Following Er she and me from Arrochar to Loch Lomond and the Trossachs

I am following a route taken by my cousin Kitty and her best friend Bessie and sister Anne. The three women - Er She and me - left Lancashire in June 1934 and travelled overnight to Glasgow and then on the west Highland railway line to Glen Douglas just after Gairlochhead. I'm following in their footsteps on my bike with my pal Kenny and experiencing their sense of adventure as we retrace their journey. They bought tickets for whistlefield, a stop that is no longer there. The next station Glen Douglas also closed in the 1960s. So we carry on to Arrochar& Tarbet and follow the track they walked to Glen Douglas (now a rarely used military base where they store the odd nuclear weapon). From there kitty and her friends wrote about their success in map reading "who said we'd get lost" and after a light lunch "a slab of chocolate already devoured" headed over the hills to inverbeg on loch Lomond where they stayed in a hostel, and played donkey "with some of the fellows . 'She' won 8d and generously donated it to SYHA funds" The next day they crossed Loch Lomond and made their way up Ben Lomond "we were overtaken by four boy scouts who generally carried our packs to the top" We made our way to the hostel at Leodard n Loch Ard where"we gave Bill Peter the time of his young life doctoring she's boil, err bunions and my blisters. Went to sleep gazing at the loch " All of this sounds great fun. Followed the young women by buying supply of chocolate (and we needed it.) However the first bit from Arrochar to Glen Douglas is a mighty challenge on 2 wheels. It's definitely E mountain bike territory.... Not cycle touring terrain. I'm amazed how the three women walked out carrying their packs. Good on them! The views are outstanding the track is one of the hardest ever encountered. we made our way to Inverbeg down the tarmac road with hail stones hammering down to remind us it's March. Along the side of Loch Lomond to Tarbet where Captain Craig ferried us across to inversnaid to head past the huge waterfall and loch Katrine to Tigh mor on loch Achray. Stunning day. Utterly utterly exhausting.