free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
Hello everyone!
We recently completed The Great Trossachs Path over two days, with a wild camp along Loch Katrine. We made a video of the whole trip, the first part of which acompanies this written report below.
Saturday 12th June 2021We started off our adventure with a ferry from Tarbet to Inversnaid, arriving at about 10:30. We had spectacular weather (not only here but the entire first day, and most of the second!) and the crossing was extremely peaceful. A great way to start the day!
After arriving in Inversnaid, we made our way up the hill - the only real climb of the whole trail! Passing the beautiful waterfalls, as water from river Arklet made its way into Loch Lomond. We were met by some great views of Loch Lomond at the top.
From there, we made our way past the Inversnaid Bunkhouse and onwards to get our first view of Loch Arklet. This part of the trail was easy walking, a gravelled path which undulated up and down somewhat as it followed the shore of the Loch.
It wasn't long before we got to the end of Loch Arklet, and recieved our first views of the next loch, Loch Katrine. We would be following her shores for the remainder of the day.
We had been making fairly slow progress at the start of the day (due to filming - we are new at it!) so we decided to stop for lunch near Stronachlachar at around 13:00. It was a gorgeous spot to stop for lunch, and we found a bench with a view across Loch Katrine.
The next section was a very long stretch of road walking, which followed a private road around Loch Katrine. It was beautiful native woodland scenery, but the tarmac eventually took its toll on our feet!
We next came across an ancient MacGregor burial site, a peninsula reaching out into the Loch, opposite a wooded island. A very picturesque area indeed.
Further along the trail we came across a point where the cycle path diverged from the road, so we decided to follow it and get some respite from the tarmac. This path was a small dirt track, hugging the water of Loch Katrine, only a few meters away. The sound of the lapping water and birds singing was a highlight of this trail.
After some more road walking (in the beautiful evening sun, mind you) we eventually made it to our planned wild camping spot - Brenachoile Point.
This was the perfect spot to camp, and we had just enough of a breeze to keep the midges away! We pitched our newly acquired Lanshan 2 Pro tent, cooked some food on our Trangia and looked out over the water as the sun started to set. We went to bed without any real aches or pains, ready for the second part of the trail and whatever else day 2 had in store!
Part 2 coming soon!
