Lùibeilt, 28th December 2024

 

I've long had a bit of an interest in the supernatural, and I've been a fan of the Uncanny podcast right from the start. When I heard in December 2021 that there was going to be a case related to a bothy, I was particularly excited. I remember listening to it for the first time and really relating to Phil's description of what it's like to sleep somewhere in the remote Highlands in complete darkness. Opening your eyes and seeing absolutely nothing is a feeling I'm familiar with, and there's a feeling of relief when daylight eventually comes. Sunrise is at 0857 in Kinlochleven today, so these nights are especially long in mid-winter.

If you aren't familiar with what happened at Lùibeilt in the 1970's, I would recommend listening to the podcast episodes here:

• S1, Case 10, Don't Sleep In This House
• S1, Case 11, The Curse of Lùibeilt 
• 2024 Christmas Special: Return to Lùibeilt 

There's also a BBC News Story here which gives a good introduction.

I've been considering running a summer trip to Lùibeilt, so I wanted to do a little recce to understand what the paths are like and look at potential camp spots. The period in between Christmas and New Year always allows me some time, so I put the call out to all my usual hill pals. Steg was free, but the forecast was pretty horrible, so any plans we might have had for higher hills would have to wait.

I suggested the trip into Lùibeilt, and Steg was keen to oblige. It was his turn to drive, and so at 0730, he was outside my door. By 0740, I realised I'd forgotten my sandwiches in the fridge. Some things never change.

That gave us an excuse for a second breakfast at the Green Welly at Tyndrum, where it still wasn't really light yet. It was quite busy, but I suppose there are plenty of tourists around for the festive break. I picked up a BLT and we were back on the road soon enough, passing through Bridge of Orchy in the smirry rain. Then it was through Glencoe, where loads of cold and wet tourists were piling on and off coaches at the three sisters car park.

We arrived at the Grey Mares car park just after 1015, and got ourselves ready. It was raining, but not heavily and it wasn't all that cold down at sea level.

We headed up through the old birch forest on the hillside and missed one of the paths initially so had to backtrack a bit to get ourselves onto the correct path. It was a hard slog up the hill, the rain turning the paths to streams.

Path in the birch wood

The track is in good shape, but it is very steep and slippy at times. This is the hardest part of the hike - 400m of ascent in under 3km of distance. There is no way out of Kinlochleven that doesn't involve an ascent! However, once you're out of the wood, you do get nice views back down to the village, even on a horrible day like this.

Kinlochleven

There's yet more uphill, and then it flattens out a bit before you join the main estate track out to Lùibeilt.

Once we reached the estate track, the visibility was low. There was nothing much to see - Loch Eilde Mòr was choppy with the wind at our backs, and the cloud was down so low, we were pretty much in it. We spent two hours walking along there, before we got our first sight of Lùibeilt - the pines over the rise being the obvious sign.

Pines at Lùibeilt on the horizon

The ground was very wet, huge puddles crossed the path frequently and both of us ended up with wet feet, but wet feet stay warm as long as they are moving, so you can't let that get you down!

We got closer and at 1315, we were pretty much there. It is a very dark and ghostly ruin, and even despite it's reputation, I think it would feel quite creepy.

Approach to Lùibeilt - note the rowan arch on left

Track to Lùibeilt - you can see Meanach bothy across the Abhainn Rath (the river)

Closing in

The location is so remote, 12km from the nearest road access and there is no phone or data signal on your phone. If something goes wrong here, then you're into self-rescue territory until someone notices you're missing.

Steg and I investigated cautiously, then we went in.

Steg for scale

The house is a ruin - all floor and roof boards are removed and it's essentially a shell, except for a few roof tiles here and there. The ground is littered with rubble which has overgrown with a mat of thin grass in the interior. It felt strange to be there. I tried to work out where the room that Phil slept in would have been, and where the staircase would have existed. It's difficult to comprehend all that went on here, and it feels like such a small space with nothing in it.

We had a sandwich in the interior, if only to get some shelter from the wind. The only sound was the movement of the wind and the constant babble of the Abhainn Rath (the river) passing outside. I noticed when I leaned down to get something out of my rucksack that the river sounds echoed in the window gap. I stood up and it changed again. Pretty strange echo effect, but that sound of the river is so close and it never goes away. I imagine the people that once lived here would have eventually found comfort in it, and it would have felt like home.

As creepy as it is now, this place might have felt the joy of birthdays, happy news and Christmas dinners.

I was finding myself getting cold and not via supernatural occurrences, but because I needed more layers on and I was wet. So it was on with the hat and gloves and get some more photos.

Interior

Window view

Graffiti - BBQ T?

More interior

 We finished up with the shot of me under the rowan arch, and headed back the way we'd come. As we left, there was a screech from one of the big pines - I think it was a crow, but didn't sound like it! I could only see it sitting, silhouetted against the grey sky.

It was a long trudge back and we knew we'd lose the light, so we walked pretty quickly back, this time fighting against the wind. Steg's knee was giving him some problems on the descent, so progress there wasn't very quick, but we made it back to Kinlochleven at 1610, just as the weather was starting to settle a bit.

I've been doing the Marcothon in December, so I still had to run another 5km. I decided to just get it done while I was still dressed, so I donned the head torch, and headed through the village. I just headed up the side of the old Ice Climbing place and it was steep, 145m ascent in 2.5km! But it was a fun descent back down. I got changed at the car and we headed straight for home. I had a decent night's kip with no residual haunting so far!