By The Bonny Banks of Loch Lomond

Day 2 – Monday 11 May 2009 – Drymen to Rowardennan - 14 miles

We awoke to a fine day with unbroken blue skies, so shorts were today’s fashion statement, and during breakfast chatted to Jeff from Worksop, who was doing the WHW on his own. His wife and in-laws were taking a two-week holiday in Fort William where of course he would join them at the end of the walk. We called at the local Spar for a cheap packed lunch - some sandwiches, a sausage roll and a couple of apples – and then we were off, through clouds of yellow gorse on into wide tracks through the forest of boring Sitka Spruce. The number of walkers was amazing – we counted about twenty at one point, British, American, Canadian and German – and it really felt like we were on a pilgrimage!

The landscape opened up, cuckoos were calling, and we got our first views of Loch Lomond and Conic Hill, which is on the line of the Highland Fault – you can see the line continuing along the string of islands that run across the south end of the Loch (have a look at the big photo at the top of this Blog – this is taken at the top, with the islands in the background). A party of three girls had stopped to attend to a blister which one had picked up on her hand from her walking poles, so (interfering as usual) I showed her how to use the wrist-straps to keep the pressure off her hands.

On the climb up Conic Hill the rock underfoot is remarkable – a conglomerate with big pebbles, looking like rough concree, but formed naturally in what must have been massive floods millions of years ago. An RAF trainer aircraft did a ‘fly-past’ – later we learnt that the instructor was the son of a couple who we met walking: knowing he’d be in the area he had promised to do a little display! The footpath bypasses the top of the hill but it’s worth making the short detour to the summit where the view is fantastic – you can see over Glasgow to Arran, and in the opposite direction the Wallace Memorial.

Val didn’t like the steep descent to Balmaha which was a bit harsh on the knees. We passed the Loch Lomond Visitor Centre and then stopped at the Oak Tree for a beer, where they kindly allowed us to eat our own sandwiches outside in the sunshine.

Balmaha is on the southern tip of Loch Lomond and from here the route follows the eastern shore, winding in and out and up and down: much more difficult than it appears from the map. But the views are great, and the woodland is much more attractive, with oak, birch and rowan, far more natural and pleasant than the regimented Forestry Commission tree farms. The birdlife is more diverse too, with Wood Warblers and Pied Flycatchers as well as the more common Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs and Chaffinches.

After what seemed like an age we arrived at the farmstead of Ross Mill where a depressing sign indicates 7km back to Balmaha and 2km to Rowardennan. Two more kilometres?? I’d rather the sign just said something like “You’re nearly there…” But at last we arrived at the Rowardennan Hotel, which I had expected, from the website, to be really something special. Unfortunately it was a big disappointment: some rooms had been refurbished but not ours, the work was still in progress, there was no-one at reception, the whole place seems rather tired, and then there’s The Clansman Bar, stuck on the side like a Monstrous Carbuncle and completely out of character, with big plasma TV and glitzy bar. Yet this is the only bar and dining room. They need to replace it with something cosy, with a big log fire, oak panelling, stags’ heads on the walls, you know the kind of thing.

The three guys from yesterday were staying at the Youth Hostel and two of them weren’t happy: like many others they came to the Hotel to eat, and it was a fairly sociable evening. We all compared notes and checked on how far we were going the following day, wondering what The Drovers would be like (it has a querky reputation as well as being haunted) and then it was off to bed for a well-earned night’s sleep.

Photos: 1. Gorse near Drymen; 2. Conglomerate rock in the Conic Hill Path (+ my boot for scale); 3. RAF Flypast; 4. Loch Lomond at Balmaha; 5. Ben Lomond and Ptarmigan