round-trip and 1,680 feet of elevation gain. It took us 3 hours to complete (round trip), and Inna was very tired at the end of the hike.

We drove back to Glencoe for lunch, but the Woodlands Food Truck was closed. Its regular hours are 9:00-12:00 and 17:00-20:00. The receptionist suggested we visit The Quarry/Balluchulish Visitor Center. However, the Quarry was very busy at 13:30 (with a 30-minute wait time). We decided to try Cuil Seafood (food truck) nearby and ordered the following items:

Inna: Scallops with Black Pudding, cappuccino
Boris: Bagel with Salmon, French fries, cappuccino

My Bagel with Salmon was not bad, and Inna's Scallops were large and delicious. However, we did not care for Black Pudding (a Scottish specialty).

After lunch, we decided to try a gentle hike to Glencoe Lochan. There was plenty of parking, but the RingGo parking app was not working (for either my US mobile phone or my email address).

We decided to risk it and hiked around the lake anyway. The hike was flat and easy, similar to one in the U.S.A.

We next decided to drop by the Clachaig Inn (but the food counter was closed from 15:00 - 16:00). We decided to try hiking to Hagrid's Hut (from the Harry Potter movies). As we started the hike, we learned that the Hut was no longer there, but the spot where it had been was identified.

After returning to Clachaig Inn, we thought to get a few snacks, like Carrot Cake (there were no scones or clotted cream). However, there was a very long line to order, and only one person was working. I got tired of waiting, and we returned to our SeaBeds Hotel and ordered food from the Woodlands Food Truck:

Appetizer: Salad
Drinks: Cider
Inna: Seabass with salad
Boris: Burger with Fries
Dessert: Homemade Highland Tablet (like Fudge but better)

The burger was delicious, and the seabass was not bad.

After dinner, since the weather was clear, we decided to visit the waterfalls featured in the James Bond Skyfall movie. We drove to the Skyfall waterfall and quite a bit past it.

Here is a short video clip of the waterfall:

We saw dozens of people camping. We never realized how popular camping was in Europe (both in Scotland and Iceland). We also saw hundreds of small RVs. We were harassed by the small "midget" flies that bit and attacked us when we exited our car. They were extremely annoying and usually present near sources of water.

After we drove for a bit, we turned around and returned to Seabeds. We rested and watched a movie on our projector: Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire.

Day Report (August 6)

Highlights