Loch Lomond etc - part II

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

and so to the second part of our weekend - and this time we were a bit more organised - we had a plan! We took the short drive north up the west side of Loch Lomond and parked at Tarbet, then waited for the 11:30 cruise across the loch to Inversnaid. This was a recommended route for walkers, called the West Highland Way Rambler II, which involved what they said was a 7.5 mile walk south to Rowardennan, where we would get picked up again and sail back to Tarbet. Here's Jo on arrival at Inversnaid:

Just a mile along the road we stopped at a little beach - Jo had to brush her hair - and we got invaded by midges!:

Further along, after a bit of a climb, there was a nice viewpoint:

We were a little surprised to come across these 3 wild mountain goats:

Time for lunch - and we found a lovely outlook, which even had a bench:

At the end of the walk, there's a strange modern sculpture:

Nice walk - and it stayed dry. All the stats etc on my hill-walking blog (http://bvhill-walkers.blogspot.com/).

On Monday, we took the short drive over to Helensburgh, where we thought we would use our National Trust passes and visit one of their properties - The Hill House - designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh - but it didn't open until 1:30 pm, so we just had a quick stroll round their gardens:

Apart from the big houses on the hill, Helensburgh didn't look all that impressive to us, for an area that is renowned as key commuter territory for the Glasgow professionals, so we left and drove up past Rhu and Faslane - and the peace camp there - up the eastern shore of Loch Long and back to Arrochar again. We had hoped to find a nice tearoom somewhere, but there was nothing to be seen. We stopped in Arrochar and probably should have gone back to the Village Inn, but we thought we should try somewhere else for tea and coffee, and we spotted Ben Arthur's Bothy, which had an outdoor, shoreside area for drinks etc. It was pretty grotty, but we sat there and admired the views of the Cobbler opposite:

Wrong angle to see it properly, I'm afraid.

Here's another panorama shot of the area:

Then it was back to Cameron House to have lunch with Barry and Helen, after which Jo and I used the superb spa once again:

So that was it.