Firstly the walk to Glamaig Waterfalls is not suitable for wheelchair users or rollator users. However it is a rewarding gentle walk of just under 2 km or 1.25 miles in old money! It is on a good path and very easy going. The Glamaig waterfalls walk would be perfect for anyone who is a little unfit or is looking to regain some fitness by starting with some gentle walks. Depending on how fast you walk it will take from about 40 minutes to go there and back. Maybe a little longer if you need to. Even after rain the path is a good surface to walk on, and the waterfall is even more spectacular. Don’t get this walk confused with the Allt Dearg Waterfalls on the opposite side of Glen Sligachan, we’ll cover that another time!
The Walk to Glamaig Waterfalls
The best place to park to start this walk is the small car park to the south of the Old Bridge at Sligachan. This is the opposite side of the river to the Sligachan Hotel. This car park has a couple of disabled bays and the rest is a gravel parking area with space for many vehicles. Before you start the walk pause a while to read the information boards which tell you about the flora and fauna in Glen Sligachan. As well as the fundraising efforts to create this car park and the impending sculpture of Collie and MacKenzie.
Once you have read all the boards walk down the tarmac road surface towards the Old Bridge. You will get to a wooden gate on the left hand side with more information boards beside it. Go through this gate and onto the Glen Sligachan footpath. This path stays far away from the River Sligachan and runs behind the sculpture site. You will have a burn flowing to your left. This is Allt Daraich and we follow this to the waterfalls.
The path is a good stony surface, which rises gently up from the gate where you entered. After about 400 metres there is a gate in the fence to your left. The path in front of you rises steeply up a stone staircase. Here you go through the gate on your left. The fence that has been on your left disappears and Allt Daraich flows below in the deep gully. Follow this path for another 400 metres as it meanders very gently up hill. You will be drawn forwards by the sound of the waterfall, but it will remain out of view until the last second.
The path is a safe distance away from the gully in which the Allt Daraich flows. However it would be good advice to have any dogs under strict control or on a lead as there is no way down to the gully to rescue them.
Soon you will arrive at the waterfall, which is a sight to behold. Cold, fresh, clear mountain water cascading down into the gully below. With Glamaig towering over the waterfall it is a truly beautiful sight. The stones at the bottom of the waterfall are a variety of different colours. Spend as long as you need here and when you are ready to leave simply follow the path a bit further. Leave the waterfall behind you and the path swings to the right in a large circle.
The vast panorama of Glen Sligachan comes into full view in a couple of minutes. The red hills to the left and the Black Cuillins to the right. Follow this path and it soon joins back up to the path you came up on. If you follow it back down you will be back to the car in no time.
More Glamaig Waterfalls
If after you have seen the waterfall and you have a little bit more energy there are a few more waterfalls further up stream you can visit. However the path is no longer well maintained and gravel. It is a path across peat and heather so after rain is very boggy and not always well defined. That said it is not difficult to find your way about – just follow the noise of the burn and hunt down the waterfalls. There is an old metal fence which is very roughly the line of the path. If you divert left from here you reach the burn and can hunt out all the other waterfalls. Aquamarine water crashes over smooth rocks, downwards until it reaches Loch Sligachan. Explore as far as you want and then return back to the gate near the very first waterfall. Then follow that path back to the car.
