Carlisle & District Rambling & Fellwalking Club
B Walk Sunday 18th May 2014
Annual Coach Ramble
B Walk Sunday 18th May 2014
Aberfoyle to Callander on the Rob Roy Way
9 Miles, Grade 3
Leader: John McKay
Report & Photos by John McKay
It was a fairly long journey to the Trossachs, about three hours, as we approached Aberfoyle I thought it was time to put my boots on. I discovered to my horror I had forgotten them, is this another sign of old age I thought, how could I forget my boots. Not to worry, my trainers would have to do. Seventeen of us got off the coach at the Rob Roy Hotel and immediately got the waterproofs on, it had been lovely weather on the way up but it had suddenly started raining quite heavily. Fortunately the rain didn’t last long and it stayed dry for most of the day, the odd little shower but nothing to worry about. We set off and avoided the road by walking along a fairway of the local golf course, fortunately no golfers were about. We set off into the woods and reached a fork in the track, my instinct said left and it turned out the right choice as not long after we reached another junction with the Rob Roy Way clearly marked. There must have been a lot of rain in the previous few days, it was very muddy to say the least. We stopped for a short tea break and carried on to reach some open country but after a mile or so we were back into the mud. We reached a lovely little lochan and stopped for lunch, the midges decided it time for lunch as well but a quick spray of “Skin So Soft” did the trick. Judith had a little sniff and informed me it was Jojoba, something I had never heard of, I didn’t mind, as long as it kept the midges away it could smell of !*@: and I would still use it. Despite the rumours I would like to point out that I am not and never have been an Avon Representative. We headed off after lunch with Ken, our backmarker, carrying a large bag of litter. It was full of the lunch wrappings for him and Ann, they must have had a large lunch. Ben Ledi came into view but the summit was covered in cloud. We reached the side of Loch Venachar and made our way along a single track road in the direction of Callander. A new section to the Rob Roy way has been added and it was quite clearly marked but in these tough economic times they only had the money for one signpost as we soon came across a fork with no indication at all of which way to go. My superb homing instinct was needed again and it did not let me down. We went to the right and after about a mile we arrived in Callander. A lovely walk, great crowd and lots of interesting conversation. I really enjoyed it and hope everyone else did.
John