Loch Sloy or Sluagh, which means "the Loch of the Multitude" was our walk today not for a multitude though as the gallic translation says but for 12 Bosco Wanderers who had gathered at Inveruglas C/Park for the trek up to the Loch Sloy Dam some 277metres above Loch Lomond via the tarmac road laid down in the late 1940s to give access to the vehicles used in the Dams construction. It was a magnificent day for us weather wise as we steadily gained height from the main A82 trunk road now out of sight below us and up ahead now into view were the majestic mountains of Ben Vane, A Chrois, and Beinn Ime in the distance. Although we have done this walk several times in the past the arrival at the Dam itself makes you think again of the hardship which many of the workers employed in its construction must have experienced whilst building such a magnificent structure in such a desolate and rugged place. The Dam itself is some 357 metres long, over 56 metres high and brought the level of Loch Sloy up to almost 46 metres deep and covering an area of more than 32 square miles, a 3 kilometre tunnel runs from the bottom of the Dam through the southern slopes of Ben Vorlich to a valve station poised high on the hillside where 4 pipelines take the water down to the main power station at Inveruglas Bay on the shores of Loch Lomond . This scheme is the largest conventional hydro scheme in the UK and it all started when the first turf was cut in May 1945 by Mrs Thomas Johnston, wife of the Secretary of State for Scotland, driving an 18 ton bulldozer and 5 years later The late Queen Mother HRH Queen Elizabeth opened the whole project on 18th October 1950, almost 59 years ago. This was a very historic walk and all our hats go off to the men that took part in the construction of the "Loch Sloy Dam"  scheme all those years ago to give us the electricity that, I hope, is not taken for granted.

Joe Roche.