Tuesday 25th April, W8D5

As I start this entry (relaxing with a cuppa and a Kit Kat) I'm in Tyndrum Holiday Camp, following a day of driving through Glencoe. Very peaceful here among the pines, with not much noise from the nearby A82.

I woke early in my lovely spot at Onich Hotel car park and took my morning coffee down to the shore of the Loch before my (showerless) wash and brush up, then walked back up to the hotel for a great FSB with haggis and black pudding - the full McMonty. Chatted to a couple also in a campervan and compared notes. I was impressed by their experience with a diesel heater - maybe a project before I do any autumn/winter trips.

My target for today was Glencoe, and I took the single-track back road which winds its way through incredible scenery. I don't know what the essential criterion is for something to be described as 'majestic', but these mountains simply are, and the gorges are, er, gorgeous. (The cairn is in honour of all who have died on these mountains and reads 'They died in a place they loved'. It is dedicated to Sir Hugh Munro, who catalogued those over 1000 metres, and is built with 795 stones, one from each 'Munro'). 

I'd hoped for a stopover at the famous Clachaig Inn, which sadly doesn't allow overnight parking, so I could only admire it and have a coffee. And of course it complies with Benjamin's Law, laid down during our sailing adventures, which states that music in pubs is always yesterday or tomorrow. In this case Thursday or the weekend! 

So I pressed on in search of my perch for the night and stopped at one of the app suggestions, the Glencoe Mountain Resort, where one can stay in the car park for a £5 donation, and an extra £4 would buy an electric hookup (but the last one, of only 5, had just been taken). There are showers, which I didn't examine, and a very large cafe open 8-8. The main raison d'etre of the centre is to house the ski lift, but unlike my little venture up in the gondola, nothing on earth would tempt me to hang on one of those seats! 

So, onward and southward further down Glencoe to Tyndrum. I was told (by David and Diane) that everyone stops at the Green Welly, so obedient as ever, I stopped. There's an enormous car park, a large cafe, and a shop where you can buy most things outdoorsy, but I just bought a newspaper for the crossword, and moved on (you can't park overnight there either). Nor can you stop overnight at TJ's Diner, contrary to the Stay4Night App, but I had a toastie for lunch anyway. 

Next suggestion was the Tyndrum caravan site, which had plenty spaces, power and facilities, so there I be for the night, with as yet no clear idea of my next step. I've been fighting with the Dunans Castle website to try and arrange a visit to see Laird Cate's square foot of her highland estate, but as yet no success. I'll keep trying before I get too far away to bother. We'll see.

I did manage one wee walk before bedtime. The West Highland Way happens to pass behind the campsite, so I set off to do a segment of that famous long path, which in fitter days I'd always fancied doing in sections with Cate, though she'd said there's too many midges in the summer, a fact she got absolutely right. But for today I just did a pleasant half-hour, only feeling my stupid balance issues a problem at one point, having to step on stones across a very shallow stream. And whaddya know? The path emerges at the Tyndrum Inn, where I of course had to stop for a light supper and a pint of Theakstons Best. 

Slainte