We got up at 7a with a mission to head into town for food and scissors. We’re a little sore from the hiking added to the fact that we’ve never been this old before. After wrestling with Pam to properly fold the tent to help extend its life, we hit the road. The only place we found open to get food was a butcher’s shop where we got a chicken curry meat pie—I can never say enough how thankful I am for the Indian influence on British food. The chicken curry didn’t taste like really greasy meatloaf but more like manna from heaven. After our meat pie, we had a few more town activities to complete; get passport stamped, exchange more money, and head to the store to buy scissors for the mole skin.
As we headed out of town, we entered a beautiful tree tunnel along a garden wall. It was a picture perfect setting. After the tunnel, though, we came to an area of active tree harvesting. Living in a stick built house and reading actual books, I understand the need for tree harvesting, it’s just that I don’t like to see it if I can avoid it. After a couple miles of forest/fresh cut walking, we started to rise in elevation and start to have some really great views. We stopped for a snack and enjoyed the view of our first real Scottish Loch—Loch Lomond. We will get to walk along this Loch for the next few days. There’s a fault line that runs across Scotland from the south end of Loch Lomond all the way to Aberdeen and we were just about on it.
The trail runs on the back side of Conic Hill which is only 1175’ above sea level and is the start of the Scottish Highlands. However, the trail is about 500’ so the trail to the top is a very steep 600’ climb over a very short distance. After much whining, crying, and temper tantrums, I was able to convince Pam to drop her pack and climb to the top. Even though her feet were hurting bad from the blisters, she was willing to do anything to stop a grown man from having a tantrum in public.
Once we got to the top, it was so easy to see the fault line running across Scotland because we were on it. What gorgeous views—well worth the climb. Even Pam agreed. In fact she started getting really excited with the views and taking pictures so that we stayed up there longer than we had planned. Reluctantly, we headed back down, grabbed our packs, and continued the hike on down into Balmaha. During the decent, we went through a conifer forest which reminded me of the Pacific Northwest and Pam got stuck in her first animal gate.
There is a National Park headquarters in Balmaha and we knew that camping was available on one of the islands on Loch Lomond so we headed to the headquarters to see if we could get a spot. We went to the counter and were told we could only make reservations through the internet. After trying for a bit, I was getting frustrated and went back to the counter and got a different, more helpful ranger who agreed to help us out. I was getting nervous because the center was very crowded and I was afraid we were going to miss out on the chance to camp on Inchcailloch Island. After a few minutes the ranger said “One”. I was ecstatic and turned to Pam and said we got the last campsite and hugged her. The ranger stopped me and said no, I had misunderstood. We were the only one’s to be on the island that night. We got an entire island for 3.5 Pounds. She helped us arrange a water shuttle and a departure time and then we had some time to eat lunch and get a few groceries.
We headed to Oak Tree Inn for a pint and a bite. I think Pam sent some text messages while we chilled and ate. After lunch, we went to the small grocer and got a bottle of wine. Since our feet were in pain, we saw and bought a bottle of Barefoot Sauvignon Blanc then headed to the dock. The island was literally on the other side of the small harbor only about 100’ away. It cost more for the ride than it did to purchase an island for the night. Inchailloch Island is about 2 miles long. We agree to a pick up time for the next morning and headed inland. The campground is actually on the far end of the island so we walked across the island for the first time, picked our site, and set up camp. After setting up, we explored the island walking another 3 miles covering all the trails.
Inchailloch means “isle of the old woman”. There is a foundation of a ruined church and an old graveyard on the island. Is was getting dark while we were in the graveyard trying to read the stones so our imaginations started to churn a bit. We decided to head back to camp for supper and wine and ran across some of the largest slugs I’ve ever seen—easily longer than my hand. We got back and I started boiling water for our Chicken Vindaloo. Unfortunately, I spilled the bag as I was pouring in the boiling water and it was very fortunate that the island was ours for the night because I let loose a mouthful—vindaloo is my favorite backpacking meal. With Pam’s help, we had to settle for out backup meal of Kathmandu Curry. After supper, we went to the dock to soak our feet in the cold lake water and drink our wine. Since it was our island, we decided to walk around naked for a while, but what happens on Inchailloch stays on Inchailloch.
