We spent a day out in Loch Lomond with the family on Friday. Easy enough drive up the A82 as the overall level of traffic is much lower than it woudl normally be at this time of the year. Good for driving, not good for tourist attractions.
Our initial plan was a visit to the Loch Lomond Faerie Trail, largely to appeal to my five year old daughter. Decent value using a voucher from Itison for two adults, two children and two pots of eco-friendly Faerie Dust for £14, which would normally cost around £21 through their own website. The weather held out nicely, meaning all four of us had a decent walk in the woods. I had thought the 10 year old might find it all a bit 'little kid', but he enjoyed it as he could help his little sister who loved it read all the signs at each of the stops. Overall about a 2 hour wander in good clear southern Highland, pardoning the occasional cloud of midges.
<SPOILER ALERT> The trail itself is nicely laid out, and it takes you through some of the old slate quarries. The only real downside was that my daughter was absolutely convinced she was going to find a real unicorn at the end so she was more than a little disappointed by the actual outcome which was sitting in a wooden throne looking at a carved silver unicorn head bolted to a tree. After some convincing by me that it was the real unicorn asleep in the tree, but more likely swayed by a promise of ice cream to come, she decided life was okay again.
Nice wander afterwards through Luss, which has always been a 'we'll go some other time' sort of place whilst driving further north. Lovely little village, and I can understand why its generally considered to be among the prettiest villages in the country. Stop at the Coach House Coffee Shop for coffees for me and Mrs. and ice cream for the kids, again fairly good value at £2.90 for a single scoop which was well beyond the size of a tennis ball. A bit more walking around the village and then into the car.
We decided to go further north for dinner to a personal favourite, which is the Drover's Inn in Inverarnan. I'll leave it to you if you want to believe the ghost stories, but the scenery near there is stunning. They've done a brilliant job adapting to social distancing with more than their usual number of outdoor tables and a marquee with additional covered tables as well. We opted for full outdoor to enjoy the scenery. Value for money on eating out is relative, but we find their portions appropriately generous and the food is very good, so c. £45 for a family of four doesn't seem off considering you spend about the same to eat in at Nandos or Pizza Hut and don't get anywhere near the ambiance. Venison casserole for me, goats cheese salad for Mrs, mince&tatties for the boy and mac&cheese for the girl plus 4 bottles of J2O. No complaints from anyone on the food, and no need for dessert!
After that, drive home and back home by about 8pm. After a generous sprinkling of fairy dust on the drive to ensure the unicorn could find us to thank us for setting him free from the trolls, into the house for bed. All in, a nice day trip for the whole family. Thankfully the fairy dust is an eco-friendly variety which appears to dissolve in the rain so the drive is back to its usual colour now and does not have sparkly purple and silver pictures all over it.
