UKC

I seem to have mislaid a path. Bear with me, I spend too much time looking at maps:

I went for a bike ride from Dalwhinnie to Loch Pattack and decided to carry on following the river to the A889 near Kinloch Laggan. Great route. From there the only obvious route home was on the A889 and some smaller roads.

When I got home I looked at my rather ancient maps on my PC which showed a path which would have taken me from Feagour, north of Meall nan Eagan, then following Allt an t Sluic to the A889 just north of Dalwhinnie.

I was kicking myself for having missed this off-road alternative. However, when I looked at a recent OS map, the path was absent. Anyone know why it has been removed from the map? I've looked online and seen it referred to as an old drovers road. Is it something to do with the new electricity line?

In reply to Catriona:

OS maps lack loads of paths, even well beaten and commonly used. I don't know why, though.

In reply to PPP:

It's not just scotland. There is a massive paved motorway of a path in the Rhinogs that is completely absent from my OS map.

In reply to Catriona:

Hmm, I looked on geograph.org.uk to see if there were any shots of the old drover's road and while there are some in allt an't Sluic http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/215529 there don't appear to be any further west.

In reply to Catriona:

Hmm.

I nipped up Meall nan Eagan last June.

You can see the track on the right (North) of the river here:
http://www.dreamsofmountains.co.uk/summer2013/20130602Meall_Nan_Eagan.jpg

It crosses to the South side of the river and continues into the woods a bit further up:
http://www.dreamsofmountains.co.uk/scrapbook/20130602Meall_Nan_Eagan_approa...

I don't remember much of it after that; I don't think there's a pronounced track on the South side of Meall Nan Eagan (past Dirc Mhor) as I had to cross boggy ground to get to and from its SE flanks. Here's a shot back down at that:
http://www.dreamsofmountains.co.uk/scrapbook/20130602Dirc_Mhor.jpg

Here's the view to the North from Meall Nan Eagan:
http://www.dreamsofmountains.co.uk/scrapbook/20130602N_from_Meall_Nan_Eagan...
http://www.dreamsofmountains.co.uk/scrapbook/20130602NE_from_Meall_Nan_Eaga...

The only obvious track there is the new one for the Beauly-Denny pylons, which doesn't connect through to the Allt an t-Sluic glen (which is a lovely wee glen, by the way).

In reply to Catriona:

This http://www.gaelicplacenames.org/maps/map.html?g=NN635848 is a great feature as you can left click on a square and it shows you the relevant pictures from Geograph.

In reply to Saor Alba:

Ooh - I've been using that to look at maps and plan trips since I saw you post it ages ago, but I somehow hadn't noticed the links! Handy.

In reply to skog:

at grid-ref 585902 there looks to be a bridge marked but no track on either side. Is this part of the old drover's road?

In reply to Bob:

http://wtp2.appspot.com/wheresthepath.htm

Set one side to Historical OS shows a path which almost crosses that bridge.

In reply to Bob:

Thanks to the links on http://www.gaelicplacenames.org/maps/map.html?g=NN585901 , here's a photo:

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1554778

And here's an old map:
http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=13&lat=56.98043&lon=-4.33018&a...

It looks like a much newer bridge, a wee bit North of the old path/drove road (the same one as on Catriona's map?), I think.

In reply to Bob:


No, I don't think so. The "missing" drover's road is marked on my old map software as running NW from the end of a track at NN623863 to join another track at NN578890.

In reply to skog:

Thanks Skog. You might be right about that bridge. On my map the path turns west at NN590890, but the historical map you linked to shows the path continuing NW towards the bridge.

In reply to Catriona:

I took a walk up Meall nan Eagan 2 or 3 years back, and continued on to Creag Doire na h-Alchlaise. Admittedly I was in the snow, so hard to see, but I don't remember crossing anything resembling a path - it was just thick heather and bog. I'd imagine that the line of the path is long gone across the highest point, and it would have been a bit of a bike carry to get over.

That was just before the new pylons went in though - the situation may be a bit different now, as I know there is a new access track approaching from the west to that area.

In reply to Catriona:

I've been in to Dirc Mhor up the Allt an t-Sluic several times this summer and there isn't even a path after the initial section past the estate house. So perhaps for once the OS have updated their maps. You didn't miss out, anyway.

In reply to Catriona:

I had always heard and then read that every OS map contains deliberate omissions and mistakes so that OS can prove their copyright if copied by other map makers. It has always concerned me slightly that every map has these in them, but I don't think that major features are omitted.

Tom