The Challenging Day – Loch Lomond

Thursday, July 31

In the itinerary they sent us, this was the most challenging day. Or so they said.

We left our second floor room at 8:45 after a traditional Scottish breakfast of eggs, beans, hash brown patties, cheese, tomatoes, and sautéed mushrooms.

Almost our whole day would be working up the east side of Loch Lomond. They said it was the most challenging but we found it a lot like our mountain trails in WA – roots, rocks, ups, and downs. On the other hand, it would be 15 miles. There was class 1 scrambling as we have in WA pretty continuously. Some places were quite steep up and down, and narrow between trees and rocks. We did have to grab a rock, root, or tree a few times to keep our balance.

We came across another hiker as we went along – Jade from Boston – and she passed along a pic she had taken of us from yesterday. We also learned she is in finance for smaller companies looking to include employees in company ownership – like Bob’s Red Mill in Oregon.

At noon, we came along to a pretty nice hotel on the shores of Lake Lomond – Hotel Inversnaid. There is only one long road into here and one long road out. A passenger ferry across the lake also lands here.

Had a nice beer and a sandwich for lunch in their quiet bar. They did ask that you leave packs in their entry way, and take off hiking boots. Ok with us. Made our feet feel wonderful for a while.

On the trail again, we finally came to the end of Loch Lomond and climbed over a shoulder that eventually dropped us down to a fancy campground. Lots of style of camping here but we had reservations at Drover’s Inn. It was another 1/2 mile further on.

We checked in and pulled our bags over the busy highway to our room. It was nice but a little aged. Everything worked well.

Our dinner was back across the road. Most everywhere is order at the bar. Had a Loch Lomond Silkey Stout. We sat near two women and two younger girls that were curious. They were very curious about what make-up options that were easily available in the US. Did we have Sephora? Elaine informed them not only do we have Sephora but Ulta too, and many others. We exchanged questions and answers and learned a lot about Scotland – like why don’t they have medium size spoons? They were a joy to talk to. They bought another bottle of Prosecco and poured each of us a glass. Then we were required to split an ”IRN BRU”. It’s a soft drink that is the most popular in all of Scotland. We enjoyed the Creamsicle taste. It consistently outsells Coca-Cola products, or any other soft drink brand in Scotland. They also shared their Haggis Bon-Bons (oatmeal, sheep pluck [liver, heart, and lungs], and minced onion) with us. They said they loved them and enjoy them often. We tried this scary food and found them to be tasty and delicious. We’d get them for ourselves sometime. We actually ordered the Steak and Ale Pie for our own dinner. They were so nice; we were appreciative of their company, friendliness, and generosity.

We headed back across the road for the rest of the evening completely entertained and satisfied.