Magic in the Mountains

May 4, 2024 (17.3 miles)

Rowardennan- Inverarnan

What a full day we have had! We started the morning early- we woke up at 5am and left camp around 5:45am in order to hike to breakfast. It rained overnight but our tent held up well and it had cleared by morning. When I woke up there were so many birds chirping, so much so that it was memorable.

Our morning walk followed along the loch and had several ups and downs. The biggest hill was right out of the gate which sucked but even then it was maybe a couple hundred feet and was over in a matter of minutes. When we weren’t by the loch we walked through birch forest covered in moss, it was beautiful and peaceful, especially first thing in the morning.

Our morning got significantly worse when we got to the Rowardennan Hotel for breakfast… their website said non residents were welcome to join them for breakfast between 7am-9am, so we got there right at 7am. FarOut and other Youtube videos had said they had trouble getting breakfast here, and that was our experience as well. The receptionist said breakfast was only for people staying there, but when I told her what the website said she changed her tune and said non residents could make reservations for breakfast after 9am but she wouldn’t let us make a reservation. After I threw a little fit she decided to let us go back to the restaurant to see if they could make room for us. Thankfully the restaurant staff were nicer and let us help ourselves to the breakfast buffet. It was a stressful start to the day but we at least were fed and on our way.

This was our biggest day on trail (17m) so it was nice to have an early start. We passed a fully stocked honor box that would have been a good stop had we missed breakfast. The trail followed an old road bed and was easy walking, we saw lots of other “walkers” out and about. There was a fork to either take the high route (easier) or low route and we chose the low route. I was so glad we did! There were so many waterfalls and beautiful loch views and cool rocks.

It was a smooth three miles on the low route before we made our way to the Inversnaid Hotel for lunch. The hotel was beautiful with a waterfall right out front and stunning loch views. They had a great side room for walkers and we got drinks, soup, and sandwiches before pressing on for the rest of our day. I had heard this stretch was the hardest on trail because of how “technical” it is, but Cade and I felt right at home on the rocks and roots. We passed so many people who commented on how fast we were- Cade’s response was always just that we’ve had a lot of practice. There are a lot of fast walkers out here, but not many fast hikers.

I had a lot of fun traversing the loch shoreline and hiking over the “slippery” rocks covered in moss. It was overcast and cool most of the day, but it felt very appropriate for Scotland’s “moody” weather. We finally hiked away from the loch and up into the hills. The mountains here look so big, rocky, and barren. We got incredible views on the descent into Beingals Campsite, which is huge and lovely. There’s tent campers, car campers, and a fantastic restaurant. We got dinner (Cade got fish and chips and I got bangers and mash, we split a fired Mars Bar) and chatted with a lady named Ellie over drinks before playing Catan and going to bed. Excited for tomorrow!