A day in Ard Forest. The Trossachs.

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Yesterday, Eve and I spent the day hiking through Ard Forest behind Loch Ard. With Storm Bert predicted by the met office to hit us today, we wanted to escape the walls of the house before the weather closed in.

We spent the day walking towards Aberfoyle from home. The purpose, to meet Sarah out of work. We loosely followed the ‘8 mile loop’ trying to keep as close to Loch Ard as we could. It’s a simple route, but we made many detours down trails and to follow animal track to ‘explore’. Ard Forest is beautiful this time of year!

Most of forest trails were frozen solid. Large sections of trail covered in thick black ice, making walking at time, treacherous. Eve loved it. She was skating over it like she was on ‘Dancing on ice’ but with less elegance. I was left holding my breath hoping she wouldn’t fall over and land on her face! She didn’t.

The frost and ice crystals clung onto the withered remains of ferns and grass. Ice crystals growing outwards, creating miniature ice forests. Eve and I spent a lot of time trying to get some good macro photographs. None of them do it any justice. We tried!

On the 8 mile loop there is a small section of trail (behind Loch Ard) that the tourists usually miss. Whether they don’t realise it’s there or just avoid it, I don’t know. We both think it’s one of the nicest sections of trail around Loch Ard. It’s also one the quieter sections. There is also a small bench that even on the busiest days in the national park, is (usually) free of people! It was a regular spot for a break or lunch when Eve was a lot younger! We had our lunch there yesterday.

The amount of robins we spotted was surprising. We counted at least 20 and one red squirrel. We had a very friendly robin come within touching distance as we ate our lunch. Eve and I fed it some of our sandwiches.