Drymen to Rowardennan
15 miles
2204 ft of elevation
Breakfast started at 8am in The Drymen Inn, which we did good to make, even though we’d been drinking coffee in our room since 6:30am. It was just that we found it difficult to move from our beds.
But it wasn’t raining when we woke up and our boots and many other wet things spread out all over our hotel room seemed to have mostly dried overnight. So things were looking up for Day 2.
I opted for poached eggs on toast over the full Scottish breakfast. Plus tea.
Our host at the Drymen Inn was delightful and so excited we were from the south. She and her mother made a pilgrimage of their own to Tennessee to visit Dollywood and The Grand Ole Opry. She’s got the cowboy boots to prove it. I’m sorry we’re going to miss the weekly karaoke night at the Drymen where we hear Dolly Parton songs make a strong showing.
At 9am we finally said goodbye to Drymen and headed back to the trail. I think we walked for ten whole minutes before it started raining. But still we didn’t START the day in the rain, so that’s something. And the rain was just a mist.
But it meant stopping and getting out jackets and rain covers because in our optimism we hadn’t walked out in rain gear.
The first half of the day involves a long climb up Conic Hill, the top of which was covered in clouds, as soon were we.
We hear the views from the top are lovely but we’ll have to trust the guidebook on that one because we didn’t see them ourselves.
For the second half of Day 2 (and most of Day 3), we would walk along Loch Lomond, the biggest loch in Scotland. It’s also kind of the boundary between the Lowlands and the Highlands in Scotland.
We glimpsed our first prekabooj views of Loch Lomond on the way down as we came out of the clouds.
The highlight of the morning was probably the gorgeous wood we walked through on the descent from Conic Hill into the little loch side village of Balhara.
A close second were the Chai Lattes at St Mocha’s Cafe when we arrived in Balhara.
It was supposed to rain harder in the afternoon so we didn’t do a long lunch stop like the day before. A quick bite and we were on our way.
Miles to go yet, hobbits.
7.5 miles to be exact.
And still a few shorter hills to climb.
The path between Balhara and Rowardennan runs along Loch Lomond but it doesn’t just stay level with the water. It winds up into the trees and then back down along the shore of the loch, and then again into the trees and down again and repeat and repeat.
There was a pub on the water about a half mile from the hostel where we were staying, so I said maybe we could stop there for a drink before the last half mile. A little pick me up.
Looking forward to that drink got us through those last three miles. It rained on and off all afternoon.
When we reached the pub and sat down, we weren’t sure we’d made the right choice.
Were we going to be able to stand up and get moving again?
Miraculously we did.
And even more miraculously the rain had stopped and the sun was shining over Loch Lomond and Rowardennan Youth Hostel, which used to be a Victorian hunting lodge.
It was our first hostel night. The three of us had our own 6 bunk room (no top bunks for us).
There were shared bathrooms and showers and a dining room where we put our dinner order in upon arrival. We went for burgers. Mine was black bean and it was amazing. I’m not sure that it actually was good but it was the best of my life. Same for the shower.
After dinner I went into the lounge to study my guidebook and ended up talking for a while to a sweet gal from Germany that we met yesterday on the trail. She is solo camping as she walks so she has to carry all her gear. She was set up in one of the hostel pitches outside so she could use the showers and kitchen inside which is such a lovely arrangement.
We were both appreciating being clean and dry. When I left the lounge there were lots of folks playing cards or sitting and reading, getting ready for tomorrow like me.
Snug as a bug in my (warm and dry) bottom bunk, I’m ready to sleep and do it all again tomorrow.
Man, do I love trail life.