Word came in a couple of weeks ago of a possible access problem on the Lairig nan Lunn road that links Glen Lochay with Glen Lyon. Talk of a new gate being put in, which might at times be locked, plus there was rumoured to be no smaller side-gate for pedestrians and cyclists.
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Things, however, are rarely that easy – and there is a take-a-chance element to this sneaky side-door approach to the upper reaches of Scotland’s longest glen. Writing in the 1979 edition of The Southern Highlands – the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC) guidebook to the area – Donald Bennet had this to say: “[A] private road from Kenknock crosses the Learg nan Lunn pass to Lubreoch in Glen Lyon, (the gate at the north end of this road is usually locked).” So, in other words, no problem if fancying an ascent of bulky Beinn Heasgarnich or the easy Corbett, Meall nan Subh, from the high point of the pass. But trying to reach Glen Lyon itself – say to climb Stuchd an Lochain – risks having to beat a frustrating retreat. Except that, for many a year, there hasn’t been a problem. Your correspondent must have driven over the pass a dozen times since the mid-1980s, with no recollection of any troublesome gate. Perhaps years ago one needed to be opened – and dutifully closed again – somewhere over the Lyon side of the pass, but where’s the problem with that? There are quite a few gated roads in Scotland, and scores of them in northern England. They slow the journey very slightly, but more importantly they let the local shepherds do their job. Gate-politics is one of the areas in which the underlying quiet accord in land-use – workers coexisting with recreationists – is most evident. There appears to be no formal right of vehicular access across the pass, however. It’s been a combination of custom and convenience that has kept things this way for so long. The status of the road is distinctly uncertain: the current Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 mapping has it in yellow, which indicates official status. But not so long ago it was uncoloured – basically a glorified track. By contrast, the Wikipedia page “List of the highest roads in Scotland” – yes, of course there is such a thing – included it until last November, when someone going by the name of Vclaw edited it out. It had been listed as the eighth-highest road in the country. Overall, the consensus seems to be that it’s a private road with turn-a-blind-eye access – which meant that, if the locked-gate rumours were true, it would merely be a case of Oh well, that was good while it lasted. A lack of foot and bicycle access would be another matter, however. Since the introduction of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act in 2003, such routes have been required, by law, to be kept open for walkers and cyclists. Time for a site visit. Listening to rumour and speculation is only useful up to a point, especially as walkers often have a tendency to assume the worst about matters relating to access, wildlife mismanagement, track-bulldozing and the like. (Because, at times, the worst does actually happen.) It didn’t take long to suss out the basics. The end of the formal Glen Lochay road – a messy place where Hielan coos grazed among the parked cars – had changed markedly. There is now no parking at the road-end itself, but in a neat new car park three-quarters of a mile back the way. It’s perhaps too far of an add-on than is ideal, but most people will be there for a walk, so the extra 15 minutes each way shouldn’t really be seen as a chore. The reason for the change in parking arrangements is that Glenlochay Estate has embarked on a forestry project on the north side of the glen – and it is this that has led to the questions about gates. There are two: one almost immediately after the turning on to the Lairig nan Lunn road, the other a good bit further up, almost half a mile beyond the junction where the mid-level track branches off (the one routinely used by walkers heading for Creag Mhor). Two weekends ago there wasn’t a walkers’ side-gate beside the lower gate, but this was open anyway. The upper gate was closed but unlocked, with a side-gate as required. Richard Barron, senior access officer with Stirling Council – on whose desk such issues fall – paid his own a visit a few days later, cycling up from Glen Lochay in a rainy gale. Despite having also heard reports of problems, he too was pleased to see that there didn’t appear to be any real issue. “The gates have ‘Close the gate’ signs on them,” Barron said. “I had hoped to meet the estate manager who was in the area, but the weather conspired to prevent that. Still, I have managed to speak to him now and also the Forestry Commission about the planting. “The gates are part of the forestry works and the fences that are going up here and elsewhere on the estate are to keep sheep and deer out of the new planting areas. Once the trees have grown up, then these will be removed. All the plantations that cross paths/tracks will have crossing points, a requirement of the Forestry Commission support. “The gates over the hydro road will both have kissing gates as per the one by the higher gate. The one at the bottom hasn’t been built yet. There is no intention to lock the gates across the hydro track [the Creag Mhor one] as long as the people that go through them remember to shut them afterwards. There are currently reminder signs on them that the estate have put up and I am going to send them some of our council ones. If the gates end up getting left open then they may need to get locked to prevent damage to the young trees. “So nothing to worry about, but very nice to see that people are keeping an eye on things and letting us know.” So all seems to be well – there’s no subterfuge or sneakiness, no Glenlochay Gategate. Straightforward pedestrian access will be maintained, as indeed it must, and for drivers the old situation looks likely to continue – if they fulfil the basic courtesy of re-closing any gates before driving on. Only two questions remain. One: given the appalling state of the tarmac on the zigzags up from the Lochay side, is the Lairig nan Lunn still the useful short-cut it has been for many years? No, not really. Two consecutive severe winters have given rise (or, rather, given depth) to several chasm-like potholes. Until resurfacing takes place – and that's not the responsibility of the council – it could well be both quicker and cheaper in terms of garage bills to go the longer way round by the Lochan na Lairige. And two: the aforementioned Beinn Heasgarnich, which your correspondent and his compadre duly climbed in clag after making the site visit, is now shown as Beinn Sheasgarnaich on OS maps. More correct in Gaelic terms, no doubt – but will it catch on, and will the SMC officially change the name they use in Munro’s Tables? Time for another investigation…Donate to us: support independent, intelligent, in-depth Scottish journalism from just 3p a day
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