After 3 days off it was time to get down to the real deal, no 5 mile jaunts up and over a little hill for us today, nope it was a good and proper hike of 15 miles.
Well, the sun was shining- even as we set out at 8am it was a pretty nice day. And we though we would have it pretty easy for the first few miles out of Balmaha and along the edge of the loch. Yeah right. Why would it be that easy? So we walked maybe 100-200meters and say the way marker direct us off the road and up a hill. We assumed (and you know that saying about "assumeing" don't you?) that it was to get us off of the road and onto a path. No. It was to take us up a rather steep hill, just for the sake of it! The road was actually shorter and easier. But at least it got out hearts and legs going, well, that's what we told ourselves. It was only 8:20 and we had already climbed a hill. We should have seen the rest of the day coming.
To be fair the next mile or so was fairly easy walking along the shore of the loch admiring the views and tut tuting at the people who were destroying the area by leaving the remnants of their camping trip on the beach. I don't want to spoil the impression the photographs will give you of Loch Lomond because some of it is truly beautiful and breath taking but far far too much of it has been eroded and spoiled by irresponsible campers, fishermen, day-trippers and worst of all are the jet ski-ers who blatantly ignore the 5mph speedlimit and destroy the tranquility for everyone as the sound reverbates through the valley. I promise the rant is over after this, but it is disappointing that in this country we can't get it together and look after something so astonishingly beautiful, perhaps we are spoiled with the glut of brilliant scenery but the way its going there wont be any unspoiled views left.
Back to my walk. There was a not insignificant couple of hills to tackle next, probably bigger than the first one but since we were warmed up they didn't seem so bad. We even met a handful of other way walkers and played "tag" with them for a while. They probably thought I had lost it as I ran past them on the down hill but it wasn't for the desire to go faster or to run it was simply the fact that my feet wanted to go faster and I just went with the momentum.... aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. The next hill was far tougher and I struggled with it all the way to the top but I was determined to get to the top before the small children coming up behind us... why to children always go up hills as if they weren't there? Oh to be 5 again. The way then took us through a much more remote section, despite knowing civilisation was just around the corner it just didn't seem that way.
On to Lunch. We were aiming for Rowaerdennan for lunch. about 7-8 miles in. The plan was to sit at the loch for lunch and dip our toes in the water to relieve our weary feet from the heat of our boots (did I mention that it was getting hotter and hotter and we were now down to one layer of clothing each. I was glad to get my boots off and get my feet in the water even though it felt as if my feet had neuralgia it was so cold, cold but lovely. Sitting enjoying a lovely cup of tea and some delicious sandwiches (all food tastes great when you are walking) and then all we (mum, Callum and I) heard was an almighty crash. Kris had gone for a swim. Just so you know it had been snowing only 2 weeks previously around the loch and the water only increases in temperature by 1 degree between winter and summer. That water is COLD. But, once he got out and took another look, in he went AGAIN. If ever I doubted the sanity of my brother it was at this moment. We still had 8 miles to go and now his trousers were wet. Yeah, that could get uncomfortable.
Never mind. Off we set for the last leg of the day and we were all feeling a little bit cocky and that we'd be done in a quick smart time. Yeah, maybe we should have looked at the map and the contour lines before we made that assumption (again about that "assuming") The contour lines were fairly close together and the path went up and up and up for about 4 miles. In case this doesn't seem much- the side of the hill we were traversing was Ben Lomond with a peak of 974meters and we were about 300-400 meters by the time we reached the peak of the walk. The whole time we were climbing we had the blazing sun on our backs and there was literally no shade. At this point every one of us was envying Kris his "refridgerator pants" that were keeping him cooler. Every time we rounded a corner the path swept up and up, we were beginning to think that we were going to the peak.
Finally, against our belief the path did start to go down, not much but definately down. Hurrah, we must be on the home straight and it can't be any harder than climbing in the heat? right? Can you hear that, it's fate laughing its ass of at us. What's worse than going uphill in the heat? Only coming downhill in the heat on a shoogly, slippery, not very big, slightly too close to the edge and the drop to the water path. Oh that. Drat! Why had we not thought of that. After 12 miles we really didn't have the energy or brain power to deal with the thinking it required to get to the end but we had no choice, it was a whole lot further to go back than forwards. So despite the vertigo (mum) the agony in our legs (erm all of us) the swollen hands (me) we trekked on and despite the trials we saw in front of us the Inversnaid hotel. We had a rush of triumph and the feeling that we had done it. Yeah, you've guessed it, not quite. We got closer only to realise that to get to the hotel we had to go up a (small) hill and over two bridges (one which was really too bouncy for my taste) I really belived that I couldn't take one more step and was all for swimming across the gap...surely that would be easier?
One trip to the toilet (studiously avoiding the mirrors- i'd dipped my head in the loch, so my hair was, erm, interesting), a can of very cold diet pepsi and a mars bar later and I was revived. It was a long hard day, it took us 9 1/2 hours including stops to get to the end and the last mile and a half seemed endless but I just kept thinking of why I was doing this, why I had to get to the end, trust me thats why i kept going.
On to Crianlarich....
