Wildside Highland Lodges Inverness

... and negotiated. Armed with my trusty Rough Guide to Scotland, and some scribbled directions for each walk, I set off, bright and early (8.30?) for Callander - the "gateway" to the Trossachs. Noone else was on the roads - a good sign - so I pulled over for a couple of sneaky photos of the first Loch I encountered, Loch Venachar: Soon after ...

... phones through to the AA and books a transporter to take me back to take me back to Nottingham (East Leake).

Tow truck 1, turns up at 11:50 to take me on the first leg of the journey home from Fort William to Stirling. This takes approx 3 hours and I get dropped at Stirling service station where I am supposed to be met by the next tow truck. It takes about an hour for the next truck to turn up. Which was arranged for 14:30

... wet I can see how it would be particularly difficult, but perhaps because this section comes at the start of my day, whereas everyone else does it at the end, it's not overwhelming.

Rob Roy is the focus of the legends for this stage with both Rob Roy's Cave and Rob Roy's Prison on the path. The path to the cave is full of huge rocks and after a few minutes I opt to turn back as I'm pretty sure ...

... hostel.

On the way I meet Hugh, a retired librarian, who has been doing the LEJOG route in stages over several years. He's abandoned ideas of wild camping tonight and decided to join me at Crianlarich. We stock up at Crianlarich's village shop and I get overexcited at the sight of vegetables! I was getting the impression that vegetables were illegal in Scotland - apart from "tatties" of course!

Hugh is a very experienced walk leader who leads ...

Liz & Alec, who gave me a lift last night, turn out to be heading back to Kingshouse this morning so offer me a lift straight back to the start of my walk through the winding valley of Glencoe. The sky is already looking ominously dark so it's on with the waterproofs and I batten down the hatches with my rucksack cover before venturing out across Rannoch Moor.

The rain starts almost as soon as I hit the moor. It's relentless and the headwind ...

... me on the road just seconds before I get there. Aargh! It's an hour to the next one so I plod back to the bar. It turns out one lovely couple are staying down in Glencoe and offer me a lift. This is a very kind offer as the youth hostel in Glencoe is actually two miles from the bus stop and I take it up immediately!

Entering my room at the hostel, I hear "hello again". It's Helen, an Australian teacher, who I met at the youth hostel in Inverness ...

... way back to Edinburgh, where we are to spend our day off. Much appreciated, to see some more of Edinburgh!

The support band, Zombie Militia, was awesome.. Even I woke up from my computing during their sound check. Will take some photos of them for sure.

And did. They had a quite big audience and first people were just standing and digging the band. The singer pushed Gudmar and then – A pit, awaaay.

Then it was time for SIC ...

... Then a fantastic book by Frommer's called Scotland's Best Loved Driving tours. This has been a super way to pick a "route" for today. We have done an amazing number of the 25 routes in this book. Lastly we have been using "In Search of Ancient Scotland" which is dedicated to things like standing stones, stone circles, Pictish stones, ruined churches, Abbeys and Cathedrals. This has sent us in to fields and sheep tracks to find stones, but ...

... the Loch and admission to a calstle on the waters edge. The boat ride was nice because it was, as the bus driver made us fully aware, unusually clear and beautiful. The castle grounds were the best because it felt like Tom Saywers island. It was mostly castle ruins but there was so much to explore and little places to crawl into that it was super fun. Braden and I ran around for about a half ...

... that I go back up to the Highlands. So I dragged myself to the back of the bus and tried to fall asleep. It would have been much easier if Dave wasn't so charismatic and funny. He took us on a little detour to his parents house for tea and cookies. They looked surprised when the bus pulled up but welcomed us in with open arms. I tried to sleep when I could but I had to go on the whiskey tour as it IS the ...