Day 2 - Loch Lomond - West Highland Way Checks

Alison Cheyne & I set off at 10am from a busy Rowardennan Car Park and returned at 5pm after surveying part of the West Highland Way in our role as Volunteer Rangers for the National Park. Our route took us up to the Inversnaid Hotel via Rowchoish Bothy and back with both low & high roads checked on the 8 mile route. We both had a great walk on Glasgow Fair Monday with some short showers and very few midges and extended the route as we were enjoying the walk thoroughly. Rowardennan to Bothy along low path took us 2 hours with a 20 minute break inside the Bothy. We then set off for Inversnaid by rejoining the high path, this took 1 hour 10 minutes with a 30 minute break for lunch. The return was along the high path the whole way and we arrived at Rowardennan Car Park for a 5pm finish after chatting to many walkers along the way. We found 7 fallen trees, all passable with care. Many other areas were badly overgrown with ferns above head height in places with jaggy nettles laced throughout especially at lower leg area which could be problematic for those wearing shorts. All bridges, gates, boardwalks & regular wild camping areas were in good condition with very minimal litter found along the whole route. Many gulleys, cross drains and water bars were blocked with silt but we found no major flooding issues. All issues found including geotagged pictures were passed to the National Park who will organise volunteer and regular work parties to clear many of the issues we reported.