10.21 miles 5h 7m ascent 359m
Stronachlochar-Inversnaid (and back)
What would the world be, once bereft
Gerard Manley Hopkins
Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.
The Great Trossachs Path runs from Inversnaid on the banks of Loch Lomond, to Callander, of Dr Findlay’s Casebook fame. That’s thirty miles according to the official website but a tad longer according to my GPS tracker.
We decided to walk from Stronachlochar to Inversnaid and then retrace our steps. It proved to be quite a walk. The GTP crosses the hillside above Loch Arklet following the route of the old military road that served the Garrison at Upper Inversnaid, then climbs through the woodland above Loch Lomond before plunging past Inversnaid Falls to the Lochside.
After admiring Loch Katrine we turned and headed along the road to be greeted by a spaniel with panniers. Well, he ran to us with a wagging tail but switched to a barking retreat when he realised he didn’t know us. We would pass him again later in the day but he was too tired to give us much attention then. Just after passing under the towering electricity pylons we turned onto the path that would take us to the old garrison. An information board informed us that this had been a military road serving Inversnaid Garrison, built in 1720 if memory serves. The modern road which ran below us close to the loch dates from about 1855.
The military road, now a footpath, is firm underfoot and well maintained with evidence that the undergrowth beside it hadn’t been allowed to overgrow. I had hoped that the eighteenth century engineers would have limited the gradients, but they must have been hardier back then, not whining baby-boomers like us.
Loch Arklet takes its name from the slopes on its northern side, Gaelic airc– and leathad, meaning “difficult-slope”. But the military road was actually easy walking.
The cloud base was low, covering the hill-tops around us and though Loch Arklet’s water was very still there wasn’t much in the way of reflections from the water. Since there was so little wind I was able to shed my hat and gloves despite a temperature of 6°. Glen Arklet is moorland, mostly bracken, marsh grass and heather
The hillsides were mostly bracken, heather, marsh grass and our old favourite the bog myrtle. This late in the year the bracken was taking on an autumn hue and the rowans though heavy with fruit had lost most of their leaves. Very few wildflowers were hanging on, but the scabious were putting up a last stand. The only other trees were willows struggling to decide if they wanted to be big shrubs or small trees.
The first few minutes were uphill and I recall telling Audrey that at least we knew the last two miles would be downhill on the return journey. That memory would be a cause for consternation on the return leg.
There were a couple of short uphill sections later, to get past some wee gullies near Corriearklet and the pond at Bruach, but nothing to complain about. Where burns needed to be crossed there were high sided wooden footbridges, which suggests horses use the path.
We walked on intending to stop for a break by the time we reached the dam but there aren’t any benches and wet moorland rarely offers up useful natural seating. The smaller boulders we passed sat in boggy ground and the erratics were just too big. Many of the erratics were topped with heather giving them the appearance of troll’s heads. One even looked to have eye sockets which was quite unsettling. I can see how giants and trolls become woven into folktales. This seating shortage meant our first ‘coffee and jelly-baby break’ was one of the standing-up versions. There must be a name for that. (I asked Google’s AI and it suggested “leg-stretch”, “hover-pause”, “standing-still-sprawl”, “vertical snooze”, or “gravity-nap”.).
Loch Arklet was dammed just before WW1 to increase water storage for the Loch Katrine scheme. Damming Arklet water doubled the loch’s length. Originally it had only extended as far west as Corriearklet. There is a small path giving access to the modern road quite close to the small house by the dam and we made use of it on the return leg.
The OS map shows ‘ford’ at one of the burns here but I’m pleased to report that it has a footbridge. The path dipped a little after the dam, giving us a view of the buildings at Garrison farm. Highland cows stood in the in-field giving us a view one might see on a a shortbread tin.
Inversnaid Garrison had stood where these farm buildings are now. It housed 100 soldiers and would have had a commanding view of the glen. All that remain now are a few ruins in the farmyard. The path took us up (noticeably so) and around the farm. Geese watched us pass by. The farm has an ‘honesty’ cafe but we had not long had our coffees. Had I known about the cafe I would probably have had our twelvsies (late elevenses) in the farm yard. There were some unusual pieces there, half a boat, a hot tub, and a cartwheel. I wondered if the recliners were for visitors or for the cows once the tourists were out of sight.
Having exhausted the old military road, we came down to the modern road and walked along that for about half a kilometre. There wasn’t much traffic and being slightly lower in the glen we were among trees rather than moorland. Stained glass windows and gravestones were a clue that “Inversnaid Bunkhouse and Bistro” had started life as a church. Its cupola gave it a celtic flavour and it was originally dedicated to St Kentigerna. The Venerable Kentigerna of Inchebroida died in 734 AD. She was a daughter of the chieftain of Leinster but came to live on Innis na Caillich (the Nun’s Island) in Loch Lomond from where she could preach to the local pagans.
At the bunkhouse/church, the Great Trossachs Path splits. The cycle route continues along the road while walkers take a footbridge over Arklet Water. An information board explained this but failed to say ‘here endeth the easy walking’.
We found ourselves on a woodland footpath through very pretty birch woods. This was a ‘desire path’ winding between trees and guided by way-marker posts. Unfortunately the route had become muddy in many places. But who care s about a bit of mud on a walk? The spaniel certainly wouldn’t have cared if he had been with us. But when I stepped into the mud my boot almost sank over its top so I decided to skirt around the worse areas. This meant we would find ourselves separated from the path by ever more boggy ground or steep muddy banks. But the woodland itself which changed to more mature beech then conifers was very attractive. It was like walking in our local (D&G) forests.
The path snaked this way and that until we found ourselves looking out over Loch Lomond. It was obvious we were very close to Inversnaid but still had a lot of height to lose. I didn’t particularly enjoy the descent. The path was often steep, and muddy, with several sections of rock steps which were uneven, wet and sloped downhill. Tiring, mentally as much as physically.
We had good views of the waterfalls on Arklet Water. An earlier information board had explained that Inversnaid takes its name from Snaid, meaning a needle, and these falls were threading a needle as they tumbled through narrow gaps in the rock.
I had been worrying that we might get down to Arklet Water to find the footbridge missing. That would have required both the gnashing of teeth and prolonged sobbing before we climbed back through the woods.
The footbridge was there. I walked across with a great feeling of relief.
We had our sandwiches at a picnic table overlooking Loch Lomond. I did my good deed for the day. Q. “Which way is the West Highland Way?” A. Pointing north “Along there.”
Our plan had been to walk a ‘there and back’ but by mutual consent we decided to return to the ‘Bunkhouse and Bistro’ on the Great Trossachs Path’s cycle route. This meant using the road rather than going back through the woods. We would still have a steep climb but with a much reduced risk of a broken ankle.
We decided to stay on the road until we were close to the dam and use the path there up to the old military road. This allowed us to avoid the climb up around Garrison Farm.
From there we followed our footsteps back to Stronachlochar. You might recall that I mentioned on the way out that the final couple of miles would be all downhill. I was looking forward to this as we strolled along what seemed to be quite a lot of uphill. But, when we had walked far enough that we really should less than a mile from the end we were still unmistakably going uphill. I began to wonder if we had further to go than I imagined.
As it turned out, it was only downhill for the last three quarters of a mile. It is strange how one can get the wrong impression about up and down on a path. Or perhaps what seem like minor descents on the way out turn into moderate ascents later in the day.
Back at the car we shed our rucksacks and celebrated the walk with hot* chocolates at the Stronaclochar Cafe. Don’t let anyone say we don’t know how to live the good life. (Actually they turned out to be warm chocolate so we drank them pretty quickly.)
