Loch Lomond is reputed to be the largest inland water in the British Isles. I can neither deny or confirm that statement, but I can say that it is big, very big.

There are all sorts of tales about it, mainly of bloody episodes in the dim and distant past although I didn’t find anything actually connecting the loch with anything too gory. It seems to have been used mainly as a highway for people about to, or having committed some foul deed.

However, for all that, it seems that the loch is doing its best to make up for past deeds, because its sheer rugged beauty has to be seen to be believed.

On our holiday, we set out to explore as much as possible, and that is just what we did. Perhaps we didn’t go about it in the best dinghy cruising traditions, but we were limited mainly by the amount of kit that we had with us. Our compromise was to establish a base camp, and to sally forth from there as the fit took us, to wherever the prevailing wind allowed us to go, taking into account the need for a return journey of course.

The first thing I did was to obtain a chart. I didn’t quite know if a chart would be available or if I was going to have to use the Ordnance Survey map backed up by a twelve year old lead swinger in the bows. As it turned out, a chart is available printed by Stanfords. It is quite good but to my mind the large scale portion of it needs to cover a larger area.

But I digress. Perhaps a few words about the journey from Amesbury to the loch would not go amiss.

The trip was long, and decidedly uneventful. After a previous near-disaster with a much smaller boat some three years ago, I made sure that everything in my power was completely correct before we left. Strangely enough, even with all the planning, and checking and double-checking, the trailer tyres were missed and the proper pressures were not achieved until some time after our departure.

I did, however, ensure that the spare was on board and the pressure correct. To cut a long story short, the journey was fairly rapid and comfortable, aided by the peace of mind that follows from having made sure that everything was as right as it was possible to get it.

Eventually, we arrived at the southernmost end of the loch, at Balloch to be precise. Our eventual destination was Cashell about half-way up the eastern shore of the loch. The Forestry Commission run an excellent campsite at Cashell, the only drawback being its popularity.

When we first arrived we found that the site was full and we wondered if it was worth waiting, as so many others seemed to be doing just that. However we decided that it was preferable to wait than to take a chance on finding another site which would possibly be full anyway.

In the morning, our patience was rewarded and we managed to get a site large enough to take the family tent, the inflatable, the trailer with the boat should it be necessary, and the car. The site allocation used by the Forestry Commission tends to lead to punchups between families looking for sites, but certainly makes sure that you have plenty of room once you have got one.

Once the main tent was erected, always a laugh because it seems to change shape every year, the next item on the agenda was to get the Lugger rigged and into the water. At Cashell there is a good launch site and about half an hour after starting, we were ready to sail. Only one thing was wrong, there was no wind. Now the first disaster struck — the outboard just refused to run properly. It was going but only just. It took me a whole day to sort it out, a day during which I was grateful for the advice offered by the outboard agents by the bridge in Balloch.

I didn’t keep a diary of all the things we did, or the order in which we did them, so I will tell you about the places that we went to and what we thought of them.

The first place that we went to, probably because it was the nearest, was Inchlonaig. It is quite a densly wooded island well worth exploring, but be warned, the undergrowth is thick and the ferns sharp. The northern beach is stony but secluded and provides good bathing. Beware of broken bottles and open cans, they abound here and can be said to be one of the worst things about the whole loch.

Perhaps the longest trip that we made was south between Inchfad. Follow the chart carefully, the marks are there but leave a lot to be desired. We went to the very small cove on the northern-most tip of Inchmurrin, which is the largest of the islands, where we stayed for a picnic and then sailed for Balmaha, keeping Creinch and Torrinch to port and going up between lnchcailoch and Clairinsh. Some interesting windshifts occur between these last two islands and it pays to keep a watch for the paddle steamer ‘Maid of the Loch’ coming, round the north-eastern end of Inchcailoch into the channel. It moves unexpectedly fast.

Balmaha is an interesting small boat anchorage and harbour and well worth a visit just to get a look at some of the really old boats which are still used for salmon and pike spinning. There is also fuel and fish and chips just across the main road, and we took advantage of both.

Having refuelled both man and boat we made our way back to Cashell keeping the point at Cashell on the bow until we were forced to take a wide sweep back to our anchorage by the shallow water on the point.

Because of the nature of the bottom and the way that it shelves so quickly and steeply, I found that a good way to anchor up was to motor in until we were about twenty-five yards off shore, drop the anchor and then to slowly back into the shallow water at the edge. It was then easy to disembark the family and all the bits and pieces including the outboard. The next step was to take a long mooring warp ashore and make the onshore end fast. Then by paying, out the stern warp and taking up on the anchor warp, we could position the boat in deep enough water to discourage the casual paddlers from taking too much interest.

My only mooring incident was when a nameless idiot moored up so close to Romalet that he might just as well have made fast alongside her. This in spite of there being a quarter-mile of unused beach either side of me. O.K., he can moor there, but did he have to take a large lump of my gel coat whilst setting out one morning? There wasn’t even a wind worth speaking of! He never came back, thank goodness.

On another day we explored Inchcailloch and were surprised at the amount of work that had been done to mark out the nature trail. Someone had performed Herculean tasks with railway sleepers. Very nice, but it spoilt the nature trail for me. I can’t say that I ever remember having seen a railway sleeper tree before. But then I am being selfish as it must enable people who would never be able to walk the trail if it were still in its natural state, to get around the island with only a minimum of effort. The beach and cove at the south-west corner of the island has beautiful sands provides good swimming, and is a good anchorage. It was here that we met up with another Lugger which was being used by a sailing school. I spent an interesting half hour chatting to the skipper and comparing notes with him. We both left there under jib and mizzen as the wind had blown up and Romalet made a spanking pace back to her anchorage.

Perhaps our favourite island was lnchmoan. It has a wonderful sandy beach on its south-western shore, and when the sun shines beware of sunburn because this is a natural suntrap.

To get there we chose the most direct route, which turned out to be particularly pretty with its secluded anchorages. Taking careful note of the chart, sail between Inchconnachan and Inchcruin, then between Inchtavannach and the north shore of Inchmoan, finally round the western end of Inchmoan and into the large crescent-shaped sandy bay. There are some nasty submerged rocks around the south side of Inchmoan as we found out to our cost.

We had decided to sail on round Inchmoan towards the bar between Inchcruin and Inchmoan to meet some friends who were travelling by canoe. As we rounded the southernmost tip of Inchmoan, the rudder hit a submerged rock and took on a shape resembling a banana.

I found it was impossible to raise the rudder out of its trunking. A quick glance down the slot confirmed that the rudder was bent backwards and not sideways, which indicated that it would be nearly impossible to straighten unless it was removed from the boat. After some deliberation I decided that I would have to remove the wooden cap to the rudder trunk.

This proved to be fairly easy after removing the mizzen mast and cleaning out the screw slots. I had cause to be thankful that I always have a few basic tools on board. Once the capping was removed, the rudder came out easily enough and revealed the true extent of the bend. The next problem was how to straighten it out again.

On many of the islands on the loch the trees grow right down to the water’s edge, and where the water rises and falls and the waves wash over them in rough weather, the tree roots are exposed. Fortunately, Inchmoan was no exception and I managed to find a set of tree roots that were approximately rudder trunk-shaped. I put the rudder blade in the slot we had found and chocked it with stones especially at the point where the stem had bent, and then with the aid of a Spanish windlass, made from my stern mooring warp and a piece of driftwood, the rudder was quickly, easily and accurately bent back to its original shape. In fact it was so easy, it was hard to believe that it had worked. I am now selling maps giving the exact location of the trees used!

We didn’t spend all our time sailing, and by way of a change did quite a lot of walking. Perhaps our most ambitious hike was to the summit of Ben Lomond. I know it’s not that far, or that steep, or that difficult. It still turned out to be a long way for a pair of sea legs. Another interesting walk was to Rob Roy’s cave. That was quite some hike but a worthwhile experience nevertheless. We made both of these walks with our canoeing friends which made eight of us all told, four adults and four children, It was good fun but some of the rougher parts of the track made it quite difficult for us all to stay together — something which is worth bearing in mind if there happens to be a fork in the track, especially as the younger members of the party seem to gallop ahead all the time.

Other places of interest are Loch Lomond Bear Park and Cameron House, both are worth a visit, and the bear park can be quite amusing, if you like bears that is.

Well, we have left enough of the loch unexplored to warrant another trip some day. We haven’t been far north of Inchlonaig by boat and there is an awful lot of loch towards Ardlui that begs our attention. Ah well, we enjoyed what we did see immensely and I hope we may have wetted your appetite or saved you some money by putting you off.

One final word. Don’t be misled by the inland water bit. 24 miles by 5 miles of water can have some pretty violent storms, although with fine weather, better sailing is difficult to find.

reprinted with thanks from Drascombe Owners Assoc.