Captain's Log

Ben Lomond

I poked my head out of the tent expecting to see Ben Lomond’s summit but only saw mist. I debated with myself yesterday whether I should climb up to the summit today. I reckoned it would only take 45 minutes to get to the top. The mist made the decision for me though. If I couldn’t get a view, then it wasn’t worth going up. Not only that, but today’s walk would be a 15 miler along the notoriously awkward section of path beside Loch Lomond’s northerly section. Tune into YouTube or Facebook and you’ll probably find some influencer describing this part as like hacking yourself a new trail through a Borneo jungle. My 38 year old memories of it hadn’t left any significant scars though. I do remember having to walk across a landslip area that seemed a bit dodgy at the time, but I’d have expected trail repairs had been done in the intervening period. By the time I’d packed everything up and was ready to go, the mist had rolled away from the top of Ben Lomond. Too late, I’d made my decision; I was going down. 

Going down was almost as hard as yesterday evening’s ascent. It was quite a steep path. Even so, the views along Loch Lomond were great and I was glad that I’d wildcamped high in the end. It was about 1.5 miles from where I’d camped to get back on the trail again, but by 08:00 I was ready to make further progress along the West Highland Way. 

Inversnaid

I followed the forestry road northwards and it wasn’t long before I reached a sign that the Camping Management Zone had ended. A little further on, the West Highland Way split with the choice of a forestry road or a loch side path. I chose the latter. Almost immediately camping pitches started to appear. I’d guess the people who’d walked beyond Rowardennan yesterday would have been able to find a pitch somewhere north of here. This loch side path to Inversnaid was undulating and a little rough, but any real problematic sections had been bypassed by steps, stairs or bridges. I caught up with Hans. His pack was off his back and he was talking to a rather stern looking Swiss woman. I didn’t want to interrupt their conversation but I did ask him whether everything was okay.  
‘My shoulders are hurting. The pack is too heavy’ he told me.  
‘Take regular rests’ I advised. I said I’d see him later and left him to the Swiss woman’s interrogation. 

After the remoteness of this particular section it was a bit of an assault on the senses to reach Inversnaid. There is a massive hotel at the location and it can be accessed from the east using a road, or from the west using a ferry on the west side of the loch; you can also walk to it along the West Highland Way, of course. There were also what looked like pleasure cruises taking trips across and along the loch. On of these, on the other side of the loch, was playing music which was quite audible at Inversnaid. I did think about going in to get a coffee and cake, but there was a notice about taking your rucksack and boots off. In the end I couldn’t be bothered to mess about and so I found a bench facing the loch and started to make a brew while preparing some muesli and nuts for my dinner. It was a great view across the loch with the trio of Ben Vorlich, Ben Vane and Beinn Narnain forming the backdrop. Immediately across the loch I could see large pipes of an hydro electric scheme stretching up Ben Vorlich’s flank. This brought back memories from my childhood when my parents would normally park in the carpark near to these pipes as a break on our holiday journey to the west coast of Scotland. 

Loch Lomond, The Awkward Bit

One of the tourist ferries came near to the shore and the captain pointed out Rob Roy’s cave to his punters over the loudspeaker. At least I now know where his hideout is now; it wasn’t visible from the path and I’d never have guessed it was there.
‘The people that are waving to you from the shore are walkers on the West Highland Way. They still have another 60 miles to go!’ the captain continued, with a hint of glee.
‘Well, thanks for reminding us about that’ I thought. And nobody was waving to his passengers because we were all concentrating not to go arse over tit on a particularly steep and awkward section of the path. I managed to look up briefly to see a couple of passengers waving from the boat and I felt a bit guilty that I didn’t stop and respond. My verdict is that the path at the northern end of the loch is awkward, but as long as you don’t rush it, then it is fine. There is one bit where I had to take my rucksack off to squeeze between a tree and a rock. Remarkably, I remember having to do that very same thing 38 years ago. There was a steep wooden staircase at one point that felt almost like climbing a ladder. The path seemed to get rougher and more chaotic as I approached the end of the loch. I caught up with a Geordie couple with the woman walking about 50 metres ahead of the man.
‘My blisters are killing me’ the man told me. He’d swapped his boots for a pair of trainers.
‘I can’t stop and wait for him because my back starts hurting’ said the woman when I caught her up. She got so far ahead of him that they ended up communicating with each other by phone. I presume they bailed out at the Ardlui ferry. 

On my previous walk along the trail in 1987 I remember taking the ferry to Ardlui on the other side of the loch. There was and still is a campsite there. I remember raising a buoy up a mast and a fellow came across in a small motor boat to pick me up. Judging by a sign it would seem that the operation is still in existence although it looks like the dodgy motor boat has now been replaced by a larger speed boat. I wondered how many people would take the opportunity to stop their West Highland Way attempt at this point after scrambling through that awkward section. 

Beinglas

At last Loch Lomond was over and I progressed down an impressive valley. The view was only spoiled by electricity cables and pylons that traversed the valley further along. The day had really heated up now. I was heading for Beinglas campsite, a place that had acquired a good reputation from the reviews I’d read. For some reason I thought it was positioned further along the valley as it headed off to the right. I was therefore pleasantly surprised when I descended through some trees and found the site before me. 

It was a good campsite, with plenty of facilities, including a shop and even a bar. I found Dave had already pitched his tent and I went to have a chat with him. Apparently Hans had caught him up and by the time they’d reached Inversnaid, they were both struggling. They both decided to take the ferry across to the east side of the loch and then used transport to get them to Bleinglas.
‘Hans is suffering with his shoulders’ Dave told me. ‘Have you seen how close he’s pitched to me? All the spare area on this site and he’s pitched about a foot away from my tent’ he complained.
I had to laugh, it did seem a bit weird. I told him about the mystery snorer from the Drymen campsite and my suspicions that it might have been Hans.
‘Jeez. And I haven’t brought my earplugs’ was Dave’s response. 

It was a tough day on the West Highland Way today. In fact it would probably turn out to be the toughest of the whole trail. It was a long way (15 miler) and a large part of it was over awkward ground. I suppose I didn’t make the job any easier by starting the walk near Ben Lomond’s summit. More sensible people would have camped on the loch side beyond Rowardennan, making the walk shorter. It may have been awkward, but this made it interesting and the views along the loch were exceptional.