Walkhighlands

Hello everyone,

I'm planning a trip to do the Arrochar Alps route described in Dan Bailey's book Great Mountain Days in Scotland, taking two days to complete the route with wild camp on the hills somewhere. His route starts and finishes at the visitor centre in Inveruglas. I gather I can park overnight there, but I would actually need to leave the car for more than 24 hours - ie: Arrive stupid early on Day 1, walk day 1, camp, walk day 2, arrive back at car potentially 30-odd hours after I started.

I have checked the relevant websites and also contacted the National Park directly but for some reason haven't been able to get a definitive answer so I was hoping someone might know. So:

Can I pay for more than 24 hours?
Can I pay at the machines or do I need to book in advance?
How much?
Is there a better option elsewhere (bearing in mind I'm not local so "that little alleyway behind Dave's house" probably won't help )

Thanks,
Matt

The parking at Succoth is £9 per day and is run by Argyll & Bute Council, I don't believe you can pay for more than one day at a time. So you'd have to be back at your car before 9am the next again day before the meters kick in again, otherwise run the risk of a parking ticket.

You could contact the hotel and enquire about overnight parking for a small fee or to eat/drink there in return.

You can stay overnight at Inveruglas by buying a camping permit (£3) but I don't think that solves the problem of how to pay for the second day's parking.

Parking in Tarbet (by the station or by the visitor centre) or in Arrochar village (by the village hall) might be reasonable alternatives - you can walk along Glen Loin to get to Ben Vorlich, and descend off Narnain to Succoth.

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

I got a reply from the Loch Lomond NPA re parking at the visitor centre at Inveruglas:

"My only suggestion for you, is that you purchase two day tickets and put in the window of your car. It shouldn’t be a problem as long as they are displayed."

I think those two tickets will be fixed to my windscreen along with a print out of that email!

Nice to see them offering a practical solution!

Haven't been down to Arrochar since the 350% price increase in parking. I take it you can actually pay by card?

iain_atkinson_1986 wrote:Haven't been down to Arrochar since the 350% price increase in parking. I take it you can actually pay by card?

Yes. Contactless wasn't working last Friday (but you can swipe your card, might take a few goes). To add insult to injury, the machine just chucks your ticket on the ground for you....

There is a few parking spaces at Arrochar/Tarbet station. Note a local in one of the neighbouring houses takes it upon herself to pull up non rail users parking there. While there are no parking restrictions having had words with her twice if I was parking there I might print an additional copy of my ticket and leave it in my windscreen.

I think given the parking issues at Inveruglas it might be worth parking at Arrochar station. Train to Ardlui. Then do the Alps - Vorlich, Vane, Ime, Cobbler, Narnain and descend to Succoth and walk back to car.

iain_atkinson_1986 wrote:Haven't been down to Arrochar since the 350% price increase in parking. I take it you can actually pay by card?

You can pay by phone - for which there's an additional charge!

mattmacleod09 wrote:"My only suggestion for you, is that you purchase two day tickets and put in the window of your car. It shouldn’t be a problem as long as they are displayed."

I've seen that been done at Glenmore Lodge parking. I'd date one of the tickets with the future date so its obvious you've done that.