Thursday: Drymen to Rowardennan

Ian looked longingly at the baggage transfer bags in the guest lounge this morning and said ‘why did you tell me it was too expensive?’ !!!!????***??!!

So we set off fully laden and in all our waterproofs for another day of sun, showers and a strongish wind. Yesterday evening’s aches and pains had worn off and, after an initial road section, the path was easy and inviting. It steepened to climb fairly easily up Conic Hill, then much more steeply down, with a bit of a jam of slower walkers. Worth it for the magnificent views of Loch Lomond.

We left most of them behind in Balmaha and carried on along the side of Loch Lomond, or rather up and down somewhere fairly close to the Loch. Harder going than anticipated – Ian says he expected a canal stroll and got a coast path – and we had a deadline – I couldn’t find accommodation on the eastern side so we had to get the ferry across to Tarbet.

After a bit of a route march (for the best part of 8 miles) we got there with 30 minutes to spare, so idled around in the info point, then wandered down to the jetty 10 minutes before the boat was due. To find a small sign saying ‘Water Bus 1.5km’. Well it was more like 0.5km to the second jetty, but still quite a distance to run when clad and laden as we were. Fortunately we made it and are now looking forward to a relaxing evening with friends.

(13 miles yesterday, 17 today).