Scottish Highlands Hike
Friday 24th July 2020
Plan for the day:
Train to Glasgow
Train to Ardliu
Hike to Beinglas Farm to stay the night
Dinner at The Drovers Inn
Trains
It was a very early start this morning with a 4am wake up call to make sure we got to Euston station for a 5.30am train to Glasgow. This was all Lew’s idea might I add. Its Friday and technically hes supposed to be at work but because of coronavirus he works from home anyways! So we decided he could work from a train couldn’t he? We planned this trip last minute when we were in Sicily as our good Kiwi friend Nick who lives in Lyon, France was hiking and we decided to join him for part of his journey.We must say thats its incredibly impressive that your able to do a weekend such as this with just trains. It makes the countryside so accessible! The train to Glasgow was a great 5 hours in which Lew said he was incredibly productive. It goes fast as the trains are rather pleasant and there is always life admin to do with the always expanding “to do list”. In fact its such a great time to be forced in your seat to do just that! We arrived into Glasgow just before 11am and thankfully found a nearby Pret for some food before we repacked, left a suitcase at the hotel where we were staying on our way back and headed back to the train station. Our packs were loaded up with everything we would need over the next three day and we had promptly removed our togs after feeling how cold it was up here! The train to Ardliu went right past Loch Lomond which was absolutely stunning and it almost felt like we were in NZ despite the heavy Scottish accent of the people around us. The sun was shinning and Lew sat and did another 1.5 hours of work to get the full 8 hours in for the day so we could knock off as soon as the train arrived.
Hiking to Beinglas Farm
We arrived into Ardliu and wow is it gorgeous! The only thing here was the hotel/pub and a camping ground and it was quite clear that this place was known for its watersports. They had a great line up of Super Air Nautique boats and we felt right at home. We soon discovered that Nick was on the other side of the lake but there was a ferry to take you across which was so short it would take less than 5 minutes. The way to actually call the ferry was the difficult part as it turn out you just need to stand close to the ‘Coral Anne’ and eventually someone popped out of the woodwork to take us across for £5 each. We would probably normally complain about such thing but seeing as its a small town that thrives on summer tourism we felt like we were helping them out a bit. After 5 minutes we could see a familiar face sitting on the bank of the lake waiting for us! We all declared it had been far too long since our last catch up and then set off to Beinglas farm where we were staying the night. The campsite is absolutely lovely with its own pub, cooking facilities and also some super cool wooden cabins! It was pretty basic inside with just a sleeping mat and you had to make your own pillow but it was great! We were all beyond starving at this point so we showered, unpacked and headed to dinner.
Dinner at Drovers Inn
This place is a short 5 minutes walk from the camp ground and is also a hotel and pub. We were able to sit outside as it was cold but still rather mild and they had a great menu! I naturally went straight to the fish n chips and the boys had a Mexican dish and a burger. Very good post hike meal thats for sure. We even met a fellow Kiwi from Dunedin there who had been living there since just before covid hit. Post dinner we snuggled in to our hut and were all in bed at 9pm! Iv never seen Lew out-cold so early. Must have been a combination of fresh air and an early morning start that hit him.
Saturday 25th July
Plan for the day:
Walk from Ardliu to Tyndrum
Fish n Chips at The Real Food Cafe
We all somehow managed to sleep in until 9am and were impressed by how good the thin tartan curtains were in this hut. We all showered and grabbed some snacks at the local mini mart before heading towards the trail. It was a simple breakfast with Lew and I having our greens, a fizz stick and a protein bar to get us going. Thank goodness for Arbonne. It had poured down overnight and we were super thankful that as we headed off the rain began to clear and even turned into sunshine at certain points. The rivers were swollen and the track was relatively easy for us to follow and wasn’t too damaged by the water. We stopped for lunch and snacked on the homemade carrot loaf, Mexican corn chips and pasta for lunch which always tastes far better in a remote place after some exercise. After getting off our feet for a short period of time it was much easier to get up and be motivated to finish off the day. We saw all sorts of animals including a caterpillar which appeared to have a tartan like appearance, sheep with cute black faces, a big black slug the size of my pinky finger and some friendly horses. The walk was a good 24km and our feet were certainly ready to be released from our hiking shoes! Always bring a pair of comfy shoes for the end of the day. Putting your hiking shoes on again is always super painful!
Tyndrum
Tyndrum is a small little town but did have a mini mart and also we heard that they have some amazing fish n chips! Tonight we were staying at By The Way Hostels & Campsite and we had a bunk room which reminded us a lot of school camp! It was all we needed and we even had sheets and a duvet to sleep in, pure luxury tonight. We all showered and put our feet up for a bit whilst Lew read us some of his book about the human body. We also got a wash of clothes on before we headed into town for dinner. The famous fish n chip shop - The Real Food Cafe is not something you will miss with its thousands of reviews and gatherings of people outside waiting for their orders. With the pandemic you are unable to sit inside so we sat outside as it begun to drizzle.
Sunday 26th July
Plan for the day:
Walk to Bridge of Orchy and beyond
Lunch at The Bridge of Orchy Hotel
Bus back to Glasgow
Stay the night in Glasgow
Today was yet another day on our feet which was supposed to be relatively quick. It was drizzly and miserable as we left the campsite. Nick has to stop and put on full water proof trousers but Lew and I just had our Patagonia rain jacket on which we have never regretted buying! The weather was that unbearable though that we stopped off at the local diner to grab some breakfast. The options really weren’t that great but Lew and I shared a falafel burger - a little much at 9am! The weather thankfully cleared up a bit and we made our way to Bridge of Orchy with a bit of fuel in our bellies and the rain easing into sunshine. The mountains were gorgeous and we were throughly enjoying being in nature and fresh air. The feet were certainly starting to feel a bit sore and the shoulders achy from carrying our bags. We made it to the Bridge of Orchy Hotel pretty quick and stopped for lunch. The boys got a burger and I of course went for the fish n chips, 3 days in a row! We decided to carry on with Nick further since we had 5 hours until our bus left and we didn’t fancy waiting for it at the hotel. We ended up walking 10km extra that day and sadly said goodbye to Nick who was carrying on to finish the West Highland Way. Scotland even in July (summer!) is freezing and by the evening even with our down jackets on we had to shelter inside the hotel again and grab a hot drink before catching the bus. It was incredible that you could be somewhere so remote and still catch a bus all the way back into the main city!
We arrived in Glasgow super late and there were no restaurants or places open to get food. We stayed at a horrific hotel called the Brunswick Hotel in the center of town. It was super unclean and we ended up sleeping in our sleeping bags - grateful that we had them. Our neighbours were smoking, drinking and partying till late and we had to call reception to sort them out.
Monday 27th July
Plan for the day:
Train back to London
It was an early morning start with a train just before 7am and we were thankful to get out of the hotel. We were also super pleased that a supermarket was open on the way to the station as we had a 6 hour train ride back to London with no food on board. We stocked up on all the snacks to get us through. Lew worked and I also did some Arbonne and wedding planning so the 6 hours went fast. We arrived in by lunchtime and Lew even went into the office in the afternoon! These sorts of trips leave us wondering why we don’t have a more extensive rail service in NZ. Overall Scotland was incredible and we really hope to spend some more time exploring the area and at some point making our way even more north to the Outer Hebrides and the Orkney Islands.