Rowardennan to Inverarnan (21.6km)
It wasn’t until we woke up in the morning that we realised what a stunning location we’d camped in!
It started raining heavily again and the hostel does a ‘continental breakfast’ – which turned out to be an amazing array of croissants, breads, fruit, yoghurt, juice, tea, coffee, etc so it seemed only sensible to partake in that, and wait out the rain a while in the warm.
Rowardennan Lodge is grand building, that was built as a hunting lodge in the mid C19th, but converted into an SYHA in the 1960s. It has sweeping lawns and its own jetty – you can arrive by Waterbus! It’s heartening to see this former hunting lodge now filled with walkers.
The rain stopped and it was time to leave the cosy lounge, pack our bags, and get on our way.
Rowardennan Lodge even has its own special path onto the West Highland Way.
Something really nice about the West Highland Way is that lots of houses and businesses along the way have treats and supplies outside with honesty boxes. This was a lovely one at Ben Lomond Cottage with homemade cakes. Also love the mural on the gates!
A lot of people say that the Rowardennan to Inverarnan section of the walk is the toughest, and we started to see why. It’s a bit like an obstacle course with lots of things to navigate along the path – such as streams…
…rocks and tree roots…
…steep steps and narrow bridges…
…which all make it slow going but it’s also breathtakingly beautiful. We passed lots of miniature waterfalls…
…and mountain views… (you can see the iconic ‘Cobbler’ along this section)
We entered a plantation with eerie, moss-covered ruins.
This path through the trees leads to Rowchoish Bothy, which you can just glimpse at the end on the right.
But we carried on straight ahead on a very clear track that runs parallel to the loch shore.
Around Cailness we bumped into one of the hikers who we’d last seen on the beach at Sallochy. He was really struggling with the terrain and the heat, and had run out of water. We had plenty to spare, so filled up his flask and reassured him it wasn’t far to the Inversnaid Hotel.
Between Cailness and Inversnaid we passed through Craigrostan Woods which is a SSSI (site of special scientific interest) and a rare fragment of ancient Atlantic oak woods.
We turned a corner and suddenly Inversnaid came into view!
I had to stop on the bridge to do my customary recital of Inversnaid by Gerard Manley Hopkins – one of my dad’s favourite poems.
Inversnaid By Gerard Manley Hopkins This darksome burn, horseback brown, His rollrock highroad roaring down, In coop and in comb the fleece of his foam Flutes and low to the lake falls home. A windpuff-bonnet of fáwn-fróth Turns and twindles over the broth Of a pool so pitchblack, féll-frówning, It rounds and rounds Despair to drowning. Degged with dew, dappled with dew Are the groins of the braes that the brook treads through, Wiry heathpacks, flitches of fern, And the beadbonny ash that sits over the burn. What would the world be, once bereft Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left, O let them be left, wildness and wet; Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.
We bumped into our friend from earlier again outside the Inversnaid Hotel, as well as several others whom we’d met along the way. The hotel wasn’t doing food – much to the disappointment of a lot of the walkers. Only cakes and drinks as they are suffering from staff shortages.
A few of the walkers, including our pal, felt they couldn’t continue in the muggy heat and rough terrain and decided to wait for the boat at Inversnaid, and get a bus up to the campsite at Beinglas Farm. So we said goodbye and hopefully see you later, and left them at the jetty.
One of the things people were struggling with was heavy packs. Some were carrying three days of food supplies. There is absolutely no need to do this on the West Highland Way – not a day will go by when you can’t resupply*. In fact depending on budget constraints you could eat out for almost every meal.
There is an RSPB reserve at Inversnaid and we saw some pied flycatchers and heard wood warblers. You can get here on the boat and there are nature trails, so it’s well worth visiting in its own right. You might even see peregrines, ospreys and golden eagles.
After Inversnaid we passed a corrugated iron boathouse. I always find these kind of places intriguing – who owns it? Is it still used? Above the boathouse are the ruins of an old settlement called Cladachbeag which you can reach via a steep path. But we continued along the West Highland Way.
Rob Roy’s Cave is marked by an exciting looking ‘tourist feature’ star on the OS map and you can scramble down to it but there’s not much to see, so we continued on our way. The path is very steep and rocky here and you need to clamber over the boulders.
After the cave the path climbs up, before coming out in a small clearing with very sweet and unexpected oak leaf and acorn themed seats. From here we enjoyed great views across the loch above the tree canopy.
The woodland along this section in Pollochro Woods is ancient coppice which I think was used for charcoal and leather tanning.
We crossed a footbridge and followed the path right along the loch shore, with some interesting-shaped trees clinging onto the edge.
I found myself caught between a rock and a gnarled tree…
We came across a ruined croft right by the path.
And then we got views of Island I Vow. The island was a stronghold of Clan MacFarlane, and there are the remains of their castle on it, which was built to replace the one on Inveruglas Isle (south of here opposite Inversnaid).
There are some wonderful sandy beaches along this section.
We were excited to catch a glimpse of a train speeding along the West Highland Line on the western side of the loch. We’d looked out the train window at the view of where we were so many times, and said we’d like to be there one day, and now we were!
Around here we crossed from Stirling council into Argyll and Bute. The path is rough going with rocks and tree roots underfoot, and more coppice and ancient woodland.
We crossed a footbridge that led to…
Water cascaded down the rock above the bridge, and into the loch below.
After another short rocky-tree-rooty section descending from the bridge…
The going suddenly got a lot easier nearing the head of the loch, with open sandy beaches, and clear paths across open ground – leading to Doune.
At Doune there is an abandoned farmhouse surrounded by razor wire and ‘danger’ ‘no trespassing signs’ claiming there is Cctv there.
And next to it there is an MBA bothy called Doune Byre. Ian poked his head around the door to have a look, and someone was already cosily ensconced in there for the night.
We came across this sign about the ferry at Ardleish. It goes to Ardlui where there is a small holiday park and bus stop. It says, “Enjoy a well earned rest along the Way! Hoist the ball to call ferry.” And someone must have done because the 19:10 had just left – exactly on time!
There are more cottage ruins at Ardleish. After that the path climbs steeply, giving us our last views of Loch Lomond. We bid her a fond farewell – it felt like leaving an old friend after spending all this time along her bonnie banks.
Just east of Cnap Mòr there is a memorial to Dario Melaragni, who was a director of the West Highland Way Race – one of the world’s longest established ultra marathons.
The current race record holder is Rob Sinclair with a time of 13 hours, 41 minutes and 8 seconds! We were planning to take 8 days!
We had about 3km more to walk before reaching Inverarnan. Firstly across open ground east of Cnap Mòr, with views of the mountains to the north (if you’re into place names, in Gaelic ‘Cnap’ is a lump or knob, and ‘Mòr’ is great). Then down through woodland to the River Falloch.
We finally reached the footbridge across Ben Glas Burn which leads to Beinglas Farm campsite – a sight for sore eyes!
Our pals who’d got the ferry from Inversnaid were already there in the beer garden of the excellent campsite pub. When they’d reached the other side of the loch there wasn’t a bus for ages but they’d hitched a ride. So we joined them for a pint of course!
*Sadly since we did the West Highland Way Beinglas Farm Campsite has closed after 25 years, as the land owner did not renew their lease. You can read their statement about this on the website. The nearest place to the route to get food and accommodation in Inverarnan is now the Drovers Inn – but it doesn’t have camping. As the excellent shop at Beinglas is now closed, this does make it a long way between supply stops on that section. After Balmaha Village Shop, the next food shops are now not until Tyndrum (unless you detour to Crianlarich). In between that, there are basic supplies at some of the loch shore campsites, and Rowardennan Lodge sells snacks, instant noodles, and drinks at reception .