Rowardenan to Inverarnan 14.5miles

Today's stage is described as arduous in the guidebook, and friends who have walked the WHW all say that it is the hardest stage, they were not wrong.

We had a good night's sleep in the lodge, it was good to have a lounge area to sit in and the view was great. It had rained on and off the night and we awoke to the sound of rain pounding on the roof and windows.

Dinner last night was in the clansman Bar just a few minutes walk away, and the food was ok but not great. The same went for breakfast, on a scale of one to ten it was a four, maybe a five. By the time we had breakfast and then finished our packing, the rain had turned to drizzle. It began to warm up as the sun came out and we had not gone far before we were taking our jackets off.

The walk was easy and pleasant and we soon arrived at the point where you cold continue along the Loch shore or take a less strenuous route. Chris and Meg sensibly took that route. Kathleen wanted to do the Loch shore route and I decided to go with her. Whilst the path was a lot more difficult, and to times quite difficult, overall we had a great hike following the shore of Loch Lomond. Nonetheless, we were both glad to arrive at the halfway point at the Inversnaid Hotel, Meg and Chris were already there, and just finishing lunch. We used the Hotel facilities and then ordered coffee and something to eat, it was good to get our backpacks off and have a seat and a hot coffee.

We had been told that the second half of the stage was more difficult but as we all set off together, it didn't seem too bad...it did not take long for that to change. The path became very rough, and uneven, it was more a scramble up over rocks or down over rocks. I don't think we took more than a few steps forward without having to climb up or down something. At times it was very unclear as to where the 'path' actually was. I am not sure how long that difficult part was, but I found myself way ahead of the others and arrived at the end of the Loch, where the path became much smoother and level. In my view, they should spend the money relaying a new path or diverting it somehow, there was not a single joyful step on that part, not one.

Leaving Loch Lomond behind the path entered woodland and then began to go steadily uphill, it soon turned into a stream as water flowed down on the easiest course - i.e. the path. Eventually, I reached the top only to find that the path continued unendingly with some steep ascents and descents then through more woodland to a final descent into a campsite. We were booked into the Drover's Inn, but it wasn't immediately clear where that was, but the staff in the campsite restaurant gave me clear directions. It was less than 10 min walk away, by this time I was very weary, the final stretch along Loch Lomond-side had taken its toll. I was glad to get tot he Inn and very glad to discover that we were staying in accommodation across the road and not the Inn itself, because it was a dump.

The owners make a big deal of the fact that it ahs been there for over 300 years, I get the point of taking pride in your history, but it looked like it had been there for over 300 years, and not n a good way.

I got into the room and dumped my stuff and then headed back out onto the trail to find the others and maybe take Chris' backpack for him. I suspected that he would have found that second half of the stage very difficult, and that turned out to be the case.

I had the keys so I we were able to go straight to our rooms, which were ok, the shower was not great, and the tray had a big crack in it, but i had showered in worse on the camino.

Dinner was not great, the food was terrible, and the table was sticky. I think we were all exhausted and glad to get to our rooms and get to bedもっと詳しく