Beinglas

There isn’t a word in the English dictionary that could adequately describe yesterday. It was a challenging 21 miles to say the least.

We were up at the crack of dawn, packed away our wet tent and hit the road. There seems to be a theme occuring of a hill to climb immediately as we set off. There were several wooded hillocks that were hard going with our packs.

The rain was a light drizzle which was quite comfortable walking through. At about 7 miles in we reached Rowardennan; roughly halfway up Loch Lomond.

Dad had a blister forming so we stopped to apply the tape and top up our water bottles from an outdoor tap at a carpark for the Rowardennan Forest. It was at this point I noticed my right knee starting to hurt.

The path gently ascended through the forest where we kept passing little waterfalls before we eventually joined the narrow footpath following the shore of Loch Lomond.

There was plenty of wildlife on this path and blackberry bushes for us to snack on as we walked to keep our energy up.

Along the path we reached Rob Roy’s Prison, this was where he kept the Sheriff Substitute of Dunbartonshire for a week. To access it, you have to go along the shore line; I didn’t fancy having a look with the wet rocks.

From here we navigated the wet and slipperly path heading towards Inversaid where we are hoping to get some food and a pint; but we still had a long way to go.

We found a little bench where we stopped for a chocolate bar and drink. As we had a snack so did the midges; as soon as you stopped the air piranhas would swarm. Out came the insect repellants, we put on both the Nordic Summer and the Avon Skin so Soft; double defense. It didn’t help, these Loch Lomond Midges are something else.

The weather wasn’t constant rain like the day before, it kept on having brief showers that you could see coming across the Loch; we got a few sunny spells in the mix.

As we approached Rowchoish, we came across two buildings that had long crumbled and been taken over by moss. The whole area had an eerie vibe to it. We were finally on the last stretch to Inversnaid, our water was running low and our bellies were rumbling.

As we came into Inversnaid we crossed a bridge over a gushing waterfall and reached the hotel where we hoped to get some food. The place was all shut up and a few disappointed walkers hung around outside. At this point a heavy and windy down pour hit; we rushed to get our waterproofs on before we continued what would be 8 miles of gruelling hell.

We continued on the narrow path following the shoreline and came upon Rob Roy’s Cave. Another one of his haunts. The terrain at this point was starting to get troublesome, especially with our packs.

From this point, underfoot was trechorous. There were slippy rocks, fallen trees blocking the path and gnarly roots trying to snag your boots. It was very slow going till the end of the Loch.

The hours passed and we hadn’t covered any distance. Eventually our water ran out and we had to find a small water fall to replenish our bottles using our Sawyer Filter. If there is one bit of advice I can give for this section, is to have a filter. There are no stops to refill so it is essential to have one.

By this point my knee was hurting, my shoulders were sore and my feet ached. Each vying for my attention, but we had to keep going. Every incline brought pain, ducking under the fallen trees was a chore. Our energy levels were teetering above empty. All we had left was trail mix that only provided a temporary energy boost.

The path finally opened up as we left the shores of the Loch. This marked the end of the horrendous terrain and the start of our run into Beinglas. The clouds parted and the sun graced us, perking up our spirits a little.

The path meandered through small woods and bogs which were a dream compared to the terrain of the last 4 hours. We were treated with some stunning scenary.

I checked the map and we had another 4km to go. We were really struggling at this point. Our whole bodies were in pain but we were too exhausted to care. I could no longer expend the energy to keep lifting the pack off my shoulders.

We trudged on for 2km where we came upon a small hill. This really demoralised my dad, it was insurmountable, but there was no suitable ground to pitch up the tent and do some wild camping; we just had keep going. We dropped to a snails pace as we slowly tackled the climb; luckily from this point it was all downhill for the last 2km.

We arrived at dusk and it was a race to get the tent pitched before a rain shower hit. We had spent all what was left of our energy. We needed to rehydrate, so we filled our bottles up and dropped in an electrolite tablet, sat in the backpackers shelter to rest.

We hadn’t eaten properly all day and it was taking its toll. My teeth and fingers started to tingle and I was feeling faint. Luckily there is a shop on site so we purchased a Snicker bar and a small tub of pringles. I wolfed these down and soon the tingling subsided. We hit the onsite pub to order food and a pint.

I was far too exhausted to complete my blog, so I put a quick message on Facebook to say we had arrived and I would write up in the morning. We have definately earnt the sponsorship!