Rain Rain Go Away

We start this blog with a day spent totally at the campsite.  We did leave the campervan to walk across to the shower block and to collect some more freshwater, but we never walked outside the gates.  We spent the day playing scrabble, preparing emails, reading and watching two episodes of Downton Abbey.  All day the radio was announcing road closures due to flooding, towns where homes had been evacuated and advising people not to travel unless necessary; so we didn’t.

And we made up for it the next day by driving about 150 miles (240kms) from Troutbeck to Balmaha on the banks of Loch Lomond in Scotland.  The sun was trying to shine between the rain showers, so we drove south to Ullswater and then followed the banks of the lake up to Penrith, where we left England’s Lake District.

 

We drove north up the M6, the M74 and M8 past some places with wonderful names; Unthank, Cumwhinton, Ecclefechan, Nethercleuch, Dinwoodie, Moffat, Uddington, Spital, Polockshields and Drymen.  It was a long drive north, but the radio kept our minds off our bad news of the day.  Apparently, our tenant at home has done a runner and our agent is now trying to sort out non-payment of rent through the rent tribunal and to get us a new tenant in.  Thank you Dino, for helping us out back there, you’re helping to ease our worries.  At least the day ended nicely with eating dinner whilst watching the sun set on the opposite banks of the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond.

 

The next morning, Rodney cooked up smoked bacon, black pudding and baked beans for a filling breakfast, before we set off along the footpath that follows the east bank of Loch Lomond.  It took us forty minutes to get to Balmaha, where we loitered about until the MV Lomond Princess arrived to take us over to Luss, on the other side of the loch.

 

 

It was a beautiful ride over the calm waters, surrounded by magnificent views of mountains including Ben Lomond; the most southern of the Munros (mountains over 3,000ft in Scotland).  We roamed around the ‘auld’ village, along the river footpath and the beaches and stopped for a hearty bowl of soup with crusty bread for our lunch.

 

On the boat trip back across the loch, wearing four layers of clothing, we realised that it is no longer summer.  It is now autumn and the bracken, ferns and some of the leaves have turned colour, as proof that it definitely is.

 

We heard the rain coming down again in the night, but woke to a sunny morning.  Then, as we were packing up, the rain came down again.  We drove around the bottom of Loch Lomond chasing the sunshine and drove up the whole of the west side of the loch, with a short diversion to look at Loch Long at Arachar.  Every so often, the sky would clear and the sun would bathe the mountains with colour and then the black clouds would come over again.  We parked just off the A85 and walked out to Kilchurn Castle while the sun was briefly shining.

 

It’s a wonderfully romantic old ruin, but you can still climb the stairs to the top of the remaining tower for lovely views down Loch Awe.  We didn’t stay for long, but still got soaked walking back to the car park. After a change into dry clothes, we drove over the Pass of Brander to Loch Etive and along to Connel, where the loch opens out into the Lynn of Lorne.  We crossed the bridge, one lane only, and drove up to Port of Appin for huge views over Loch Linnhe towards Lismore and the Isle of Mull in the distance. Further up the banks of Loch Linnhe, Castle Stalker looked isolated and gloomy, despite the sun shining on it.

 

 

At 4:30pm we finally pulled in to the Bunree Campsite near Onich and parked Eileen right on the banks of Loch Linnhe.  In between the heavy sideways rain and hail, the view is beautiful and as the sunset did turn a little pink, I have high hopes for a drier day tomorrow.

 

Well it turned out that the sunset didn’t work this time, Saturday was a very wet day, again. So we drove up through Fort William and up Glen Nevis, as far as we could go.  It is a beautiful valley, but the weather made the mountains look rather gloomy and foreboding. Then again, the waterfalls, which seemed to be everywhere, were so powerful and bursting with energy; they were a sight to be seen and heard.

 

We decided we really didn’t fancy getting soaked on a highland walk, so we drove back down to Fort William and walked the High Street instead.  We both purchased nylon waterproof over-trousers and some new walking boots for Rodney; we won’t be beaten by this darn weather, though I did secretly hope that if we bought them, we then might not need them…..that didn’t work either.  Before leaving town, we tucked in to roast beef dinners at The Crofters Pub and returned to Bunree.  In between rain showers, we strolled along the lakeside and up to the main road, then back to stroll along the beach in front of Eileen.  This campsite really is in a beautiful spot, but I wish we could see it in the sunshine.

The wind and the rain through the night had me wondering if Eileen could be blown over on her side and also wondering if the loch might come up so high that we would be floating down it the next day.  But we were still in one piece in the morning and the rain eased a little bit.

 

So we decided to drive up through the Glencoe Valley to Rannoch Moor, with our nylon trousers, rain jackets and wellies at the ready.  It is a stunning road and Rodney reckons it has to be one of the most scenic drives in the United Kingdom.  The rainbows, which were incredibly vibrant made the trip even more special.

 

 

We drove as far as Loch Tulla and then turned around and gazed at the amazing scenery from the other direction.  I managed to find the tiny mountaineers hut where I stayed for a week in the snow (while suffering badly with tonsillitis) one January in 1982 or was it 1983?

 

With our waterproof trousers on, we set off for a walk up the Devil’s Staircase opposite Buachaille Etive Mor.  It was a lovely, not too steep, trek up part of the ‘West Highland Way’ and it only started to rain sideways as we were nearly back down at the bottom.

 

To drive back to Bunree, we thought we’d take the long route via Kinlochleven, along the south and the north banks of Loch Leven, another lovely drive.  By now the rain really was starting to set in again, so we snuggled down for the evening with the Sunday papers.