Helensburgh to Balloch 22 April

Allan, Davie C, Davie Mc, Jimmy, Kenny, Malcolm, Paul, Rex, Robert

The first of our stops

We met at Lomond Shores carpark in Balloch on a beautiful spring morning for our attempt at the Helensburgh to Balloch section of the John Muir Way. Deciding against going for a coffee before setting off for Helensburgh, and leaving a couple of cars in the car park, we motored over to our starting point at the pier in Helensburgh. This being a new walk for us, Robert provided us with a map and notes to help us, although, to be fair, the route is well signposted.

Having applied sun cream, we set off up through the town towards Mackintosh’s Hill House and continued on to the pavement adjacent to the Luss Road (A818) out of town and up to the point where the path veered off the road and on to the cross country track. After a few minutes on this track we stopped for coffee, enjoying the rest and the sunshine. By this point we had done a fair bit of the climb as it had been uphill out of Helensburgh, but the next hour was a steady climb up the track to our highest point of the day, which was the viewpoint on Gouk Hill (277m). A leisurely lunch was taken as we enjoyed the spectacular view in the hazy sunshine down to Loch Lomond and over to Ben Lomond. The mountains to our left as we sat were probably in the Arrochar direction, and in front of us was Conic Hill and the Highland Boundary Fault. As was said, it doesn’t get much better!

The viewpoint with the suitably adorned Christmas tree

All good things had to come to an end and so, reluctantly, we made our way back to the path for the downhill section. We soon came to a steep drop through the forest before emerging on the logging road with the remnants of the timber felling all round us. Following this road we went on our merry way and got complacent as the road came to an abrupt with no hint of a path. We should have recognised our error as we had been climbing again but there was no real damage done as we retraced our steps and found the path we should have taken with a clearly marked signpost almost saying to us ‘I told you so!’ This we detour had cost us about twenty minutes, but once on the path again it was literally downhill all the way back to the cars in Balloch from where we once again travelled to Helensburgh for the journey home via the Kings in Fenwick for a well-earned refreshment.

A great day out in perfect weather and a walk to be repeated, hopefully in similar conditions, and it was a good decision not to take coffee at the start of the walk as it meant that we cleared Glasgow just before the rush.

P.S The walk, with the leisurely stops and the wee detour, had taken just over four hours.

Idyllic lunch stop

Note 1

It was generally accepted that we did the walk in the best direction in that the climb from Helensburgh was more gentle compared to that from Balloch which appeared a lot steeper.

Note 2

Towards the top of the walk we saw a signpost for the Three Lochs Way. This as a walk that, if done in its entirety, lasts for 34 miles and goes from Loch Lomond (Balloch) over to the Gare Loch before going up to Loch Long and back to the top of Loch Lomond (Inveruglas).

The first leg shares part of the John Muir Way but diverts at the aforementioned signpost and goes down in to Helensburgh emerging close to Hermitage Academy. It is then a road walk in to the town. So, yes, a circular walk is possible by following the route we took and then going right at the signpost.