Scotland
October 3-19, 2025
| Glasgow-start | Glasgow 2 | WHW-Tuesday | WHW-Wednesday | WHW-Thursday | WHW-Friday |
| WHW-Saturday | WHW-Sunday | WHW-Monday | WHW-Tuesday | Fort William | Edinburgh |
Thursday – Rowardennan to Inverarnan
14 miles / 22 km
The Rowardennan Hotel was proof that it was no fluke that the “hot water” option in the shower was scalding. Every place that we’d stayed in had the same “you could boil a lobster in the tub” temperature. It made for a very cautious and potentially dangerous shower time.
A promising morning sky
I slept well. It is amazing what fresh air and exercise can do for one’s sleep! But we were still up and ready in time for our 8 am breakfast and putting our bags in the bag drop room. The accommodations along the WHW really have this whole luggage transfer business sorted out, with external rooms dedicated to the quick pick up and drop off of bags on a daily basis.
Our hotel was in the shadow of Ben Lomond, a popular Munroe (a Scottish mountain that is over 3,000 feet), and we saw a few people who weren’t WHW trekkers, but preparing to walk to the top of Ben Lomond. We also saw some of our fellow WHW people, although today was a lot more “solo hiking” than before.
An “honesty” shop near the start of the trail, which also benefited from the proximity to Ben Lomond
Today would be another long day: 22 kilometers, following the shores of Loch Lomond. That actually sounded really nice and relaxing. I pictured a relatively flat trail skirting the lake for most of it – and I couldn’t have been more wrong.
An easy start to the day
There were some tough parts
Dan left Petra and I almost immediately, and it was just as well: the two of us were very content to take our time on these trails. It was easily the most technical trail that I’d been on in a long time.
Another hiker ahead of us, demonstrating the (minor but constant) elevation changes along today’s route
While we didn’t see many other hikers, we did see a couple of rangers that were checking the trail conditions. And they had a lot of check: the previous Storm Amy had knocked over a lot of trees along the route and eroded the trail in some places. It was possible to walk around, over, or even through the downed trees, but a chainsaw would definitely be needed in the coming days.
Oh yeah, and more trees
Our tour company had provided a list of “interesting sights along the way” and Rob Roy’s Cave was marked as being nearby. I misunderstood the notes and thought that the silly little “dry space under a rock” was the cave. Only later that evening, when I did some post-walk research, did I realize that the real cave was a few kilometers off of the main trail. Even if I had known that ahead of time, there was no way that I was going to extend today’s hike by that much, just to see a hole in a wall.
This is NOT Rob Roy’s Cave
A trail for the sure-footed
The trail kept all of my attention due to the uneven footing, rocky footholds, and narrow paths. The last kilometers were much easier, leaving the loch’s shores and climbing a low hill where foot placement became easy and almost careless.
A tree growing inside an old building’s walls
It was another epic weather day. So epic, in fact, that I ended up taking off my layers until I was down to a t-shirt. I never expected this in Scotland in October, but I wasn’t going to complain one bit!
Lovely, perfect weather and scenery
Along the route are infrequent “bothies” – a place where one can shelter either in an emergency, or just to get out of the weather. This is one such place. It was very simple, but it would be a welcome place to hunker down in if the rains were pounding down outside!
Looking down towards the lake, with an abandoned farm in the trees
The final approach to our evening’s accommodation was was through a thin forest, providing peek-a-boo views of the Beinglas B&B. But it wasn’t your typical “B&B”, but instead offered a wide variety of overnight possibilities: camping, van parking, small cabins, and I think even a hostel with bunks. But best of all there was a restaurant on site. This was good, since the B&B was in a very isolated location with no other options in the area.
We enjoyed a tasty dinner in the restaurant, including haggis fritters as an appetizer before my burger. Sadly, the burger wasn’t as good as I was hoping it would be, but it was still appreciated!
The room we were in was large and comfortable and I was prepared to sleep like a baby. The day’s walk had really taken it out of me and I was hoping that the days to come would not be as difficult.
