Friday, Aug 1.
Ordered Scottish oatmeal and a “rack” of toast for breakfast. Quite good and hearty.
Back to the Beinglass Camping Grounds to get back on the trail. Pretty straightforward hiking along the River Falloch and later the River Fillan. The terrain is starting to open up towards the Highlands. We spent a good amount of time walking through areas where “Forestry Work” was being done. The Scots are obviously very conscientious about cultivating timber. All the fir and pines are laid out neatly in tree farms. We have heard a few chainsaws but no big cutting operations.
We went through tunnels under the rail and roads before we took the .6 miles side trail down the Crianlarich to find some lunch after 6 miles of hiking. We were hoping to eat at the Rod n’ Reel Pub but we found it closed with no explanation. The Best Western Crianlarich had food service so we hopped in there. A very busy place! Beer and a really good 12” pizza for lunch. Cars piling up outside with lots of police activity.
Back to the trail which seemed easier getting back to than we thought it would be. Much more forestry work area on a bench high above the River Fillan. We went by lots of sheep grazing in valleys lined by high hills. All of a sudden, an entire flock of a hundred sheep was coming at us down the road! Only thing to do was to hop over the ditch and off to the side and let the herder in an ATV with his herding dog move them right passed us! Wow that was fun!
Eventually we crossed the A82 and saw down the road where there had been a motorcycle accident. By the looks, a bad one.
We also went past a small loch (lake) where Robert the Bruce may have tossed in weapons. Why? Don’t know.
We reached Tyndrum (Tine-drum) just about 5pm. Our lodging was just across the river from the trail. We checked in easily but two situations arose: 1 – our bags had not been delivered. Where are they? And, 2 – we had a room with twin beds. The accident down the road was holding up traffic and our bags. When there is fatal accident here they will close the road for 6-8 hours, and there are no local side roads. The twin beds we’ll just have to put up with.
We wandered over to the Munro Bar in the MGM Muthu Hotel. Never heard of it before but they have hotels in Jamaica, Cuba, England, Scotland, France, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Kenya, and India. They also have a knowledgeable bartender here that can make a martini very well! We’ve asked at our lodges along the way and they have no clue. This guy was excellent and was happy to create very nice martinis for us. The lounge was on the top floor and was large and comfortable. Just wonderful!
Our dinner was at the Tyndrum Inn. The staff lady at the lodge thought the other option would be better but we could not have been more pleased that our meal at Tyndrum Inn. We shared chili con carne that included a large portion of rice and tortilla chips. The chili was rather well-spiced and delicious.
Back in our room I e-mailed the baggage transfer service and they got right back to me saying our bags were held up because of the accident. They hoped it would clear within the next hour, which it did. Our suitcases showed up at 8:45pm in the lodge office and everything was just fine after that.
Tomorrow is a shorter day up to Bridge of Orchy – just 6 miles – as we work our way further toward the more remote Highlands of Scotland.
Dogleggers on the Trail 