Day 25: Crianlarich - Loch Lomond (opposite Island I Vow)

11.0 miles – Puffy clouds with sunshine in between, a sprinkling of showers

Crianlarich Station has a tea room, waiting room, and toilet. The tea room was full of customers, even though the next train was in three hours’ time; everything was clean, bright, and newly painted. The same was true of Bridge of Orchy Station, which I had passed the day before, only there the station building had been turned into a bunkhouse for walkers. Why can’t we do the same in Sussex? Surely some imaginative use could be found, for example, for the platform buildings at Bexhill Station!

My ankle was very much better but I was still feeling the drag of tiredness – that is until I reached Loch Lomond; I was stunned by the sheer beauty of the place, and especially by the ancient woodland which cloaks its eastern shore. It was very slow-going over boulders and tree-root steps, but worth every step of it.

My first glimpse of Loch lomond – from the north

The Way winds by the shore and over boulders and tree roots.

Sometimes the path is very steep; here the West Highland Way becomes a ladder!

A little after six I came upon a little beach opposite an island, whose name really is – Island I Vow (without a comma after ‘Island’, note). If you know how it got its name, please leave a comment. It was beautiful, there were no midges, and the air was dry. I sat on a boulder to drink tea and later whisky (lovely, peaty Ardbeg). This was the first camp I had enjoyed for its own sake and not just as a means of shelter.