to Inverlochlarig
We recently took at trip up to Loch Earn and had such a good lunch at Mhor 84 that we went back to have another one. It was not as good a day for the weather as the forecast had promised but there is no such thing as a bad day in Scotland when you have a van to travel in. We looked in at one of my favourite places, Loch Lubnaig. Since COVID, it seems also to have become a favourite place for many other people.
One of the things I love about our adventures is the bit when we get back home, where, over a glass of wine, we pick and process images and write notes about the places we visited. Smart people might do the research before they go but then they are prisoners of their itinerary, aren’t they? That’s not to say we do no planning – we have an endless list of places to explore, even if we never again leave this amazing country.
It would be fair to say that Scotland is not particularly well set up as a tourist destination, compared with North America, where there are plenty of places to stop, facilities to barbecue, and easy roads with ample opportunity to pull in and let other travellers pass by. That said, if you know you can turn left when the proletariat are turning right, there are plenty of peaceful places to find, with thistle and bramble, wild birds and waters to soothe an aching soul.
One such peaceful place is along the single track road from Mhor 84 to Inverlochlarig. The road tracks the northern shores of Loch Voil and its little brother, Loch Doine. At the car park at the end of the public road, there were walkers getting ready for what looked like a blokey beer-and-fire camping trip up towards Ben More. They seemed overloaded, perhaps, to be going all that way and one didn’t make twenty paces from the car park before face-planting himself and his baggage into a ditch. No bones broken, they resumed, quickly scanning to see who had seen it. We all did, mate, but don’t worry, we weren’t quick enough to snap you for the socials.
There were herons and a huge raptor that I thought at first was a buzzard. More likely it was a goshawk. Either way, it was too quick for my photographic reactions. All along the road we had the musical accompaniment of many smaller birds.
On the land between the two lochs, by the pink Monachyle Mhor hotel, there is a sauna run by the hotel and a mirrored stainless steel box construction designed by architecture students Angus Ritchie and Daniel Tyler. It is worth the time just to sit in this thing and marvel at the audacity of it. The audacity echoes that of the local folk heroes, including the stuff-of-legend Rob Roy. The first two verses of Wordsworth’s poem:
A famous man is Robin Hood,
The English ballad-singer's joy!
And Scotland has a thief as good,
An outlaw of as daring mood;
She has her brave Rob Roy!
Then clear the weeds from off his Grave,
And let us chant a passing stave,
In honour of that Hero brave!“Hero brave” is possibly a stretch if his Wikipedia article is anything to go by.
The path the to sauna runs past the Lookout and is well-trodden by a stream of punters from the hotel in white dressing gowns or dry robes. The density of people in the popular places now is perhaps good for the business owners but being selfish, it makes me a little sad. There are perhaps too many humans for the environment to sustain well, but I have great faith in nature. Her cruelty will win in the end.
