2nd Annual Burds Day Out - B of O to Kingshouse

[GillC]

Annual girls day out on the WHW (just a bit)

A group of us girls walked the Rowardennan to Inverarnan stretch of the WHW last year on a wet, wet, wet day in May. This years outing was planned for July with high hopes of shorts, t-shirts, sunnies and sun cream. Keeping an eye on the forecast last week,,it was looking more like thunder, lightning, rain showers and midgies. Well, 1 out of 4 aint bad lol

We’d lost one of our original 7, wild horses wouldn’t get Jackie back out there hehe and with a mix of walkers, runners and non walkers we decided to treat this as a stroll.
Our main reason for doing this, is the hoolie at the end, in the Clachaig!

Group pic , Me, Margaret, Sharon, Kim, Liz and Kerry, good to go

2 cars leaving with various pickups, idea was to be at Bridge of Orchy before 9am, 2 cars/drivers off to Kingshouse to leave 1 and return to B of O for the off before 10am. All to plan so far, sun shining , suncream on, hats, sunnies, (no shorts yet) tick tweezers at the ready, midge nets at hand and off we went at 9:40am. Glorious.

For the off

The first stretch of the walk after the bridge, cuts off the road and up through the trees, rising steadily on a good path. The previous few weeks had been fraught with talk of midgies, ticks, Tiso have sold out of tick tweezers and nets and body armour was on order. This lead to much joking about STICK TO THE ROAD, STAY OFF THE MOORS! Lol

The looooooooong winding road

Liz forged a path ahead,,the rest of us sauntered along behind, all meeting up at various points. We passed 2 gents coming in the opposite direction and Kerry deftly stepped up to her “word challenge” where you nominate someone and give them a word to casually drop into a conversation with a passing stranger, and she managed to get “shampoo” into a brief conversation with them. (the next challenge to Sharon to use “care in the community” didn’t work, heck,,Ive seen us in action,,wouldn’t have been hard lol)

Achaladair looking magnificent

Clearing the trees, the track now leads round the lower slopes of Ben Inverveigh with Loch Tulla ahead and to the East, the mighty Wall of Rannoch behind in full sun and the Inveroran Hotel below us. We met a group of walkers here, heading in the opposite direction, off to climb “a hill” . I commented to Liz that if we had stuck to the road at the Bridge of O, we would have come along the road below, (don’t think she was too happy that we could have cut out all the up hill stuff lol

Kim and Kerry looking at a tree,,or is it Liz!

Passing the Inveroran, Kerrys thoughts of using the loo were dashed by the “no public toilets” sign up on the front door. Scottish hospitality at its best. Continued on by the wee cottages up the road, poor bloke there didn’t know what had hit him, 6 cackling females shouting up and down the track lol

Gies a wave!

Passing the Inveroran Hotel,

Smilers

As the track turns North, the Munros to the West stood proudly over looking Victoria Bridge and the Tulla beyond. Weather holding on and clouds staying high. Liz and Kerry were a little way ahead at the junction of the Victoria Bridge car park and signalled for which way to go, with a wave of my right arm, off the went towards the Forest Lodge. Then lodge appears to be uninhabited and a little eerie. Passed on by the turn to the Victoria Bridge, passed the lodge and on to the gate leading to the Parliamentary Road, a remnant of the early 19th Century improvements overseen by Thomas Telford in developing greater communications and infrastructure in the Highlands (including the Caledonian Canal) there endeth the lesson lol

The road surface is pretty much the original one and is made up of smallish rocks and pebbles, requiring a fair bit of concentration on the whole but thankfully there was a single file smoother section running up the right hand side for most of this so we got a break from the nobbly stuff.

Blister moment

The Great Wall of Rannoch

Liz, gone round the bend, waiting for the wanderers

Progress was good, we occasionally walked as a group but more often, groups of 2 would form and chat, changing dynamics as we went. One stop for a blister hot spot (Kim) and we wandered on again. Considering a lunch stop around 12:30pm, which would be about half way, we checked the map and opted for somewhere leading up to Ba Bridge. Took a brief stop at another bridge to ahem “admire the view” we kept moving for a bit.

6 wee craws, sat upon a wa'

Time for a Brucie Bonus Liz?

Ba’ Bridge itself, over possibly the Allt Doire Mhic Liamh (?) has no walls, so a little before that, we moved off the road to the right, found a well placed log and got out the munchies. It had started to rain a short time before here, not heavy but big drops so jackets and waterproofs were on as we scoffed sarnies, Kims delicious choc fudge brownies, lovingly individually wrapped for each of us, Liz’s sweets, Kims mini sausage rolls (that girl can come back anytime!!)

Fluffy clouds

oooooonnnnn and oooooonnnnn

1 walker, looked like a wild camper, passed us here and we could see 2 figures away off in the distance as the path rose past the ruined Ba Cottage on the West. The incline looks quite steep and as some of our crew were not used to distances etc like this, could have been a bit daunting. We just chipped away, stopped to admire the views, have a chat, take pictures etc and with Liz’s red shirt disappearing over the horizon, I assured Kim that from there,,we were on a downhill stretch to the end for a couple of miles.

Tiny people under a wonderful sweeping vista

Everyone was doing well,, as soon as we had left the lunchspot, the rain stopped so jackets were off again pretty quickly and the sun had some real heat in it now. I reached the top of the track to find Liz sitting on a boulder. Took some pics and under my breath thought “oh god” there was another hillside off in the distance with a track round it ..had I miscalculated? Was THAT still our path so far off? Thankfully a quick survey and spotted the road below and followed this round to the trees around the Kingshouse. Let everyone regroup here and knowing it was all downhill from here, spirits buoyed and off we went.

The big Bookil comes into view as we start our descent to the Kingshouse, seatbelts fastened and trays in the upright position....

No words needed

The Big Bookil comes into view here and looked glorious in full sun. The track is a little rockier underfoot but again, always an option to skip to the side a bit and let you enjoy the views a bit more. From memory of doing the WHW a few years ago, this section seemed to take longer than you would have thought, but not today. We were down the track and under the ski centre in no time. Passed Blackrock Cottage and off out the road to the A82. Smashing view points for the hills around behind the flagpoles and all set against the bluest sky.

Jazz hands, a pointy head and an alien lifeform

Sunny blue skies and a few hundred yards to go,,,missing 2 of the team

,,,oh there they are!

Reaching the Kingshouse, the deer were pottering around the front, very tame and happy to nibble away on the grass as we and others drifted around taking their picture. Into the bar, cold beer and a seat in the sun. Bliss

Kingshouse and a nice cold beer

More beer at the Clachaig on arrival, coffee for the non drinkers and more of Kims cakes lol

Coffee and Kims cakes,,,smashing

This was a fab day out, weather was great, company welllllllllll,,,only kidding ladies! They all did well listening to my many tales of climbing "that hill" oh and "that one" and the day I did "that other one" I'm sure there were many occasions of feigned neck wringing going on behind my back lol

The car shuttle service to the Clachaig, Liz and Kerry doubling up in a room there with the rest of us bunking at the SYH. The latter 4 got an extra walk when Margarets car didn’t start at the Clachaig so we grabbed our bags and walked the mile to the SYH,,1.5hr turnaround for 4 girls to get showered, changed etc and back to the Clachaig for dinner, record time. (and added about 3km to our days walking lol)

Dinner, followed by Kinky Karma and much dancing on chairs (thankfully, at time of writing, nothing has appeared on YouTube) No ticks, a few midgie bites and a bit of sun burn and ONE GOOD TIME!!! Thanks to Mags and Kerry for providing the wheels and to Mags for organizing the accommodation.

Party at the Clachaig, Margaret, Kim, Liz, Me, Sharon and Kerry, clockwise from 9pm lol

[SAVAGEALICE]

What a lovely report and smashing photies too. Sounds and looks like a great day with a lot of laughs love the idea of the 'word challenge'! Brill stuff girlies. well done all

[GillC]

What a lovely report and smashing photies too. Sounds and looks like a great day with a lot of laughs love the idea of the 'word challenge'! Brill stuff girlies. well done all

Cheers Alice,,always a hoot with this lot,,whatever the weather lol

[Munchie]

Grand, grand day oot and the sun I had pre-ordered was out in force, Yay ;o). Lovely colourful, happy photos Gilly ..... well done us! And as for the Clachaig ... hope they allow us back

[GillC]

Grand, grand day oot and the sun I had pre-ordered was out in force, Yay ;o). Lovely colourful, happy photos Gilly ..... well done us! And as for the Clachaig ... hope they allow us back

Twas indeed mrs, thanks again for the driving, the organisation and the entertainment in Callander on the way home,,total FARCE that it was lol