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General
Information
Duration:
8 days (7 nights)
Season:
4 April to 6 October. (not during Loch Lomond Golf Tournament: 9- 12 July
& PGA 17-20 Sept).
However
you must be aware that the weather will be extremely unpredictable in
April and October especially and the days will still be short then as
well. But on average April and May are about the driest months in Britain.
Starting
point: Drymen (near Glasgow) End: Fort
William.
Breakfast:
in the UK will generally consist of sausage, bacon, eggs etc, cereals and
fruit will also be available. It is important for you to tell us if you
have any dietary requirements when you book your holiday so that we can
inform everyone that you are staying with.
Baths:
it is not normal for your room to have a bath, the main reason being that
it takes up a lot of space, some hotels/guesthouses may have a separate
room in the house where a bath is available to guests, but in the main it
is showers.
Single
Supplements:
are payable on most of our tours. The single supplement
guarantees the privacy of your own room, however, rooms can at times be
small and in some places may not enjoy the same facilities as double/twin
rooms.
Luggage:
When staying in hotels, sometimes your luggage will have been taken to
you room awaiting your arrival. However don’t be surprised if your
luggage is waiting for you to take it up to your room.
Getting
to the Start
Most
convenient major city and international airport: Glasgow.
Glasgow International Airport is only 30 mins from the centre of town by
public bus (quicker by taxi) (Prestwick Airport is about 45 mins from
Glasgow Central by train) Bus to Drymen (about five times a day) that
stops near to the accommodation. Approx journey time 1 hour. Or take train
from Glasgow Central to Balloch and then take taxi to Drymen 20 mins.
(Taxi around £15).
Outward
journey from London to start point: Train from London Euston to
Glasgow Central (5 1/2
hours). Bus to Drymen that stops outside of the hotel (Approx journey
time 1 hour). Or train from Glasgow central to Balloch then bus or taxi to
Drymen (Approx 1 hour journey time).
Inward
journey to Glasgow at end of tour: Short walk to Fort William Station.
Train to Glasgow approx 3 hours 40 mins, then Travel to airports from
Glasgow. You can also take a City Link bus from Fort William to Glasgow
Buchanan Street station in 3 hours. 4 departures a day. See: www.Citylink.co.uk
Inward
journey to London at end of tour: Short walk/ taxi ride to Fort
William Station. Train to
London, via Glasgow. There is also an overnight sleeper service from Fort
William to London via Glasgow.
Your Accommodation
q
Night 1: We stay overnight in a small guesthouse,
where the host will make you more than welcome.
q
Night 2: We stay overnight in an old Loch side hotel
with bar. The Inn is practically on the shore of Loch Lomond and beautiful
scenery surrounds it including the mass of Ben Lomond. All rooms have
ensuite facilities. The restaurant provides carefully selected dishes
ensuring that you receive a true taste of Scotland.
q
Night 3: Tonight we stay at a 3 star hotel with
comfortable rooms on the western side of the Loch. Rooms have TV and tea
tray etc. and there are two restaurants, a lounge and public bars.
q
Night
4: Accommodation tonight is in a small, comfortable hotel.
The stone built hotel is set in beautiful surroundings, by Loch
Tulla, surrounded by remnants of the Caledonian pine forest on the
threshold of the wild and rugged expanse of Rannoch Moor. The hotel has a bar and a homely country restaurant offering the sort of food your
mother might have made. This was an old drovers Inn and in spite of
modernisation you get a real sense of time and of place here. Only a
couple of rooms are fully ensuite.
q
Night 5: A 17th Century hotel, believed to be one of
Scotland's oldest Inns, provides tonight's accommodation.
It was used after the Battle of Culloden (1745) to house the troops
of King George II, but now provides customers with modern facilities and
is functional and comfortable rather than lavish.
Some rooms are en suite. The large bar is particularly warm and
cosy after a day of being blasted on Rannoch Moor. The Hotel is the only
watering hole in the area; as an old drovers Inn in this inhospitable
environment, it had to be subsidized by the government to keep going.
Today the number of people who pass through here guarantees its future.
Mountaineers mix with hikers and day-trippers and truck drivers. The view
from the hotel is one of the finest in Scotland: overlooking the sentinel
mountain: Buachaille Etive Mor (The
Shepherd) at the entrance of Glencoe.
q
Night 6: In
Kinlochleven we stay in a guesthouse.
q
Night 7:
We use many different bed & breakfast and guesthouses in Fort William
as it is a pretty busy town.
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Outline
Itinerary
q
Day 1 Drymen: Travel to starting point a small town
north of Glasgow that is a gateway to the highlands. If you arrive early
there is a teashop with home made cakes across the green and the small
Clacan Inn where Rob Roy used to come down for a swift pint whilst
collecting "Blackmail."
q
Day 2 Drymen - Rowardennan
(15 miles / 24km): Gentle scenery on the bonny banks of Loch Lomond. Passing
highland cattle in the fields the route winds up through forest and across
the moors up to Conic Hill, which from the summit gives great views over
the loch, and across the islands there. This marks the boundary of the
Highland fault and officially the start of the Highlands proper. The way
drops down to Balmaha by the water, and then winds its way towards
Rowardennan along the Loch shore with tree-framed views. Rowardennan marks
the road head, and a
convenient place to stay at our pleasant hotel. An extra day here
would be
advised if you wanted to make an ascent
of Ben Lomond.
q
Day 3
Rowardennan – Inverarnan
(Ardlui) (12 or 14 miles / 19 or
22km): Today you walk
in the shadow of Ben Lomond for
much of the time, following the Loch edge path. There are no big ascents to make, but a few short steep ups and downs. You can
pass by Rob Roy’s prison and cave:
cave areas where he is said to have held up in times of difficulty
and held prisoners at his pleasure. You could perhaps have a drink at the
hotel at Inversnaid before either
walking on to Ardleish, where you
can raise a buoy on a pole to attract the attention of the ferry man who
will collect you and transfer you to our hotel on the western side of the
Loch (approx 3 pounds not included). If you fancy the longer option, or if the weather is too rough, you
need to continue to Beinglas farm or the Inverarnan Drover’s inn to call
for a taxi to transfer you to the hotel (not included).
q
Day 4 Ardlui
to Loch Tulla: ( 15 miles / 24.15km or 21 miles / 34km)
Two choices today: It is a long way from here to Loch Tulla, if you
are a strong walker then it is fine, but otherwise we advise
you to use the taxi (included) to take
you to Crianlarich or further,
to reduce the day to a more manageable length. Crianlarich lies under
another big peak; Ben Mor. The largely
valley route goes via the ancient priory of St. Fillan associated with
both Robert The Bruce and Rob Roy, through the moraines of Dalrigh, where
the Bruce was defeated in 1306, then via the old mining settlement of
Tyndrum where a seam of gold has been recently found. The route continues
up past the peaks of Ben Lui and Ben Dorain to the Bridge of Orchy for a
quick dram before continuing on to Loch Tulla (Inveroran), a beautifully
situated lake surrounded by Scots pines a remnant of the ancient
Caledonian forest.
q
Day 5 Loch
Tulla to Rannoch Moor and Kings House:
(10 miles / 16 km) Leave
the relative leafy tranquility of Loch Tulla and head up on the old
military road across the wilds and the heather clad wastes of Rannoch
Moor, past Ba Bridge, claimed to be the remotest part of the route. The
views become ever more expansive with views into great corries once filled
with glaciers. Often you can see deer on this section and there is a great
interplay between land, lake, mountain and sky. A cairn memorial to Peter
Fleming, the inspiration to his brother Ian for the James Bond character.
The military road winds down to the old drovers Inn near the Gateway to
Glencoe. This is in the shadow of perhaps the most impressive looking
mountain of the tour- Buachaille Etive Mor - the shepherd of Etive Mor.
q
Day 6 Kingshouse to Kinlochleven: (8 miles 13 km). From the Inn the way passes beside one of the most
impressive mountains in Scotland -
Buahaille Etive Mor or the Shepherd and then proceeds up the Devil's
staircase to 1850 ft: not as bad as it seems, a well graded section of the
Way. This offers spectacular
views back from whence you came. Then it is a long descent to sea level at
the head of Loch leven with views of the Blackwater damn, Loch Leven and
The Pap of Glencoe.
q
Day 7 Kinlochleven to Fort William:
(13 miles / 21km) A steep climb up under the steep slopes of
the Mamore hills at the beginning of the day follows old Victorian hunting
tracks and then you are back on the old military road and over Lairigmor
Pass and through dense coniferous forest to Glen Nevis past the foot of
Ben Nevis, Britain’s highest peak (4408ft)
q
Day 8 End of tour: The tour ends after breakfast but
why not stay an extra night to climb Ben Nevis and take the evening
sleeper out of Fort William?
Included
Bed
and breakfast on all days throughout your itinerary.
Ensuite facilities where available.
Luggage transfers from Inn to Inn, and transfer Inverrarnan to
Ardlui and Ardlui to Crianlarich if required.
Full route notes and map package.
Extending Your Tour
Extra
nights are available anywhere along the trail. Please contact us.
Escorted Departures 2009
EWWH12
Sun 12 April – Sun 19 April
EWWH27
Sun 27 Sept – Sun 4 Oct
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