“The Not So Bonny Banks” – Day 2, Balmaha to Ardlui

Day 2 was just over 18 miles along the full length of the east side of Loch Lomond heading north.  My recollections of the day weren’t as you’d think from the romantic associations we all have with one of Scotland’s best known lochs from the song “The Bonny Banks o’Loch Lomond”.  The song is said to be a Jacobite adaptation of an eighteenth-century erotic song, with the lover dying for his king, and taking only the ‘low road’ of death back to Scotland. It’s apparently one of many poems and songs that emerged from Jacobite political culture in Scotland.

It rained a lot! Not only was I “a bit damp” but the the trees along the loch-side path have spread their roots right across it and I was continually stumbling over them. But it was still a wonderful day’s walking.  On the east shore, opposite the Ardlui Hotel where we were staying, there is a flagpole that you raise a red buoy up to signal to the ferry person that you need fetching.  They then come and get you and, just as importantly, take you back in the morning!