The planned walk for today was Inversnaid to Inverarnan, staying at Beinglas. However, watching the weather with Storm Dave incoming at the weekend, we (Bruce) figured that it might be best to add a few miles on today and cut tomorrow’s walk down.
We started the day with a gentle downhill on the road from the Inversnaid Bunkhouse to the shore.
Thereafter, we followed Loch Lomond for …
The ‘Tough’ Section
The path along Loch Lomond is reputed to be the most challenging or tricky section of the route. It’s interesting, I’ll grant you that, but there’s nothing too technical, more just a case of taking your time.
After a wee bit of gentle path there are a few hundred metres of ascent and descent.
Up, down, up and down. Although it was pretty wet, the rock was grippy with boots on and didn’t present any challenges.
The path then flattened out for a bit and we picked up the pace, enjoying some easy walking ahead of the next section of interest.
This included a big ladder which looks daunting but is actually at a very nice angle for an easy ascent (I genuinely hate ladders and have no issue with this one)!
The amount of water flowing was impressive, both in the white water of the streams and the waterfalls that we passed.
Towards Doune Bothy
The ‘tricky’ section over, we followed a good track. This was relatively flat and very pleasant for a change of terrain and pace.
We climbed a little and this led us over to Doune Bothy. It’s disappointing to see that nothing has been done with the ruined house as previously we met someone who was talking very animatedly about rebuilding it; it now looks in worse repair than it was at that point!
The End of the Loch
Continuing beyond the bothy, we followed the path towards the end of Loch Lomond. This begins to rise once more and it was amazing how different this felt today. On previous occasions when we’ve been on this section it’s been on much more tired legs, coming from a Rowardennan start as opposed to Inversnaid today.
At the top of the incline there’s a gate. Go through it and you’re rewarded with a wonderful view down the loch.
From this point on, we marched on and made it to Beinglas just in time for the rain to start.
Beinglas: Anyone for Coffee?
As luck would have it, our room at Beinglas was ready for us. Bags collected (yes, we’re doing it the lazy way with beds, hot showers and baggage carriers), we dumped our rucksacks, had coffee and the most delicious scones with jam and cream, then headed off out again.
Dodging the Rain
Well, that was the plan! However, in our wisdom we headed out in it, the thinking being that the sun would come out on route to Crianlarich. I’ll be honest, I had my doubts particularly as the intensity of the showers increased and it became heavier.
However, before long we started to see a brightness in the sky and in time the rain did stop. The sun won through and we dried off nicely ahead of arriving in Crianlarich.
Unfortunately the same couldn’t be said of the underfoot conditions and we plodded through puddle after puddle. Maybe par for the course at this time of year as many, noticeably those with any little flow passing through, were filled with frogspawn, much to my delight.
I regaled Bruce with the tale from childhood of not being allowed to take frogspawn home in a jar, despite ‘everyone else’ doing it. He didn’t think this odd, rather that it was odd that others would have been allowed to do this!
Please answer below: did you take frogspawn home as a child?
Crianlarich: Far’s the Bus?
We left the way (and a Belgian camper we’d been chatting to), heading downhill into Crianlarich. Arriving with time to spare ahead of the bus we went to the Crianlarich Hotel for a coffee, then heading over the road to catch the bus back. Unfortunately the scheduled bus didn’t come. We waited for the next bus, due in half an hour, and were beginning to wonder at what point we should try to scrounge a lift from one of the many cars stopping at the toilets when the bus finally rounded the corner; delays appeared due to an incident further up the road so we were just grateful to get going.
The rain came on heavily again as we headed back towards Inverarnan and we ended up soaked and cold by the time we reached Beinglas. A hot shower and a lovely dinner saw us refreshed and ready to think about tomorrow, planning a shorter day and more rain dodging! Wish us luck!
Clare, happiest outdoors! 
Glad you avoided some of the rain.
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