Glen Etive is a glen

Glen

A glen is a valley, typically one that is long, deep, and often glacially U-shaped; or one with a watercourse running through such a valley. Whittow defines it as a "Scottish term for a deep valley in the Highlands" that is "narrower than a strath."...

 in the Highlands

Scottish Highlands

The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...

 of Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. The River Etive  rises on the peaks surrounding Rannoch Moor

Rannoch Moor

Rannoch Moor is a large expanse of around 50 square miles of boggy moorland to the west of Loch Rannoch, in Perth and Kinross and Lochaber, Highland, partly northern Argyll and Bute, Scotland...

, with several tributary

Tributary

A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...

 streams

STREAMS

In computer networking, STREAMS is the native framework in Unix System V for implementing character devices.STREAMS was designed as a modular architecture for implementing full-duplex I/O between kernel or user space processes and device drivers. Its most frequent uses have been in developing...

 coming together at the Kings House Hotel, at the head of Glen Coe

Glen Coe

Glen Coe is a glen in the Highlands of Scotland. It lies in the southern part of the Lochaber committee area of Highland Council, and was formerly part of the county of Argyll. It is often considered one of the most spectacular and beautiful places in Scotland, and is a part of the designated...

. From the Kings House, the Etive flows for about 18 km, reaching the sea loch, Loch Etive

Loch Etive

Loch Etive is a 30 km sea loch in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It reaches the sea at Connel, 5 km north of Oban. It measures 31.6 km in length and from 1.2 km to in width...

. The river and its tributaries are popular with whitewater kayak

Kayak

A kayak is a small, relatively narrow, human-powered boat primarily designed to be manually propelled by means of a double blade paddle.The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each seating one paddler...

ers and at high water levels it is a test piece of the area and a classic run.

At the north end of Glen Etive lie the two mountains known as the "Herdsmen of Etive": Buachaille Etive Mòr

Buachaille Etive Mòr

Buachaille Etive Mòr , generally known to climbers simply as The Buachaille or The Beuckle, is a mountain at the head of Glen Etive in the Highlands of Scotland...

 and Buachaille Etive Beag

Buachaille Etive Beag

Buachaille Etive Beag , is a mountain located between Glen Coe and Glen Etive, on the edge of Rannoch Moor in the Scottish Highlands. Viewed from the south in Glen Etive it forms a twin with Buachaille Etive Mòr , from which it is separated by a bealach at a height of about 480 metres...

. Other peaks accessible from the Glen include Ben Starav

Ben Starav

Ben Starav is a Munro mountain in the Scottish Highlands lying south of Glen Etive that rises to its full height above Loch Etive at its western foot....

, located near the head of Loch Etive, and Beinn Fhionnlaidh on the northern side of the glen.

A narrow road

Road

A road is a thoroughfare, route, or way on land between two places, which typically has been paved or otherwise improved to allow travel by some conveyance, including a horse, cart, or motor vehicle. Roads consist of one, or sometimes two, roadways each with one or more lanes and also any...

 from the Kings House Hotel runs down the glen, serving several house

House

A house is a building or structure that has the ability to be occupied for dwelling by human beings or other creatures. The term house includes many kinds of different dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to free standing individual structures...

s and farm

Farm

A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...

s. This road ends at the head of the loch, though rough tracks continue along both shores.

The River Etive is one of Scotland's most popular and challenging white water kayaking runs. It provides a multitude of solid Grade 4(5) rapids with a variety of falls and pool drops.

Mythology

In the Ulster Cycle

Ulster Cycle

The Ulster Cycle , formerly known as the Red Branch Cycle, one of the four great cycles of Irish mythology, is a body of medieval Irish heroic legends and sagas of the traditional heroes of the Ulaid in what is now eastern Ulster and northern Leinster, particularly counties Armagh, Down and...

 of Irish mythology

Irish mythology

The mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved, shorn of its religious meanings, in medieval Irish literature, which represents the most extensive and best preserved of all the branch and the Historical Cycle. There are...

, Deirdre

Deirdre

Deirdre or Derdriu is the foremost tragic heroine in Irish mythology and probably its best-known figure in modern times. She is often called "Deirdre of the Sorrows." Her story is part of the Ulster Cycle, the best-known stories of pre-Christian Ireland.-Legendary Biography:Deirdre was the...

 and her love Naoise

Naoise

In Irish mythology, Noíse or Noisiu was the nephew of King Conchobar mac Nessa of Ulster, and a son of Usnech , in the Ulster Cycle....

 founded Glen Etive after fleeing Ulster

Ulster

Ulster is one of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island. In ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial...

.

The Fachen

Fachen

The Fachen is a creature with only half a body in Scottish and Scots-Irish folklore. Supposedly its appearance, which includes a mane of black feathers tufted at the top and a very wide mouth, is so frightening that it induces heart attacks. It can destroy an orchard with a chain in its strong,...

is also known as the Dwarf of Glen Etive.