On setting off we were well aware that this would possibly be our last day of fair weather before the cyclonic storms in the aftermath of Hurricane Bertha boxed our ears for venturing beyond The Smoke.
After leaving Garadhban Forest we got our first peek of Loch Lomond.
Conic Hill loomed; it's not every day you get to walk up a great lump of pudding stone.
It got a little bit crowded as we jostled with sheep and the day trippers who had ascended from Balmaha carpark, but we managed to find a place to nestle in a dip out of the wind and drink in the views whilst sipping our morning coffee. What is it about a panoramic vista that makes you want to gulp great gobs of raw air into your lungs?
The string of islands extending south east from Conic Hill is a physiographic demarcation (rather than our arbitrary Prime Meridian back home)of the Highland Boundary Fault, on descending the hill and continuing on to Rowardennan we'd be passing from the lowlands into the highlands. At last.
We thought the path descending past Bealach Aird to the Balmaha Plantation very steep.
A view over Rowardennan Forest descending from Balmaha Craigie Fort. We enjoyed walking in the green gloaming of the pockets of forest along banks of the loch through to Rowardennan, though the roots crisscrossing the paths were treacherous and made great demands of our concentration.
We loved the snapshot views of the loch afforded by openings in the forest.
We walked up and down many undulations and crossed a number of small burns including this one at the Mill of Ross.
We had found the day's walk fatiguing and were very pleased to arrive at Rowardennan Youth Hostel and a bottle of Loch Lomond Bonnie N’ Bitter, which went down easy.
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