Wild camping on Inch Cailloch

We bought a cheap (apx £90) 4 man dinghy from Amazon to enable us to be able to carry over our camping gear to any of the islands on Loch Lomond. Here is a link to the dingy that we bought. This page specifically features our favourite island, Inch Cailloch, but you can wild camp on any of the islands on Loch Lomond (no permits required for other islands, only for Inch Cailloch during March – September).

Read to the bottom of the page for more information on using the dinghy on Loch Lomond, in particular if using an outboard.

Watch our short Youtube autumn video here and our winter one here

We set off on Saturday afternoon, with the dinghy piled high with all our gear. It was kind of funny, because when we first bought it, and blew it up in our lounge to check it out, it seemed huge and we thought we should have bought a 3 man size! With all our gear in it, however, we were sure we had actually made the right decision. It’s very unlikely we could have taken ourselves and all our gear over on a 3 man dinghy.

Unfortunately we have no photos of our trip over as it was really quite choppy, so the camera was put away in a dry bag. Paul sat at the back to steer, our gear was piled up in the middle and I sat at the front. In retrospect we should probably have loaded more weight towards the back, as every few minutes we would hit a wave and I would get covered by a wall of water! My Gore Tex jacket was worth every penny that day!

Apart from the choppy waves, the weather was good for most of Saturday, with some sunny spells, and not too cold. We arrived and pulled our dinghy half ashore until we emptied it, then we took it fully ashore so we could turn it upside down to empty out all the water and store it with the outboard and battery underneath.

We set up camp ready for the evening. Inch Cailloch is a great first time wild camp as they have a really good set up with composting toilets, picnic tables and fire pits. During March to September you need a permit to camp, but as we went over in October there was no need to get one – and we were the only ones camping there! (There were also a couple of motor cruisers, but they stayed on their boat overnight).

We had visited the island before for a picnic on our inflatable canoe, so we knew about the short hikes that you can do, and in particular the Summit Trail, which gives spectacular views over the loch and all the other islands and surrounding mountains. There is also a very old burial ground that you can visit, but we decided to pass on it this time since we were camping alone on the island!

Here are some photos from both Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning taken from the Summit Trail, with some beautiful autumn colours coming through.

After our walk, we made a cuppa and Paul got the campfire ready. For dinner we brought leftover curries from the previous night’s takeaway, nice & easy, no cooking required as they just needed to be heated up. We then got the fire going and toasted some marshmallows on it. All of this enjoyed with some wine and a wee “dram” of Drambuie we had brought with us.

During the evening we had some company, Zee & William, who came over on a speedboat from Balloch just for the evening. We chatted with them for a bit until the rain came on, and then we took shelter in our tent. They had a fire going under a tree, which was more sheltered, so they invited us to join them, which we did for a while after the rain eased off. It was a nice evening.

Finally, not long after Zee & WIlliam left to head back to Balloch, we were ready for some sleep. It was pretty cold, we slept with clothes and hats on. We normally camp with an electric hook-up when possible, but of course this isn’t possible on a wild camp! For our next trip we are thinking we need some fleece onesies to sleep in!

During the night, we heard the stag that apparently lives on the island, barking (?) very close to our tent. We were too cold and tired to pop out to take a look though.

In the morning, we got up to a very calm loch, like a mirror. Breakfast was rolls with sausage (veggie ones for me) and brown sauce. Then another walk up the Summit Trail.

Finally we packed up and got ready to leave while the going was good – ie. while the loch was flat & calm. What a difference going back without getting soaked! It had been a great trip, and we look forward to doing more, perhaps on one of the other islands next time. Inch Connachan has wallabies that live there, so perhaps we might try that next as they are apparently easier to spot at night (we’re told that they shy away during the day).

Back home, we are still drying out some of our gear. Sunday afternoon was very wet, but today is dry, so we should hopefully get it all packed away later ready for our next “adventure”.

Check out our recent blog here for the same trip in winter – absolutely stunning, but very cold!

To look at the dinghy we bought, click here.

To look at the outboard engine we bought, click here.

To look at the outboard dinghy mount, click here.

USING THE DINGHY WITH AN OUTBOARD ON LOCH LOMOND

When the dinghy arrived and we saw the size of it, and then thought about the weight we would be carrying with the 2 of us and all our gear, we then decided to also invest in an electric outboard engine to make life easy for us.

It is worth noting at this point that if you are using any means of powering your craft on Loch Lomond (so this includes adding an outboard) you have to register it first at the office in Balloch.

It was only by chance we found this out, but it was easy enough to do and inexpensive (just £6, plus we paid another £4 for removable boards to place the registration on instead of stickers.) It’s kind of like the number plates you get on a car. It can be done by post, email / on-line or in person. As we only found out at the last minute, we chose to go in person to do this just before our trip. Their form also asks for a £30 voluntary payment, but as it is voluntary, we don’t think anyone pays it (we certainly weren’t pressurised to pay it, they didn’t even mention it).

We planned to launch from either Balmaha Beach or Milarrochy Bay, as both have car parks where you can leave your car overnight. (Note that sometimes the car park at Milarrochy Bay closes its gates, so if you want to know for sure that you can go back and drive out in case of an emergency, use the Balmaha car park instead as it has no gates).

It was pointed put to us that there are Bye Laws that say you have to ask the landowner’s permission to take any motorised craft over their land to then launch, however we had no idea who to ask at Milarrochy Bay (or Balmaha Beach) so we chanced it and hoped for the best. No-one challenged us or told us off. It is a shame though, as there apparently used to be a slipway at Milarrochy Bay you could use without any trouble or worry, but it is now closed indefinitely.

Options that were suggested to us for a Balmaha launch would be to ask at the Oak Tree Inn if you can use their pier (this is also a very nice place to have a lunch or dinner at before or after your trip), or to ask at the Balmaha Boatyard. Remember this is only relevant if you are using an outboard, if you are going to paddle, just launch off the beach. With more time and use we will hopefully find other and/or better options. For now we are still finding our way, but so far other people we have spoken to don’t seem to worry much about this.

If we find out any more hints & tips about launching / where to launch, or if we one day get challenged, we shall update.

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