West Highland Way - Inverarnan to Tyndrum – 12 Miles

Because breakfast was served in the camp site bar up to 09:30, we were able to have a bit of a lie-in until 08:30. Luxury!

The “wigwam” was very good, being warm and snug and well insulated from wind and noise unlike a tent, with enough room for 4 people to lie down on the floor in two pairs head to foot with still plenty of spare floor space around them. Much better than camping with a tent – otherwise, except for an electric light, a small heater and two small windows, not much different.

We decided it would be wise to eat breakfast and then immediately get the “travelling bag” ready as we didn't know when it would be collected. This was just as well as we saw the van arriving to collect the bags before we had left the campsite.

We had everything sorted and were off at 10:00. I had seen some walkers pass through the campsite earlier following a path which then started up quite steeply on a hillside nearby and wondered if that was the way we would be heading, but after checking the map we found that the WHW route followed a stony vehicle track which ran along the bottom of the hill leading to a stony path.

There was light drizzle and as it was warmish and sheltered from wind, we walked to begin with in our thermal shirts for the first few miles.

We were passed by some of the others who had also stayed at the camp site including the foreigner with the fully laden “70+10” litre rucksack who we had seen in the Rowardennan Hotel.

At the top of a short stretch of a steepening in the path, we met the two Belgians who had found a bench and had taken a short rest, As they were just leaving, we decided to also make use of the bench and have a short sit-down for five minutes.

I put on my Paramo Fuera Smock due to the breeze, and we were soon on our way again.

We reached the day's half-way point which was also roughly the West Highland's half-way point at about the 6 mile point after passing the Belgians, at the head of Bogle Glen where an offshoot of the WHW dropped down about a kilometre to Crianlarich.

This was an ideal spot for lunch, so we sat on a handy grassy “seat” which was also sheltered a bit from the breeze and light rain and ate the sandwiches we had bought in the morning at the campsite shop.

As we were eating our lunch, other walkers who we had seen also walking the WHW arrived, including Kevin and his partner from the first Bed and Breakfast at Drymen. Some of these walkers also stopped for a rest and others passed by and stopped further along, including the Belgians.

As we were sitting there, I also put on my Paramo Third Element Jacket over my Fuera Smock to keep warm as it was still drizzling.

After half an hour, we pushed on through a wooded section which was lovely as the narrow stony path meandered this way and that and also went up and down, so was never boring. Also the trees were mixed and growing in random places with the ground covered with bright green Sphagnum Moss and Wood Sorrel with the odd outcropping of bright red and white spotted Fly Agaric toadstools.

There were also views of surrounding mountains with their summits largely covered in mist.

The drizzle began to change to light rain, so I stopped to change from my Paramo Fuera Smock to my Rab Bergen Jacket as I would have found the Paramo Third Element Jacket too warm for the conditions.

We reached the end of the wood and dropped some steps to a bridge over the railway and sat on the low parapet for five minutes.

Two hundred metres away the path crossed the A82 main road and then passed the remains of St Fillan's Priory which was surprisingly small and had trees growing among the ruins.

We saw a sign for a campsite at Auchtertyre a kilometre further along (another campsite with “wigwams”) and they had tea and coffee for sale, so we decided to have a break there for a hot drink.

Afterwards we continued for the last couple of miles and then spotted what we were certain was Glangarry House, our Bed and Breakfast stop over for tonight. It was on the other side of the river and the A82.

We had thought that we would have to walk to Tyndrum and follow the access road for Lower Tyndrum railway station before we could cross the river and then walk back down the A82 to Glengarry House, a distance of just over two kilometres, but as we reached a large area of bare rocky soil, which turned out to be the remains a lead smelting plant used for lead extracted form some nearby lead mines, Karen spotted a stile on the other side of the river in front of Glengarry House and a footpath. There was also a small sign near us pointing to Glengarry House, so we decide to investigate this direct route.

We changed direction to reach the nearby river a hundred metres or so away, and found we could cross using some partially submerged boulders, with care, as the opposite river bank was reached by quite a wide step across. Then a few metres away was the stile, right opposite Glengarry House on the other side of the A82.

We knocked on the door and received a warm welcome and were shown to our room where we found a menu for breakfast, packed lunches and also for evening meals! This meant we need not walk down the busy A82 into Tyndrum for an evening meal.

So we had a shower and hung stuff up to dry and also washed a few clothes.

We went downstairs at 19:00 for an excellent meal and chatted to two other guests, both men, who were also walking the WHW sitting at another table and then went to bed at 22:00.

Inside the "WigWam"

The "WigWam"

St Fillan's Priory

Crossing the river near Glengarry House

West Highland Way - Coille Mhor, near Rowardennan to Inverarnan – 15 Miles

After the first proper full breakfast of the trip, we set off in dry and sunny weather to walk the half mile or so back to rejoin the West Highland Way where we had left it yesterday evening to get to our overnight accommodation.

For some reason I hadn't slept very well last night and my feet were already hurting a bit which meant I wasn't in the best of moods, but at least it was dry, cool and sunny.

We soon were passing the Rowardennan Hotel where we had eaten last night, also Rowardennan Lodge which is a Youth Hostel and followed the still well-marked path through woods passing Ptarmigan Lodge.

Here there is a short alternative section of the WHW which passes close to the water in Loch Lomond and a slightly higher alternative. We had been told at Coille Mhor that the parts of the lower path had been washed away so there was no real alternative to the higher route at the moment.

The walking was easy with a fairly flat path with occasional short ups and downs. The problem with stopping for any appreciable time was that midges would soon appear out of nowhere, so we only stopped once in a sunny spot, but there were still a few midges around.

We saw a couple, one English and the other North American, who we had seen at the end of yesterday and we kept leap-frogging each other as they were walking faster than us but they kept stopping.

By now Karen's back was twinging and my feet were sore so we kept just plodding along with the beautiful scenery and sunny weather a consolation. I found the third day walking the Dales Way the hardest and this year it seemed the same. I hadn't yet got used to walking each day but had walked enough to have sore feet. I was often mentally calculating how far we had come since we started this morning and working out how far there was left to do before we could stop for the day.

We reached Inversnaid Hotel after 6 miles with the waterfalls roaring with water after all the previous day's rain. We sat at a pick-nick table in the public car park nearby to have our packed lunch.

We invited two Belgian men, who we had seen yesterday, to join us as the other pick-nick tables were taken. They were back-packing and camping and had come to the UK via the Eurostar train and unfortunately they had their gas cartridges confiscated. They hadn't been able to find any being sold of the correct type so they must have had the type which is pierced when it is attached to the cooker as there had been several places selling the screw-on cartridges. Buying some of these would have been no use either as none of the shops sold a cooker. This meant they had been living on breakfast bars for the past few days!

Once we had finished our lunch, we continued on our way with the path now quite rocky as it followed the lake's edge. Although it was rougher going, we found it less tiring probably because there was more variety of movement unlike the flat gently undulating path earlier in the day.

By now we were getting more tired and my feet were getting very sore, so we just kept going and going as I found it better to just keep walking rather than stopping and starting. Also I wanted to go to the toilet which didn't help.

After what seemed a long time, we eventually reached the Beinglass camp site at Inverarnan at 17:30, and I shot into one of the toilets as Karen booked us in. We were staying in one of the “wigwams” available on the camp site – they also had a camping area and large chalets so offered choices of accommodation. The wigwams were of two sizes: large and small and we had a small one which was basically a wooden tent with a wooden floor and was raised off the ground. It had an electric light, a small electric heater, a couple of pads to lie on and two sleeping bags, cotton liners and pillows on a slightly raised platform taking up about half the floor space.

These were great as you weren't affected by any wind and insulated to some extent from any noise when compared to a tent.

The camp site also had a bar which served food, a small shop and a covered area with seating, sinks and large domestic cookers so that the Belgians were able to buy and cook some hot food for a change.

It was a relief to be able to stop walking and not worry about midges and the first thing we did was to have a lay down and rest before having a shower and then later on, a meal in the bar.

It had been a hard and tiring day, but like I found last year, the third day seems to be hardest.

Inversnaid Falls

A bothy we passed on the way

West Highland Way - Drymen to Coille Mhor, near Rowardennan – 15 Miles

We were up at 07:30 with breakfast at 08:00 which was a bit more substantial than yesterday's with cereal, bacon and scrambled egg plus toast.

There was another couple staying at the Bed and Breakfast who were also walking the WHW and they had arrived yesterday evening after us. The landlady was telling us about a couple of American girls who had stayed there recently while walking the WHW. They had breakfast, again while it was raining outside. When they left, they turned right and headed back towards Drymen. She went out after them and told them that they were going the wrong way. They replied “We don't do RAIN!” and were intending to get a taxi or bus to head for home. An odd attitude while walking in Scotland!

It had rained heavily several times overnight with light rain during breakfast. We were away by 09:00 and were back on the WHW route after simply stepping through the front garden gate! Luckily the rain had stopped by now and the sun was making an appearance.

We walked a short way along the road then followed a fenced path leading to a forestry track and we had views of Loch Lomond in the distance, where we would eventually end up. But first we had to traverse Conich Hill.

There was a broad track curving around towards Conich Hill which started with a steep, short stepped section, then a gradually-rising rough path with sections worn through to the bare rock which was a conglomerate of some sort with large rounded pebbles looking much like rough concrete.

The path missed out the summit by a short distance and continued just below to one side and then made its way down much more steeply on the other side a sit dropped towards Balmaha.

There had been several short showers of rain and I had begun the day by wearing the gilet part of my Paramo Third Element jacket as it was still quite mild. When the rain increased I slipped the hood and sleeves section on without having to take my rucksack off which is a useful feature. Its a pity that Paramo have recently stopped producing this unusual but very flexible jacket.

We dropped down the opposite side of Conich Hill with paved sections, grassy sections and stepped sections until we arrived at the foot of the hill and found ourselves in a park leading after a short distance to a Visitors Centre and car park in Balmaha on the shore of Loch Lomond.

We bought some sandwiches in the village shop next to the Oak Tree Inn and sat at a pick-nick table eating lunch with several other back-packers.

After lunch, the path continued following either by the Loch or up and down tracks through woods. Luckily there were only short sections of road to walk on.

We stopped for a tea break at a car park at Milarrochy further along the Loch-side and again at Sallochy.

By now it was 16:00 and we weren't sure of the exact location of tonight's Bed and Breakfast, Coille Mhor, so we tried phoning using Karen's mobile phone but there was no answer.

Continuing onwards, we reached a footbridge in woods with a notice about another Bed and Breakfast (we had seen others at different locations), and below this was a notice with directions to Coille Mhor. Bingo!

We followed the directions (over the footbridge, then over a second, up a twisty path and down the other side to a clearing. From there through a purple barrier then down the road for a few hundred metres).

There was a short, very steep and stepped section with two pairs of walkers who it sounded like were also heading for Coille Mhor and one of the men came rapidly past us only to have to wait for his partner at the top as we walked onwards. The hare and the tortoise!

We arrived at 17:00 and were shown where the drying room was (in a large shed) and after dropping some stuff off in the drying room, we found our room and had showers which were very welcome after a long walk of 15 miles.

The house was lovely but fairly isolated. The only place to get an evening meal was at the Rowardennan Hotel on the Loch Lomond shore. Other than the hotel, there were one or two other buildings, and that was about it. Although it was only a mile and a half from the Bed and Breakfast to the Hotel, luckily the landlady gave us and her other guests a lift to the hotel and picked us up afterwards at 20:00 as we suggested.

We saw the couple from yesterday also at the hotel bar having a meal plus the walkers who we had seen earlier. There was also a young man who was sitting at a nearby table looking intensely around at everyone else, taking greater interest in some who had a West Highland Way guide book. After his meal, he pulled a huge rucksack out from somewhere and after getting it on his back, set off for wherever he was planning to spend the night.

Loch Lomond in the distance

Approaching Conich Hill

Near the summit of Conich Hill

Loch Lomond

West Highland Way - Milngavie to Tyndrum - 12 Miles

Up in the morning at 07:30, which was to become the usual getting-up time for the trip, we had breakfast at 08:00 in the kitchen of the bungalow.

Due to a misunderstanding, we thought breakfast was at 08:00, whereas this was the time the lady who ran the bunkhouse had to go to work and we should be finished by.

In the end there was no problem as her daughter, who was still in bed, would sort out everything after we had gone.

The breakfast was cereal and tea or coffee, as arranged. Afterwards, we packed our rucksacks and left the “travelling bag” in the small wooden building at the side of the house to be picked up later by a van and transported to our accommodation for this evening.

We had used this facility provided by a firm called Sherpa Van when we walked the Dales Way last year. The plan is that you carry whatever you need for the day's walk plus any extra kit such as spare clothing, water, food, first aid kit, etc. while other items such as clean clothes to wear in the evening, washing kit, reading material etc. is packed in a separate bag which magically turns up when you arrive at your accommodation in the evening.

This means you can have a lightly-loaded rucksack while you are walking during the day but can still afford the luxury of having other items available when you stop overnight.

Off we went at 08:30 and walked back to the centre of Milngavie (which is actually pronounced “mullguy”) where the official start to the West Highland Way is marked by a stone obelisk. We bought some sandwiches for lunch later in the day and also some lovely sausage rolls in a Greggs bakery which was right by the start. The sausage rolls were to be the rest of our breakfast.

There was a man there from the Tourist Office, which was also very near, who asked us to pop in as they liked to know how many walkers were using the West Highland Way. They also had a card with spaces for various locations along the Way to affix an ink stamp. At the end of the walk, you could have a certificate commemorating the walk providing you had at least one stamp each day of the walk. Of course they charged £5 for these, but we decided to have one each and also a “West Highland Way” T-shirt each.

The West Highland Way runs from the outskirts of Glasgow (Scotland's largest City), runs past Loch Lomond (the UK's largest body of fresh water) and ends in Fort William, 95 miles away, at the foot of the UK's highest Mountain, Ben Nevis.

Unlike yesterday, which was sunny and dry, today started overcast and cool and remained that way all day except for some light rain. Actually this is better weather for walking anyway, although not having rain would be better.

After a few photos at the starting point, we got going at 09:30ish and after walking through a small car park, we followed a path through what felt like park land passing a number of people out walking their dogs.

Soon we were following what seemed to be an old railway line with an earth bank on one side which covered a pipeline carrying water from Loch Lomond transporting the water to various towns and cities.

At one point we found a table set with some containers with slices of cake and some flasks with tea or coffee and an “honesty box” so that passing walkers could have a hot drink and a snack.

Later on we also found a small freezer outside a cottage in Gartness with ice creams and chocolate bars for sale, again with an honesty box to leave your payment.

As we neared this evening's stop-over location, the village of Drymen, we walked a section of quiet minor road and sat in the shelter of some rhododendron bushes on a grassy bank to finish our sandwiches. We had stopped for lunch at roughly the half-way point earlier in the day.

We continued onwards to Drymen and found our Bed and Breakfast for the night, called “Glenalva” on the main road leaving Drymen which was actually on the route of the West Highland Way. There was a sign on the front door saying “Check in time 16:00 to 18:00” but it was only 14:40!

So we walked a half mile into the centre of Drymen to have tea and some cake in a café until it was 16:00.

We then returned to the Bed and Breakfast and were let in and after being shown to our room, we each had a shower and changed into our clean clothes for the evening.

The landlady had recommended the Clachan Inn for an evening meal but she said to be there by 18:00 as it gets very busy, which is always a good sign.

So, by 17:45 we walked the half mile back to the village centre again. The location for getting our WHW log cards stamped was the nearby Ptarmigan Bar in the Winnock pub, so we nipped in there first to get that done.

Then we went into the Clachan where we had a very nice meal of sausages and mash. We returned to The Ptarmigan for a drink as people were arriving at The Clachan to put their names down for a place to sit and have a meal. It was indeed very busy.

Afterwards, we returned to the Bed and Breakfast. So, altogether, we walked an extra two miles!

We read for a while and by 21:00, I was falling asleep.

Karen and the Start of the West Highland Way

Temporary Memorial to the "Craigallan Fire"

One of the West Highland Way markers

Refreshments!

West Highland Way - Milngavie, near Glasgow to Fort William 95 Miles over 8 days

Karen and I took a taxi from home in Winster to Matlock train station at 10:00 to catch the 10:30 train to to Derby on the first leg of our long journey to Milngavie near Glasgow, the starting point for the West Highland Way.

We boarded the 11:44 train at Derby travelling to Edinburgh arriving at 15:10 or so. Luckily the next train was laving from a nearby platform and this was the last leg of the journey leaving at 15:41 for Milngavie, which stopped at a long list of stations before arriving at Milngavie at about 18:10.

Karen had booked all the places we would be staying at during the walk and this evening we were staying at a nearby bunkhouse. First we were able to get some cash from a convenient ATM, then we walked a short distance to find ourselves at a bungalow at 8, Cross Burn Avenue.

The bunkhouse was actually a separate building at the end of the garden which was unusual but had everything you would expect for a bunkhouse with two bunk beds, heating, electric light and access to a small kitchen and bathroom through the back door of the bungalow for which there was a key in the bunkhouse.

There were two girls already there when we arrived who were on a cycling tour.

After we had dropped our stuff off and made the beds, we walked back to the town centre to have an evening meal in the Cross Keys pub.

Karen outside the Bunkhouse in Milngavie

A Walk along Curbar and Froggatt Edges

After yesterday's long walk we opted for a short one today especially as we''re going to do plenty of walking in a few days.

We drove to the car park at Curbar Gap and then followed the footpath along the top if this gritstone edge popular with climbers. I often used to climb here some years ago.

The weather was noticeably cooler today but there was still a lot of wind blowing, luckily away from the edge as, we followed the top of the crag in order to see the excellent views across to Curbar and Frogatt villages and Stoney Middleton and even further away in the distance.

We noticed quite a lot of bumble bees who were sheltering from the strong wind in tufts of grass along the top of the edge.

Part way along we saw a rain shower coming in and we sat in the shelter of a small boulder hoping it wouldn't last too long.

It didn't stop very quickly and I swapped my windproof smock for a waterproof jacket and began to put my waterproof overtrousers on. Of course as soon as we set off again, the rain stopped and the sun was out again!

We continued along the path until we reached a wooded section with a gate, where we turned around and then retraced our route back to the start.

Afterwards we had a snack at the café in Outside at Hathersage.

Kinder Round

Karen joined me on a walk around the perimeter of the Kinder Scout plateau.

We planned on breakfast at the café at Outside in Hathersage and arrived in the car park at 09:25 and found that Outside doesn't open until 09:30. No problem we thought, we'll wait for 5 minutes.

The doors were open at 09:30 and after queuing at the security gate at the foot of the stairs leading up to the café, we found out that the café wouldn't be serving hot food for a while due to some staff not arriving! Rats!

So, we decided to try Grindleford Cafe and had a humungous breakfast including a pint of tea for £5.70.

All this delay meant a latish start, unfortunately, considering we had a longish walk planned.

We parked in the main Edale car park at Grindsbrook Booth with the weather dry and quite warm but luckily dry despite a forecast of an early showery start with clagged-in tops. It was fairly windy though. As we set off at around 10:50.

We set of from the village following the path rising towards Ringing Roger and then skirted along the western side of the rocky ridge until we arrived on the path following the edge of the plateau.

Heading in an easterly direction we followed the path with views across to Mam Tor and the rest of the Great Ridge along with Lose Hill and Win Hill. We noticed several largish hairy catterpillars crawling across the path as we went. When we arrived at Crookstone Knoll and stopped there just below the edge in the shelter of rocks to have a drink and look at the views across to Derwent Edge, Alport Castles and the Snake Pass far below.

From here the path continued eastwards along Blackden Edge and then Seal Edge passing the Seal Stones until we arrived at the top of Fair Brook where it flows off the plateau. Near this area we saw and heard a group involved with The Great Kinder Beer Barrel Challenge – a fell-running event involving carrying a 72 pint beer barrel full of water across parts of Kinder Scout starting at the Snake Inn on one side and finishing at the Old Nags Head Inn in Grindsbrook Booth.

We turned north to stop at Fairbrook Naze to have lunch.

Next we followed the path along The Edge towards the route of the Pennine Way which drops off the plateau to cross the Snake Path on its way towards the Longdendale Valley.

Our route now turned to the south-east soon arriving at Kinder Downfall where we got a bit wet from the water falling to the ground after it had been blown back up in the air by the wind after it fell over the edge at the Downfall.

Now we headed southwards and sheltered in a rock-surrounded hollow for another rest and a drink.

Continuing along the edge path, we passed the top of Red Brook, the trig point on Kinder Low and then followed the descending path towards the large collection of rocks at Edale Rocks. From here the route dropped down a section of slabbed path heading towards the top of Jacobs Ladder but we turned north-east towards the prominent rocky tor of Noe Stool then onwards through the large weathered gritstone boulders known as The Woolpacks.

The next landmark was the top of Crowden Clough and the path skirted around the top before continuing towards the next valley of Grindsbrook Clough.

We followed another slabbed section of path until nearly at the top of Grindsbrook Clough, we followed a path skirting the south side of the Clough to lead towards Grindslow Knoll.

The last section of the route was tiring on our knees as we dropped down to the village of Grindsbrook Booth as it was beginning to get dark and then walked back down the road to the car park where there was a barbecue and live musinc in the Village Hall in celebration of the Beer Barrel race.

It had been a fairly long walk of about 15 miles with luckily good weather.