that he made progress against the enemy if his cause was to attract the additional support that was so clearly needed. An early success came with a raid on an English camp on the eastern shores of the Clatteringshaws Loch. It also alerted the enemy to his presence. Aymer de Valence, King Robert's second cousin and opponent at Methven, received intelligence that his enemy was encamped at the head of Glen Trool. This was a difficult position to approach, for the loch takes up much of the glen, with only a narrow track bordered by a steep slope. Near the middle, the hill pushes forward in a precipitous abutment. Valence sent a raiding party ahead, of unknown size, perhaps hoping to catch the enemy off-guard in much the same fashion as at Methven. This time, however, King Robert made effective use of the terrain. King Robert sent some of his men up the slope with orders to loosen with levers and crow-bars as many of the detached blocks of granite as they could. As the English approached up the defile, called by the locals the "Steps of Trool", they were forced to proceed single file. King Robert observed their progress from across the loch and, at a given signal, his men pushed the wall of boulders down the slope. This was followed by arrows and hand-to-hand combat as King Robert's men charged down the slope. However, some question the likelihood of being able to charge down an extremely steep 700-meter slope. The narrowness of the path prevented support from either the front or the rear. Without room to maneuver, many of the English below were killed, and the rest withdrew. King Robert not only survived but went on the following month to win the significant engagement against the humiliated Earl of Pembroke at the Battle of Loudoun Hill. The English soldiers killed in the battle at Glen Trool were buried in flat ground at the head of the loch, known as Soldier's Holm. The defeat by Bruce and his 300 men of the Earl of Pembroke and his 1500 heavy cavalry was a "major victory" for King Robert and a great boost to the morale of his men. The Earl of Pembroke tried again at Loudoun in May 1307 and was soundly defeated. proving that Bruce had acquired an ability to change and adapt to circumstances, using his knowledge of