Tag 5: Inversnaid-Inverarnan
After a good night's sleep, it was nice to cook breakfast in the bright sunshine. The weather gods must have finally woken up and turned their smiling faces on us, while the annoying drizzle of the first days of hiking began to fade into distant memories.
At certain points between Inversnaid and Inverarnan the vegetation became so lush that the bushes almost swallowed the path. We took our lunch break on the north shore of Loch Lomond. After this, the trail separated from the coast and began to follow the Falloch River. Here, too, the terrain became quite hilly.
On the way we passed a shelter, which to be honest looked a bit grim, but would certainly offer good shelter from stormy weather. In any other weather I prefer to sleep outside in the tent. However, our plan was to keep walking until we reached the leg glass farm camp in Inverarnan. They have a nice lawn shaded by mature trees that serve as tents and we pitch our tent in the farthest corner, right next to a small creek.
Our first task was to confuse the man at the front desk by asking his advice on where to swim. Wild swimming doesn't seem to be the most popular pastime there, perhaps because the water isn't exactly hot tub temperature. Finally we took a quick dip in the shallow creek next to our tent which seemed to amuse a few people hanging around the bar. I mean, yes, the water certainly wasfreshbut not so different from Finnish lake water in early summer.
Surrounded by amenities it's easy to get lazy as there was a restaurant with a nice outdoor seating area and the weather was great too. Somehow cooking our own ready meals didn't seem that appealing. This time, however, the instant porridge would have been a really good choice. We ordered burgers which sounded delicious on the menu but turned out to be the second worst* burger dish (in terms of value for money) I've ever seen - there was nothing but the burger and a piece of cheese between them Bread roll . The "toppings" such as Heinz ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise came in plastic bags and you had to squeeze them between the rolls yourself. DoNOrecommend! However, the drinks were ok.
*The worst thing will always and forever be the food my friend E bought from a fast food place in a mall in Tanzania where they forgot to defrost the burger before bringing it to our table. :D
Day 6: Inverarnan - Pont d'Orchy - Royal House
That day we took laziness to a new level and finally got the transfer service for the heaviest backpack. I had booked and paid for the service online the night before. Booking was very easy, all you had to do was fill out a sheet with your desired pickup points and dates for the rest of the trek. Prices were £15 for a one-way journey or £40 for a multi-stop walking tour, so for the same price we really should have been smart and humble enough to get service from day one!
There are several companies that offer luggage transfers in WHW, from which I randomly picked the small Baggage Freedom. After completing the online payment, our only instruction was to attach some sort of name tag to our suitcase and simply leave it at the camp's dedicated luggage transfer area for collection. We were a bit nervous if our essential camping gear would actually be waiting for us at our next destination as the other larger companies collected their customers' bags fairly early in the morning and I think our suitcase was the only one left. . after. But we had no choice but to trust the process and go our merry way.
Orchideenbrücke
However, our laziness was not limited to the luggage transport. Oh no, we really made our lives easier once we got the hang of it. Altogether we only had ten days for the entire holiday, of which we had already completed five days and wanted to spend the last two in Edinburgh. So we only had three days left for hiking, so something had to be done. According to our guide, the route from Inverarnan to Bridge of Orchy via Tyndrum would have been a bit boring and not essential for a good WHW experience, so it was an easy decision to skip that part altogether. Instead we took the bus from Inverarnan straight to Orchy Bridge and from there we walked to Kingshouse. Luckily there was enough space on the bus, although we didn't have a reservation and bought the tickets from the driver.
The sloth with a hop in the crotch: what a difference a backpack can make
Greattake a break
WCamping opportunities along the way
It was such an easy day to walk now that Chef was carrying the lightest of our packs and I was carrying a small one. When we arrived at Kingshouse, more specifically at the beautiful Kingshouse Hotel, we were so relieved to find our other backpack was waiting for us just as promised. In addition to the elegant main hotel building, there was also a separate hikers' cabin, a public toilet, and even a couple of coin-operated showers. However, we didn't need the showers as it was much nicer to bathe outside in the Etive River. On the other side of the river, over a bridge, are many good grass pitches for tents. We place ours under the watchful eye of a curious pair of deer. I think we even cooked some of our meals ourselves this time but we still had seconds in the outside area of the hotel pub. Because I was there. And because we could then charge our phones and external batteries indoors.
Patrol campsite
It's not a statue, it just looks like it.
Chef taking his nightly bath
Around sunset we also had our first encounter with Scotland's Mighty Midge. We had been warned about mosquitoes, but we dismissed the warnings as utter nonsense: "What do these people know about deadly bloodsuckers if they haven't encountered mosquitoes from Finland?" - but when the huge clouds of these little beasts attacked us, it was no longer fun. We were forced to give up the outdoor seating and move into the dark but cozy pub. From there we basically ran into our tent and past the safety of our mosquito nets while waving our arms madly in a vain attempt to shoo the bugs away. If I opened the net even a little, the tent would be full of mosquitoes immediately. It was also too dark to beat them to death, but luckily I found another way to get rid of them: if you pour a little water on a toilet paper ball, you can kill dozens of mosquitoes with one clean shop cloth. .
Kingshouse Hotel and River Etive
I don't think any of the campers slept that night, all thanks to a group of loud and obnoxious Americans.the loudest mix of shameful noise ever to offend the ear, who decided to throw a huge bunkhouse party like it was spring break. Sometime in the early hours of the morning, Chef snapped and screamed from the bottom of his heartSHUT THE PPP SHIT UP!!!towards them, which only seemed to spur them on. However, the mosquitoes were still a more powerful enemy than the screeching jerks, so we didn't even think of venturing outside to keep fighting. It could only have ended badly, either in a fist fight or a blood transfusion because he'd lost too much to the mosquitoes. Still, if you can tell your own scream from this description,MetroYou think you're a common offense and everyone should hit you.Luckily earplugs blocked some of the screaming and towards dawn the general insults started to die down so we still managed to get a decent few hours of sleep.
Prices (July 2019):
- Beinglas Farm: tent for two £16, use of tumble dryer £1.50
- Beinglas Farm - Terrible burgers and decent drinks for two £30
- Baggage Freedom Baggage Transfer £40/bag (multiple stops)
- Bustickets, Winter–Bridge of Orchy £7,90 p.P
- Kingshouse Hotel Pub: £9 pro Pint, eine Portion Chips £7
Use the hashtag to read all posts of this trip in EnglishWHW19ES.