The day started off well. The morning view of Beinn Nairn and the Cobbler was just as spectacular as the evening view. It didn’t take me long to wake up once I’d gotten a couple of coffees in me. I didn’t want to miss out on taking in the amazing view.
That coffee got other things moving too. It might be crude but before I got into hiking I couldn’t go number two anywhere but home. First it was public toilets. Now I’m even quite content heading off into the woods with a trowel and some loo roll.
It didn’t take long to pack up camp. Even though I’d drank a lot of the water and ate a lot of the food my bag felt heavier. I do think that this was mostly due to the bloody axe I insist on carrying whilst I’m wild camping. At least I actually used it this time to split some wood!
So I headed back down the WHW in the opposite direction to everyone else I passed. One of the more populated little stone bays had a few of its guests swimming in the water.
Still a bright start to my day, so I got back to the car and switched my bag to my mountain day loadout. And headed off towards Ben Lomond.
Hiking up Ben Lomond
I took the Ptarmigan (I think the P might be silent like in pterodactyl). It is the opposite direction than most taking on the mountain that day.
There’s a couple of steeper sections on this route especially on the final ascent up to the summit but it offered some beautiful views and I may not head off for it this year but the Cobbler is a fantastic looking mountain which I think I’ll need to get added to my list.
Even though I had been a bit of a slog heading up the mountain my speed picked up a lot on the way down. I love running down a mountain though, lots of little steps on rocky section is maybe one of my favourite things. I can’t lie, but there is something I enjoy about passing people on the path and then watching them disappear from view when I look back.
Onto the next stop
Then it was off to Aberfoyle for a bit of a refuel, a burger, a hot dog, another burger and some chips coated in a layer of curry sauce. All that disappeared in no time and I felt pretty sleepy afterwards.
I headed off to find somewhere to stay the night but decide at least for one night to get a car camp in outside of the camping permit zone. It was a pretty good spot with a view of Ben Venue and Ben A’an although not much a of sunset unfortunately. Not that it mattered I was asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow!