Flat Fare Fastpack – Dalwhinnie Station to Rannoch Station

Although I am not quite in the frame for a bus pass yet, there are still some travel perks at my age. One of these is the Scotrail 50+ railcard which brings some discount to normal rail fares. In addition to the standard railcard discount, Scotrail do a limited time offer a couple of times a year for 50+ railcard holders. It is called Flat Fare.

For the duration of the offer (usually about two months), you can buy return tickets to/from any destination in Scotland for only £17 (subject to Terms & Conditions blah blah blah..). Yes, if you wanted to, you could buy a return from Stranraer to Wick for that amount.

The Flat Fare offer is valid right now so I have been keen to identify a window of opportunity to maximise value for money and to build a fastpacking trip around rail travel which would otherwise be much more expensive. Finally, desired itinerary, availability and weather aligned. A rare event indeed!

Here is how it all panned out.

I bought two return tickets at a total price of £34. The first, a return from Dundee to Dalwhinnie, leaving very early on Saturday 8 February. The return leg of that ticket was randomly selected for the following day but I would not use it.

The second ticket was a return ticket from Corrour back to Dundee, leaving Corrour at 1230 on Sunday 9 February. That train would also call at Rannoch Station shortly after leaving Corrour. The return leg of that ticket was for the following day but again, I would just bin it. This is of course a completely different train line, hence the ticket-purchasing strategy.

If it seems wasteful to bin two return leg tickets, I can confirm that it would cost about £100 to buy the relevant two single tickets under normal circumstances. It is therefore a massive saving. If you are also wondering why I bought a ticket from Corrour and not Rannoch, it was simply a contingency if I needed to cut the running aspect of the trip short for any reason.

Enough about trains for now! My overall plan was to fastpack from Dalwhinnie Station to Rannoch Station, via Loch Ossian, a total distance of about 32 miles. I intended to bivy overnight on the Saturday night on a suitable spot adjacent to Loch Ossian. The following morning, I would run the remaining distance of about 10 miles to arrive in Rannoch in plenty of time for the return train. Overall, an exceedingly cunning plan provided you try, as I did, to ignore the massively long period of darkness in the middle!

Day 1

I was bright and early for the train, changing at Perth then arriving at Dalwhinnie about 0920. I headed down the road to the level crossing and encountered a problem right from the off. A very large gate with a combination padlock on it.

I followed the guidance on the signage next to the crossing but the contact phone was dead. There was however a separate number to call so I did, speaking to very helpful gentleman in a railway operations room somewhere down south. He advised me to wait and the Dalwhinnie signaller would call me back.

The signaller did call but advised me that the crossing was permanently closed to the public. She offered me the official and not so official solutions and I opted for the latter, unofficially of course. This involved returning to the station platform and climbing over a gate at the end of the platform onto a grassy path that then led down past the station to the start of the Ben Alder Road, exactly where I needed to be. A brief hitch, but at least I was finally on my way.

The first 5-6 miles is a hard-packed road alongside Loch Ericht, past the first gate lodge then eventually arriving at the second gate lodge which marks the entrance to the estate lodge itself. Not wanting to expend all my energy, I kept the pace down and walked the inclines but still managed a 10-minute mile average pace on that first section.

At the lodge itself, the track turns away from the lochside and starts uphill, a steady incline for about one mile before the track levels off and the first glimpse of wilder country comes into view. Ahead lies Loch Pattack but the track I was looking for turns off before the Loch, onto a grassier single-track. This was fairly level and nice soft running. Looking south-west from this point, the big munros were in full view with some foreboding cloud mixed with patches of sunshine over Ben Alder and the pass that I was headed for between Ben Alder and the other munros to the north of the pass.

I spoke briefly to a young lady who was heading in the same direction then continued on my way, eventually crossing the river on the bridge to reach Culra bothy, still closed as it has been for some time due to asbestos.

Here the path narrows and starts to climb gradually through rougher ground but I made good progress, the pass ahead always tantalisingly in view but taking its time to get any closer. Ben Alder looked particularly moody in winter clothing, above and to the left.

The pass sits at just over 700 metres and there were a couple of small snow fields to cross before the top. The snow was hard and crispy though and it was easy to stay on the surface and kick steps across the more exposed sections.

By now the sun was out and I reached the top of the pass in bright sunshine. The view was outstanding in both directions and I paused for some photos. Loch Ossian was now in view for the first time in the distance.

The path continued on the far side of the pass but was very icy, slowing progress. The path continued to contour around the base of Ben Alder and it eventually turns east to head back towards Loch Ericht and Ben Alder Cottage. At this point I left the path to the right, heading down the hillside to the river below. Most of the ground was hard with ice but as I reached the river and the indistinct path beside it, this quickly changed to my disadvantage. For the next 2-3 miles, the path hugs the bank of the river but the ground was both waterlogged and icy in equal measure. This led to slow, frustrating progress, effectively a game of bog roulette. The hard ice was enough in some places to hold my weight but too thin in others and I would break through into the waterlogged ground below. I have to say that there was very little to enjoy in this section and I was delighted when I eventually reached the start of the vehicle track.

Despite the downhill track to the east end of Loch Ossian, the boggy section had taken its toll on my legs and I was starting to slow. However, the weather remained favourable and the sun was again out as I started along the north shore of the loch. I caught a brief glimpse of the stark modern outline of the estate lodge, a distinctive architectural departure from the style normally associated with Scottish estates.

The road on the north shore undulates quite considerably, allowing me to adopt a walk/run strategy to suit my tiring legs. Eventually I reached the western end of the loch and was treated to a great view back the way I had come.

I skirted past the Youth Hostel and my priority was then to find a flat, relatively solid spot for the night. I opted for a nice, unassuming spot adjacent to the track but below a bank to provide some shelter should the wind off the loch pick up at any point. It was also exactly where I needed to be the next morning so I encamped and got straight into my sleeping bag to warm up and rest. It was about 1530 by this time.

Thanks to the kit I took, I was toasty at all times inside the bivy but it was getting progressively colder outside as darkness fell. Just before dark, I remembered I had left my softflasks outside and got out to recover them, just in the nick of time as they were already starting to freeze. I emptied them out and took them into the bivy, putting the flask with my filter inside my sleeping bag. Once a filter freezes, you are well and truly screwed. My shoes remained outside and I knew they would freeze but I had resigned myself to that. My pack went into the 35L drybag which would protect it from any precipitation and the worst of the overnight freeze. That is the reason I take a large drybag when bivying.

Barring one very brief exit around 2100, I remained inside my bivy for nearly 15 hours in total. I went against all good practice and hardly drank a drop of water all evening, simply to minimise the number of times I might have to get out later. I watched a little downloaded TV on my phone but otherwise tried to relax and enjoy the warmth and the rest. However, I am not going to pretend otherwise. It was a LONG night!

Day 2

I was not looking forward to getting out of the bivy in the morning but daylight, necessity and a complaining bladder eventually roused me to action a little after 0700. It had been very cold outside during the night, I would estimate about -5C. The bivy, groundsheet and drybag outside were hard with ice and true enough, my shoes were solid! I had eaten inside and sorted what I could before eventually getting out into the cold.

You always think it will be worse that it actually turns out to be and once I was out and active, the cold was manageable and packing up progressed at a reasonable pace. The hardest part was trying to get my feet into my shoes!

The last task was to break the ice on the loch to refill my flasks. I drank half a litre on the spot before refilling, trying to compensate a little for any overnight dehydration. There would be water all along the route so I knew I could keep drinking consistently once mobile. So, I set off with very cold fingers and feet but confident that movement would warm me up in good time.

The track starts uphill, moving away from the loch before taking a sharp right turn. Looking back, the first sun was touching the snow-capped peaks to the west, turning them a dramatic shade of pink.

The track then undulates for a couple of miles around the base of Carn Dearg, past the ruined old estate lodge. The track was hard and icy but progress was good overall. Eventually the sun breached the horizon and I was treated to a fantastic view to the west across Rannoch Moor to Blackwater Reservoir and the big Glencoe peaks beyond.

Once the high point of the track was reached at around 600 metres, the long, gradual descent began and this was good running at a steady pace.

By now, my shoes had thawed sufficiently and the sun had warmed my bones.

I could see that there was low-lying mist in the glen below but it really was a remarkable, clear winter morning. The last mile and a bit are along the public road and it was about 1030 when I arrived at Rannoch Station. I already knew that the tearoom was closed for the winter but was more than happy to find the waiting room/visitor centre open and with the heating on inside.

The train was not due until 1240 but it was a nice end to the running part of the trip to sit in the warmth, sort some kit, use the WiFi and enjoy hot coffee, courtesy of the honesty system they have in place.

It was a long train journey back and it was after 1800 when I eventually returned to Dundee but how can I possibly complain about a train trip in such fine country and weather, all for as little as I paid.

Overall, a brilliant route in ideal winter weather and a fastpack I will remember for some time.

Thanks Scotrail!