Summer, this year, has stalled several times. Most days are a mix of everything, hail, rain, sunshine and cloudy can be expected anywhere at anytime!
With a friend (@catwith8lives) visiting last weekend we were lucky to at least get a day with some sunshine and managed to visit a few of the local attractions along the John Muir Way and later drove north into the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park.
I live close enough to the Falkirk Wheel to be able to walk there along the canal tow path, a walk that can be extended along the John Muir Way via Rough Castle and back into Bonnybridge at the Forth & Clyde Canal. The Falkirk Wheel is a rotating boat lift that connects the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal. It opened in 2002, reconnecting the two canals for the first time since the 1930s as part of the Millennium Link project.
Driving into the Trossachs is always a bit arduous, the amount of traffic that is in that area on such tight roads is amazing. Making it to Loch Katrine was worth it though, there is a great walk around Loch Katrine that has splendid views of the surrounding hills and if you are lucky you will also see the Sir Walter Scott steamship. Trips on steamships have been going since 1859 and the Sir Walter Scott has been cruising Loch Katrine since 1899.
Visiting the Trossachs was also a great opportunity to eat at Venachar Lochside Restaurant, which I highly recommend and as luck would have it they were able to host us after our visit to Loch Katrine. Usually it’s very busy at the weekends and during the summer they close for wedding receptions, so it’s worth checking their website beforehand. Have added a photograph that I took before in winter from the garden of the restaurant, it is a great location to take photographs of Loch Achray and the surrounding countryside.
Loch Achray, winter 2017/18