21
Nov 09

Loch Lomond – Fort William

We woke up, and had the best breakfast of the whole trip me thinks. Regina’s porridge looked amazing, and I tried out French Toast for the first time, and I’m happy to report that I’m a fan. Over breakfast, I remembered something that Regi had said previously, and asked our lovely hostess about this. She’d remember that there was this great big whirlpool off the West coast of Scotland, and was wondering if we were gonna go see it. Our hostess googled it, and found some information about it; Corryvreckan (meaning “cauldron of the speckled seas” or “cauldron of the plaid”). It was now a part of the agenda for the day, as today we were taking the beautiful scenic route from Loch Lomond to Fort William – the A83. Really beautiful road, through the mountains, and pass the Loch’s.

Regina and Loch Lomond

Rest and be thankful

We came to lovely named viewpoint – ‘Rest and be Thankful’ where we had a really nice view down the valley we’d just cruise up. We happened upon a really beautiful little town called Inveraray. Every single house/shop/building in the little town was black and white – it was so nice;

Inveraray

Inveraray Castle

We boarded a wee coffee ship shop, and had what we Welsh people call ‘panad’ – a nice cup of coffee. We headed into the town, where we came across a traditional sweet shop. Only one thing was in my mind; Midget Gems! I bought a bag so that Regi could experience this wonderful sweet. She fell in love with them. (Not the black one so much – as the one and only black one she tried went hurling through the car window).

We continued North. The turning off to Corryvreckan was on the way – so we took it. We drove along this really nice single track road, and Regi took this really nice picture;

On route to Corryvreckan

I love it. We continued, and reached, what can only be described as ‘the end of the World’.

Regina at the End of the World

End of the World

It was a nice rugged place, with nothing at all there. There was a disused (looked un-used anyhow) jetty running into the sea, and ending abruptly, and just sea. Unfortunately, or beloved Whirlpool wasn’t to be seen – the weather had come in, and visibility was quite poor. The whirlpool itself looks quite impressive though – check it out! http://www.whirlpool-scotland.co.uk/index.html

We headed back on track, and continued North, through Oban, and up towards Castle Aaaaargh (for the Monty Python fans out there) – or Stalker Castle.

Castle Aaaargh!

Epic Irn Bru

I love this spot. Whenever I do go to Scotland, I always try and stop off here. We grabbed some lovely food at the little café, and headed for the Fort of William.

We checked ourselves into a posh B&B We decided to hit Fort William that night, and grab some alcohol. Night life there was alright. We had fun. I managed to be-friend an older man, who’s beard was mighty impressive, to which I’ve taken my inspiration from to grow my own. it’s slowly getting there.

We had a nice night.


20
Nov 09

Edinburgh – Loch Lomond

We got up early from our beautiful wee Hostel, and headed North West, to the biggest lake in the UK – Loch Lomond, The sun was blasting in our little eyes – what a great day to start walking we thought!

We stopped off in a wee village to get us some supplies for our trip. Whilst standing at the checkouts, Regi turned to me and said ‘You’ve got Midget Gems!!’. Now – for me, this was hilarious, and it’s one of my best memories of this trip – for those of you, like Regina at the time, who don’t know what Midget Gems are – they are tiny little sweets, similar to Wine Gums in texture, but much, much nicer.I could not stop laughing.

We drove up the East shore of Loch Lomond,  and parked at the car park there, and within minutes of us being there, the heavens opened. Oh how it rained. Our route was to head North, over the Ptarmigan Ridge, then climb quite steeply up the final ridge to reach Ben Lomond’s summit. We got dressed all up in our grear, and headed off. After about 20mins into the walk, Buzz Killington to my right said something to the effect of – this mountain is steep huh? In fact, we’d miss the turning, and we were going for a gently stroll around the lake.

We found the right path, and headed up towards the Ptarmigan Ridge. The views from not very high up were stunning already;

Loch Lomond

We got to the Ptarmigan Ridge, and by here – we’d experience pretty much all seasons of weather. Blazing sunshine, heavy rain, fog, wind. Times we good, and moral was high. We came to a nice plateau at the top of the ridge, and it became very muddy. Regi doesn’t like mud, so I’d often hear ’yuck!’ being shouted, which made me smile. There was some lovely stepping stones right at the bottom of Ben Lomond’s steep climb, which I thought was really pretty.

Iestyn heading up BenLomond

The last 200m up to the top of Ben Lomod was something else. I’ve never been in such a situation before in my life. The hail/snow/rain/blizzard of the millennium was in, and he wasn’t friends with us. For me, walking up became very tiring, my legs were getting heavy, and to be honest, I was struggling. I stopped, and ate a Mars Bar. Without a doubt, this was the best Mars Bar I’ve ever had in my life. The feeling of sugar rushing into my body and straight into my muscles is something that I’ll never forget, it was sweet. On we went, and after a tough battle, we reached the summit of Ben Lomond. (974m/3,196 ft)

Regina Ben Lomond Summit

Iestyn Ben Lomond summit

I liked the mountain a lot. The way down was a bit of a trek, along a very well used path, – the loser trail as Regi nicely calls things.

We got back to the car just in time, as it got dark pretty soon. Rain was still pouring, so we got dressed into our civilian clothing, and decided to grab some food. We had some lovely Chinese, then we headed out and found ourselves a lovely little B&B in Balloch, where we were looked after really well, and our walking gear dried out.