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Day 3 - Balamaha to
Inversiad - 14 miles - Loch Lomond and bluebells
The pub was very nice to stay in. The rooms were good and the food
also good. The breakfast was poor though. It took ages to come and
the poached egg was over done. The sausage was of the industrial
variety and you had to
do your own toast. Only a 5. The good news is that the snoring was a
5 and we can thank the wonderful Morag for that as I had left the
snoreeze in my room but she put it in an envelope and sent it with
the bag carrier. A
great landlady.
After the whiskey sampling last night, it was hard to get up this
morning. There is a group we keep running into who have an oldish
guy who is very rosie cheeked and last night was singing and playing
his guitar in his kilt. Very
entertaining although he was singing anti English songs like we're
bothered. I resisted the opportunity to shout Culloden. We always
see this group either in pubs or outside them. They obviously aim to
enjoy themselves
on the walk.
Anyway, the walk was really nice today. The weather was superb and
all the tops of the mountains could be seen. Bruce and Hilary set
off before us as we (or Dale) was still faffing around. We
eventually met up with Karen,
Mike and Matt and set off. Today was basically following Loch
Lomond.
Loch Lomand from outside Blamaha
We saw team paraffin where they camped and they obviously
had a tough day yesterday. They decided to get their stuff
transferred with a bag carrier
which seemed very sensible. Also Chistophe had his boots on which
again seemed sensible as he spent the previous day carrying his
boots and wearing his trainers, which seemed very silly.
Matt had to help me fix the camera but thankfully he did, as the
views were fantastic. We took it easy to Rowardennan and that's
where team beer split off as Karen and the gang were going to climb
Ben Lomond while we moved on to Inversnaid. We also caught up with
team taxi (Bruce and Hilary who is competition for mountain man
Matt). They decided to take the hard low route (for the adventurous
according to the book) while Dale and myself chose the easier high
route. This was very undulating but we beat team taxi to the digs so
it shows what a hard route that was.
One thing I haven’t mentioned so far is the flora and fauna. All the
way over the last 2 days we have seen loads of bluebells. Today some
of the hillside has been covered. A beautiful site. One of the many
good things about walking, with Matt is his knowledge of
ornithology. We have seen oystercatchers, nuthatches, buzzards and
maybe the osprey. We've also seen 2 shrews, 2 hairy caterpillars,
loads of beetles, ducks and baby ducks and
of course the dreaded midge. We smell of sweat and mosiguard.
Attractive eh!
Anyway, the B and B is brilliant. Our room has superb views over the
loch and the dinner was great. Their own reared beef! Also sampled
another whiskey.
One disappointing thing is no porridge for breakfast. 2 days and no
porridge offered. It doesn't seem right in Scotland but here's
hoping for tomorrow.
Off to bed now. Long day tomorrow. A hard 20 miles and the legs are
tired. Will update tomorrow.
Photos from Day 3
Bluebells & Loch Lomond (can it get better than this?)
Highland Cattle (Horns down)
Highland Cattle (Horns Up)
Mum and baby
Loch Lomand (trying to be arty!!!)
Team beer marching on with Ben Lomand looming above
Dale (and Karen) with Ben Lomond behind
Loch Lomond
The monument near Rowardennan
Refreshing mountain stream
A hillside filled with bluebells
Dale with the bluebells
Me with the bluebells
Signpost
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