Catch ups and craic ups

*Craic (pronounced 'crack'): Scottish word meaning fun, enjoyable conversation, good times

Moving to Scotland meant we had the chance to spend some more time with Alex's cousin, Renee, who had moved to London many years prior. So we organised a week long tour together of one of the most beautiful parts of Scotland - the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park region. It would be Bessie's first trip off Islay since we arrived (!) and we were frothing at the mouth to get the chance to bag a Munro and see more of the natural wonders of Scotland.

We picked up Renee and David from Balloch Castle, who were sodden after an extended downpour (welcome to Scotland!) and thought we would bless their first journey to Scotland with a tour of a nearby whisky distillery, Glengoyne. Glengoyne is quite unique in that it produces Highland whisky that is matured in the Lowland region. Glengoyne has long been one of our favourite whiskies, so we were excited to see the distillery itself, as well as educating our Sassenach journey buddies 😉

I was quite surprised that they opened the washback for us all to peek our heads in, as I had been warned about the C02 from our operators at Lagavulin. Well, after popping my head in for a few seconds, I got an absolute punch-in-the-face of C02 and recoiled instantly. I've never experienced such a kick! It was quite a shock.

On our first full day together, we bagged our first Munro, Ben Lomond. A Munro is any mountain in Scotland over 3,000 feet (914m) high, and there are a total of 282

Munros across Scotland.Ben Lomond stands at 974m high (3,196 feet). It was a steady incline to the peak where we rewarded ourselves with one (okay, a few...) wee whiskies. The view was absolutely stunning, and we felt lucky to have caught a relatively good weather day for it. We all got adventurous and chose a different path back to base, which ended up being a more complex but more interesting path to take. That night we camped on the bonnnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond and soothed our tired muscles with more whisky.

The next day, buoyed by our first bagged Munro, we tackled Ben A'an (461m/ 1,512 feet). It was a considerably more steep incline than Ben Lomond, with plenty of

scree to keep us on our toes. On top of that, we got a four-seasons-in-one-day experience that gave us whiplash with the change in conditions. But the colourful landscape made up for it, with the bright purple of Scottish heather dotted about the mountain. Renee was thrilled to find wild raspberries growing on the path and foraged a few to top her yoghurt. The Ben A'an peak tested our mettle with strong winds, so of course we had to try the Scottish tradition of 'lying in the wind' where you lean forward and get the wind to hold you up. Because, why not?

The next day, we had to take care of Bessie with the typical van care routine of emptying and refilling everything. We drove to Callander, known as the gateway to the Highlands. It was a sweet village with a delicious bakery. We found a great wild camping spot and bunkered down against the Scotland rain with some whiskies and card games.

For our final day together we headed to Stirling. We stopped by Deanston Distillery before parking up in Stirling city to explore on foot. After a delicious lunch at Darnley Coffee House, we explored Stirling Castle and took a free tour of the historic grounds. It is always fascinating to be surrounded by such history and hear the stories of people from so many years past. We finished our exploration with a delicious gin tasting at Stirling distillery.

We absolutely loved our time with Renee and David, and were thrilled to get to see more of Scotland. Good whisky, good hikes, good craic 😊