Day 76: Inversnaid to Ewich House (17.4 miles)

This was a long and pretty tough day - one that I had been anticipating for a while.  

There was heavy rain overnight and by the morning there was a small leak on one of the seams - one of the Swedish cloths was sufficient to absorb the small puddle forming but I’d have to watch that on subsequent nights. I packed everything bar the tent up before breakfast (continental/porridge) - the midges were delighted to greet me - before taking down a very wet tent! 

I left the bunkhouse at 8:30. The walk down from the bunkhouse was enhanced by the drama of the Arklet Water in spate - as were all the burns and cascades on the walk today.

The section between Inversnaid and Inveraran is notorious and guidebooks warn that although it is by the loch, it undulates over rocky ground. In itself I enjoyed it, but it was slow going and made harder by the persistent heavy rain which meant the path was now muddy, and the stones and tree roots potentially slippy. In the event, the rock was actually good for gripping (unlike the boulders below Falcon Clints on the Pennine Way) but the tree roots certainly weren’t!

During the heavy rain there was little bird activity - apart from song thrushes who seemed to enjoy singing in the rain! The mist was well down for the early part of the day but as the rain started to ease so did the views start to tantalise - cascades on the opposite side of the loch and the upper slopes began to come into view. 

As I came towards the head of the loch, the wind started to increase - this sorted the midges out although they were no bother providing you kept moving. I arrived at Bein Glas around 13:30 and stopped for a coffee and cake briefly before setting off - I still had a good 10 miles to go, so alerted the B&B that I might arrive later than 7pm if my pace didn’t pick up.

The path steadily climbed up the valley of Glen Falloch - the river and waterfalls were breath-takingly powerful in spate, and largely drowned out any noise from the road and railway which also follow the Glen.  The birds became more active as the rain started to ease - both willow and wood warblers as well as wrens and blackcaps.

Eventually the path went under the railway but the tunnel was so low you had to virtually crawl to get the backpack under. This was followed by a tunnel under the road but this was rather more civilised in height.

The views from the Drovers Road cum Military Road were fantastic - an awesome high level glacial valley with dramatic crags above made me feel as though I was in the Alps...it was good to be here.

I was, however, getting tired. I’d not really noticed the weight of the backpack, but my back was starting to feel creased up so I took a couple of ibuprofen as a precaution. I hadn’t taken any this morning as the glut seemed to have recovered (fingers crossed).

The views down to the confluence of Glen Falloch and Strathfillan were extensive. This felt like a big landscape. The path turned up Strathfillan through forest, although over the first part of this section it had been largely cut down. But then it plunged deep into a damp, mossy environment where it felt water was the predominant theme.

Finally it was time for me to turn off the West Highland Way to drop down onto the main road and walk along to the B&B. It was a relief to get there - after 2 nights camping it was good to have a shower and try to dry some of the gear - including the tent. Two more days of camping to follow and the forecast was for rain overnight on those days…