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Alan and I fancied another bothy night so we picked Doune Bothy on the West Highland Way near the top end of Loch Lomond. As I'd just invested in a £40 Lidl inflatable dinghy we had the idea to paddle across Loch Lomond and reach the bothy that way. I've walked into it twice for an overnight stay decades ago but it's a fair distance to walk in with a heavy pack. This seemed a much easier option provided we didn't sink. Deepest park of the loch lies at this end.
Obviously I picked a calm windless day to paddle across. It claims to hold three people but even with two adults and two large rucksacks it was pretty full and sat low in the water.
We did manage to reach the other side though after a 20 minute paddle. Loads of junk awaited us from an abandoned cottage near the bothy.
And we had to get over a razor wire fence... but apart from that it was easy. We found out later, on the return, you could avoid this by walking around the edge of it.
Luckily we were first in as towards evening it soon filled up with folk doing the West Highland Way. I was surprised how many back- packers were doing this walk... at a guess around 200 people passed the door of the bothy and a steady stream of walkers from all over the world appeared then carried on-wards. Luckily only 8 or 9 fancied an overnight stay here.
Quite a basic, spartan, bothy inside and well used I'd imagine but at least this time it had seats and plenty of wooden sleeping platforms so held around ten folk lying down. Midges and biting horse flies were in abundance outside and as usual I was chewed to bits when I got back to the house.
I had a walk along the path in the evening while Alan started a fire.
Some of the surrounding mountains.
With mist burning off.
This looks like life on a different planet. A bee on a flower in close up detail.
Same here.
Found a frog at a puddle.
West Highland Way path.Loch Lomondside.
Yellow Poppy.
And the next day we paddled back again.
9 comments:
Hmmm - I'd fancy the boat trip but not sure I'd want to go to a really busy bothy. And I really couldn't cope with the biting insects - I hate horseflies with a vengeance. Which reminds me - I must wear socks when I go horseriding next Tuesday!
Delightful wee FROG, Bob! What species?
Is there nothing in the world that will keep the midgies and horseflies off you?
That sounds to me like … not a lot of fun!
Hi Carol, no sign of horses or cattle on Loch Lomondside so they must feed on walkers on the W.H.W. Noticed quite a few ruins along the road up Loch Lomond that used to be business places that did not survive the lock downs and lack of customers.
Hi CoyoteKiva, Common frog I'm guessing. I have an old bottle of jungle formula but I forgot it. Skin so soft works as well but nothing is 100 percent and you still get bitten just not as much. They have found that some people get bitten more than others and I'm one.
Hi Anabel. It actually was a good night and a good trip. With the cost of living recently any way we can save money yet still have a good time is a bonus as I am quite frugal through necessity and a good saver yet the last couple of years everything is double, especially if you have a car. I'm thankful I don't have a family as keeping kids fed these days must be brutal. Every time I go shopping for one, even in the discount stores, it's £20 to £30 every time.
I bought an Ayurvedic lotion - herbal stuff - when we were in Sri Lanka, and it is the only thing that I have ever used that has stopped the midges going for me. They completely leave my husband alone, and I do wonder why?
At first I thought you were going to say that your Lidl dinghy collapsed on the way over, but Lidl products are usually trustworthy.
Time was when you could have had the bothy to yourselves and rest assured that it would stay that way. However, people appear to be everywhere these days even if you are in a very remote spot.
Hi Rosemary, It's never really a problem in the Central Belt, only in the Scottish Highlands so it's very rare I get bitten by midges except in the Highlands. They did a TV experiment and the midge do tend to leave some people alone while others get swamped with them. ( this was with no repellent just bare arms and legs. Each person has a different chemical smell apparently to a female midge.)
Over 30 years ago I bought my first inflatable Lidl dinghy to go exploring Scottish islands and wrote about it in my book Autohighography so I know they are good.
We already knew the two Loch Lomond bothies would be popular, especially in summer. Actress Scarlett Johansson visited the other one when she was filming 'Under The Skin.'
You had me at "Loch Lomond". How I want to see it! Just wondering, do you wear life jackets on that little dinghy? Please say you do!
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