Grabbed by the Trossachs or A load of Ballochs

I wanted adventure and I feel like I got it today.

The day started well with a belting full-Scottish courtesy of Andrea - so good was it that I wouldn’t need to eat properly again until tea time.

Then it was a case of getting wrapped up and out on the road to see what Loch Lomond actually looked like. 

Following the battering delivered by Èowyn yesterday, there were trees down and bulky loose limbs hanging from the remaining trees everywhere, so road navigation was a little more cautious than it might otherwise have been, but credit to the local council for being on top of it, for wherever a tree had fallen and blocked the road, they had already been out and cleared it.

Loch Lomond and the surrounding snow capped hills/mountains is simply stunning. I had a little ramble up the east side of the lake to begin with and was delighted to find some places were shut, so I could park up and snap a few pictures - the Loch (the largest expanse of freshwater in Britain, dontcha know?) now visible after the storm.

I then made my way around to the opposite side, but somewhere near Tarbet, Big Blue started making some very odd sounds and suddenly became very odd to drive. This was beyond turning the radio up and drowning out the noise. Turned out that I had a flat tyre. Fortunately I found an area away from the main road and when the thing had stopped smoking was able to set to work replacing the offending item. 

It took a little while, but I got there in the end and carried on up the Loch, albeit with a slight detour to Arrochar, which if you didn’t look at the ground was incredibly picturesque. If you did look at the ground, you would find a sea of plastic waste, which can’t all have been as a result of the storm. It made feel a little sad, so refuelling with tea from a local stand, I headed back to Lomond and continued my drive up, marvelling at the beauty of the snow caps as I went.

So lost in the landscape had I become that I continued driving beyond the end of the loch, but by happy accident when I stopped to stretch my legs, I wound up at a beautiful little place called Falloch Falls - pictured here - and was greeted by a wee little robin (extra) on my return to a re-shod Big Blue.

I was feeling pretty tired by this point so decided to head back to Balloch where I wanted to visit the Sealife centre (extra) - overpriced but fun: tried to steal an otter and made friends with a sea turtle called Alice who was missing a flipper. 

Finished the day off in a busier pub (complete with a karaoke-lead Hen party, which was thankfully cordoned off) with the best Hunter’s chicken I have ever had and a smashing glass of Merlot to wash down a brownie.

Adventuring is awesome!