Day 15 – Mountgreenan to Ardleish
Actual distance 18.38Km or 11.42 miles (or 123 nuclear submarines)
Total Ascent 543m (or 5.66 Big Ben’s)
Staying with Scout Adventures Lochgoilhead
This morning we woke to blue skies and a pleasant 17 degrees. We were able to get out on the road fairly early, meaning we arrived back at our starting point for the day by about 10:30.
We set off through the woods passed areas that were undergoing a lot of logging and forestry care. There were copious signs warning us not to stay from the path for fear of death! Within the first 4km of the day we had completed the biggest climb of the day, and from them onwards the path was pleasant and fairly easy going.
Just after lunch we met up with a family from home, who have a Cub and a Scout in our Group. They were passing through on their way to Fort William and took a break in their journey to walk with us for a while. The path took us under the shortest railway bridge which even Ollie had to crouch to get through. It was so lovely to see familiar faces from home and for the kids to catch up with friends. A massive thank you for our gluten free treats and for the bubbles for the kids too.. a really lovely extra surprise. Good luck with your climb of Ben Nevis!
We said our goodbyes and continued along the path towards the Falls of Falloch. As the falls had a car park and were adjacent to the West Highlands Way we had naively assumed there would be a path from the road that joined with the West Highlands Way. As we passed it became clear that this wasn’t the case. Dan had come to meet us at the falls and had to wade across the river to reach us!
The sun was blazing and the kids were all starting to wilt as we continued, so we stopped at the Beinglas Campsite for a break and a drink before pressing on to complete the last 4km of the day. This last part of the path was very different and not particularly pleasant, with narrow, winding stepping stones and lots of overgrown bracken obscuring the track.
We finished the day by raising the buoy up the flag pole at Ardleish to signal to the shuttle ferry boat that there were passengers waiting to travel back to the west side of the loch. As we sat and waited on jetty the rain started to lightly fall for the first time all day which was actually quite pleasant.
Back at Lochgoilhead we started to pack up ready for our departure tomorrow, then went down to the Loch side to explore and see if we could spot any Loch monsters! After dinner we went to join the fantastic volunteers who are running ScotJam for a campfire. Ollie interviewed Nicky (Scotland Commissioner for Cubs) about ScotJam (available here), we all got lots of cuddles with Bonnie (a beautiful Golden Retriever), Ollie was taught how to use a bow saw and we of course toasted some s’mores. A massive thank you to the whole team for making us feel so incredibly welcome and for your amazing hospitality.
