What d’you know? This year, we’ve actually had a holiday!
We didn’t go that far away, just an hour or so by car to a Forest Holidays site at Ardgartan. It’s set in a forest (of course!) by Loch Long and it is a beautiful place.
We went with our good friend, Ally, who’s been on a few holidays with us in the past, and we stayed in one of the cabins there. It was VERY nice…
The views from the site were lovely. Right by the loch, of course, and set in the Arrochar Alps, a quirky set of knarly hills. One of them is called The Cobbler, because it looks like a cobbler at his last.
It’s fur friendly and I was even allowed in the cafe when it was their Quiz Night. It wasn’t just a place for people and dogs to stay, though. They had a hotel for bugs too!
There was a forest-and-river walk right from the site, and that’s my very very favourite kind of walk, so that’s where me and @HeatherAlex went every day for our morning walk.
It wasn’t just river and trees and bluebells though. We found some unexpected things there too…
There were several ways to go in the woods, some paths went by the river, some were proper roads (with cars sometimes) and one went by the loch. I really liked the walk by the loch, but I did NOT like the bridge we had to cross at the end. It had gaps in it and was high up above the river and I could see through it under my paws! I lay down and even had to be carried a couple of times.
But I’m happy to say that I crossed it all by myself at a proper walking speed by the end of the week 🙂
The weather was pretty good (dare I say, a bit TOO hot for a black dog like me at times), and we went off on walks every day.
One day, we were going up The Cobbler path, but the plan was to cut across at a dam, with me paddling in the water if I wanted to, and then come back along the Cowal Way through the trees. But that was a VERY hot day. The path was hot. My paws were hot. I was hot. So I sat on my bottom (that was hot too) and refused to move.
Did I mention that the cabin had a hot tub? The people LOVED that (especially Ally, who was very sensible and did not come on that hot hot walk).
I wasn’t allowed in it. Which I didn’t mind (it would have been too hot!). What I minded was that the people had nibbles and fizz while lying in the tub, and I only got thrown an odd crumb or two.
The next day we went on a longer drive to visit two different forest walks. It was still quite warm but we were in the woods most of the time so it was not nearly as bad and I enjoyed that day a lot.
On the way, we went over a road pass called the “Rest and Be Thankful”.
@HeatherAlex and her family visited here a long LONG time ago.
Our first walk was at Glenbranter. We were hoping to see the falls, but the path was closed as the bridge had been damaged, so we had to shorten this walk a bit.
On the way to our next walk, she couldn’t resist a photo of Loch Eck – well, it IS quite beautiful, so I don’t blame her.
Our last walk of the holiday was at Puck’s Glen. We’d heard that this was a special place from a friend of @HeatherAlex, and he wasn’t wrong – it is very special. And cool – in every sense of the word!
It had waterfalls around every corner, as far as I could see.
Lots of places for me to explore…
It was a lovely walk to end our holiday. I think we will probably visit again!
TheTwiglet 
What a great place to go and so many fab walks.. especially that last one! We did a forest holiday a long time ago, in Cornwall, I loved the cabin but it was scary at night and that’s when I first slept with mum and dad! Your Scottish one looks even better, heaps more waterfalls and mountains! I wonder if that owl has ever met Harry Potter and his friends!
It was great, and I loved the waterfall walk. I sleep with @HeatherAlex anyway, but I still get a bit scared in new places sometimes. I was ok with this cabin though 🙂