Jim Dabrowski

I’m beginning to think having billionaires isn’t good for democracy.

Day 10

We did it! We completed hiking the West Highland Way! Today we traveled from Kinlochleven to Fort William, about 15 miles. This was actually our longest day of hiking the whole trip. We were a bit worried so we got up and got going a bit early. Turns out we maybe didn’t have to. We made good time and arrived at the end by about 4 pm. Though, which end remains the question. More on that in a bit.

Once again we had absolutely gorgeous weather. Sunny, warm, clear blue skies with hardly a cloud in them. I know, if I say clear skies, there shouldn’t be any clouds, I’m trying to be poetic here. It was just beautiful. Perfect day, again, for hiking. We talked to a number of people this week who said we had the best weather for walking the Way this entire season. Most of the time it’s been rainy, but not for us. We got real lucky. Today was perfect.

Started out with a pretty stiff hike up into the hills for a couple of miles. That was slow going, but slow and steady was our mantra. After that, we hit a crest and walked westward along it for quite a while. Beautiful views of Kinlochleven down into the valley behind us and then hills and valleys ahead.

After a while the way swung north and we began our descent into Fort William. Well, the descent went on for a number of miles, it was a nice overall walk through some pretty countryside. We even saw an old ruined farm house. Not sure how old it was or when it was last occupied. Eventually hit some forests and got to a board that was the half way point. It showed the whole way and where we were, way up at the top. It was cool to see how far we had come. Kept walking, and eventually hit the town.

Here is where things got slightly confusing. The way used to end right there at the start of town. There’s a sign and everything and we got pics there. Then, several years ago city leaders moved the “official” end down a mile or more into the center of this really cute old downtown business district with all sorts of shops and stuff. I can see why they did that. There they built a statue of a guy sitting on a bench with one of his boots off and they dubbed it the new official end. So we go pics there too. So either way, we walked the whole way!

We both are really glad we did this. In some ways it’s actually pretty reassuring that we CAN do something like this. 8 consecutive days of hiking for a total of 96 miles is not nothing. We’re pretty happy with ourselves. Time to start thinking of our next grand adventure. Grand Canyon rim to rim? Maybe. But first two full days of traveling home. Spending all day tomorrow (Thursday) training from Fort William to Glasgow, then switch trains and continue on to London. Spend the night again then catch a non-stop flight home to Phoenix. That will be all day Friday. I don’t think I’ll write about those travels, hopefully they’re really boring and give us a chance to just rest for a couple of days.

Thanks all for reading. Take care.

JIm

Day 9

Our penultimate hike. Left the Kingshouse Hotel a bit later than usual, about 9, since today was another shortish walk of about 9 miles. So no hurry. I have to say, yet another glorious day weather-wise. Sun-shiny, a bit breezy, partly cloudy, mid 40s, a beautiful day for walking. Started out pretty easy, but soon began the climb that led to the “devil’s staircase”. As we suspected, it really wasn’t all that bad. A nice steady climb, punctuated with pauses to look about us at the valleys below and the hills above. Absolutely stunning views. Once we reached the top, met up with that Dutch couple we’ve been seeing and Sebastian took our picture for us. Turned out real nice.

From there it was pretty much all down hill to Kinlochlevin. It was cool to see the trail miles ahead winding its way down the hillside. Eventually came into a nice forested area and then ran across the pipes used to feed water from a loch up above to a hydroelectric plant just outside of town. There were six parallel pipes running down the hillside, each at least three feet in diameter. They got to the plant and then fed back into the river from whence they came. Pretty impressive engineering.

That was right on the outskirts of town and when we got there it was a bit early so we stopped off at a pub for a drink and again ran into our Dutch friends. I feel bad right now, his name is Sebastian and I can’t for the life of me quite recall her name. It was very Dutch, I thought I had it, but now am not so sure. Darn it. I’ll have to ask her tomorrow. Anyway, we sat together and chatted for about an hour. It was really nice to share our various life experiences living in two different countries, but still ending up in the same place at the same time.

From there pretty normal evening. Check in, clean up, go have dinner, then relax and write a blog post. Tomorrow is our last day of hiking. 15 or so miles up to Fort William. Gonna be a long day especially after these last few short days. That’s ok, we can do it!

See you all tomorrow.

JIm

Day 8

I have to begin by saying, haggis is good. Last night at dinner I had some haggis balls (ok, croquettes) and they were really good. Spicy, soft, very tasty, highly recommend. I went with the appetizer sized portion rather than the whole meal just in case, but did enjoy them. Those of you out there reading this, try haggis next time you get the chance.

Today we walked from Bridge of Orchy to Kingshouse. This was our first day of down from the highlands and into the moors and bogs (what is the difference?) and of course today we had wind and rain. I mean, if you’re going to walk around the Scottish moors, you have to have wind and rain, don’t you? It was actually pretty nice. I already posted the pictures and they don’t really show much, but that was really all there was, even if it was pretty in its own way. The overall scene was quite majestic. Rolling hills, clouds around the summits of the Munros. (The really tall hills here are called Munros, the slightly less tall ones are called Corbetts. I can’t tell the difference so I’ve just been calling them hills. They also all have Scottish names to them most of which I can’t pronounce.) It was all really quite nice.

The walk itself was pretty uneventful. Lots of time to walk, talk, and take in the scenery. Arrived at Kingshouse pretty early and had another relaxing afternoon. Tomorrow should also be a pretty short day walking up to Kinlochleven, only about 9 miles but does include the famous “devil’s staircase” which takes us up to the highest point of our entire walk. Though I’ve heard it really isn’t all that bad. I guess I’ll find out tomorrow. That’s it, take care and see you all tomorrow!

JIm

Day 7

Today was a very short day; we like to think of it as a rest day. The official goal for today was Inveroran (no idea on how that’s pronounced, maybe I’ll find out later), which was about 9 miles away. But, our tour company booked us at the Bridge of Orchy Hotel which is about 2.5 miles short of Inveroran. So, we ended up only walking about 6-7 miles today. Despite our starting late, going shopping on our way out of Tyndrum at The Green Welly Stop, and generally walking slowly we still got to our hotel before noon. So we had lunch, checked in, and spent the rest of the day just relaxing. Like I said, a nice rest day.

The walk itself was also very easy. Not much elevation gain on a mostly hard packed rock surface that used to be a military road. Cool and cloudy and again saw many sheep wandering the hillsides. That’s really about it for today. I think I’m going to try some haggis for my appetizer tonight at dinner. I’ll let you all know tomorrow what I think about that. Tomorrow, since we cut our hike kind of short today, will be a bit longer than planned, 12-13 miles. Still not too bad, we’ve done longer days already this trip. Goal for tomorrow is Kingshouse. See you there!

JIm

Day 5

I got my wish! Today was the best day of hiking so far!

Last night we started to get a little nervous. Don’t know how we missed this, but we started looking at what others posted about today’s hike and we saw lots and lots of stuff talking about how it was the worst day of the hike, the trail was difficult, people giving up, and we were like, oh no, how did we not know this? Oops. So starting out this morning we were pretty nervous about how the day was going to go. Turns out, it went great!

Started out easy enough and a couple of miles in we had a choice: the high road or the low road. The low road was the original Way that went down along the loch. It was described as a challenging section. The high way was added recently and stayed closer to the road and was easier. So of course we took the low road. ;)

They weren’t wrong about the challenging part. There were a lot of stone paths and steps, some climbing over boulders, walking along a path where to our left was quite the drop into the loch. But boy oh boy was it fun! This was what we were both looking forward to and we got it. After a couple of miles of this, the two paths joined up again and after several more miles we made it to Inversnaid where we stopped for lunch.

After that came the really challenging part of the walk. As one of our guide books said, the path was more obstacle course than footpath, and it was! Again we loved it. Up and down, climbing, scrambling, over fords, through creeks, everything. All of it right along Loch Lomond with absolutely gorgeous views. I wanted a wilderness hike and this portion really delivered. Eventually we got to the northern end of the loch, made our way across some fields and a small saddle and finally down into Inverarnan (which according to the locals is pronounced In-ver-RARE-ree).

Truly, this was the best hike of the trip so far. I guess Dena and I like “technical” hikes as they’re known. Tomorrow begins our hike really up into the highlands, maybe even cross some moors. Looking forward to it.

JIm

Day 4

Today we went from Drymen to Rowardennan (you’re on your own for pronunciation on this one, we think it’s just like it’s spelled) via Conic Hill. The day started out mid-40s and a light rain. With our rain gear on, it really wasn’t too bad. Rain cleared up in about an hour or so, but it stayed really windy for most of the morning. Started pretty easy through some fields, etc but soon we started the climb up Conic Hill. According to my watch, it was about 1,000 feet high and felt every bit of it. We could have summited the peak but chose not too, it was windy and cloudy and I don’t think we missed all that much. The views from the high point on the way were just fine.

Then came a fairly steep descent but here’s the crazy part, folks were in the process of building a stone path up from the bottom. There were literal bags of boulders piled up alongside the path and guys were hauling them out one by one up to where they were put in place by hand. The amount of work put in to that is crazy to think about. They were clearly working hard! Looked like they had about 2/3 completed, so we were able to walk down it the rest of the way. It was still pretty steep and kinda hard on the legs.

At the bottom we had lunch at the Balmaha (sounds like Omaha) visitor center at a nice little picnic table then on we went again. Like many others, I think, we foolishly believed we were at least half way done when in reality we weren’t. The next leg was pretty nice. Through lots of forested regions along Loch Lomond, but we did have to climb several, what we called unnecessary, stairs. Several times the path would veer off and go up some steep ascent, usually with stairs only to hang out at the top for a bit before descending again to the road or the loch. Why? We had no idea but by the end of the day we were done with stairs. That was pretty much the rest of the day just wandering through the woods on our way to The Hotel Rowardennan which we got to a bit later than expected. Such is life.

So far on this trip the only part that has been a bit surprising to me is the fact that for much of the walk so far, we are very civilization-adjacent. By that I mean we are usually walking along or near a road, or perhaps along some people’s houses, or through parks. I think I was expecting more of a wilderness adventure and it has not really been that. I’m wondering if in a couple of days when we leave the Loch Lomond area and start to cross the bogs and such that it will be, or at least seem, more like wilderness. Not complaining, just noting. The walk these two days has been wonderful and I’m looking forward to tomorrow despite reading that tomorrow’s segment is regarded as the most difficult and challenging of the entire walk! I guess we’ll find that out tomorrow.

Until then,

JIm

West Highland Way Day 3

Day 3

Our first actual day of hiking! A brisk 40 degrees in the morning, that’s about 4 Celsius for you non-Americans out there, but it didn’t really feel all that bad. We planned ahead and made sure to bring along enough layers to deal with weather like this. Warmed up as we went along and overall it was a beautiful sunny day for walking, just lovely, blue skies, and a light breeze for pretty much the whole day.

Today eased us in to this trip. It was mostly flat for the twelve miles from Milngavie to Drymen (pronounced DRI-min). Besides the views, one of the coolest parts was meeting people from all over the world who are here doing the hike. A couple from the Netherlands, three folks from the Czech Republic who are camping as well as hiking (I’m not sure they’re wholly happy with that choice), Bobby from Montreal walked with us for the last couple of miles, and then we met Erica from DC and a lovely couple from the Queensland area of Australia, Jane and David, over dinner. These and some other folks we saw along the way seem like they’re becoming the “bubble” of people we’ll be seeing all along the way to Fort William.

The hike itself started from Milngavie and for much of it it felt like we were walking in a forest preserve back home. Lots of trees and stuff but sounds of civilization were never really that far away. Had a light lunch at the Beech Tree a bit more than half way then made it kind of early to the Ashbank B&B, our resting place for the night. Dinner of fish and chips at The Clachan, the oldest licensed pub in Scotland, rounded out the evening. Now time to rest and off to Rowardenan tomorrow. Supposed to rain in the morning. Good thing we brought our rain gear along!

JIm

West Highland Way Day 2

Day 2

Today was another travel day. This time we traveled from London to Milngavie, Scotland (for those of you in the US reading this, it’s pronounced mul-guy). We booked a seat on the Avanti West Coast train which got us to Glasgow. That took about 4.5 hours. From there, hopped another train to Milngavie. Traveling by rail is real nice. Comfy, quiet, etc. highly recommend. From there, we walked to our hotel, got settled in, wandered around downtown Milngavie, scoped out where the start of the trail is and then had dinner. Back to our rooms where we got all ready for tomorrow’s start to our grand walking adventure. Seems there’s a number of people here all ready to start walking the trail tomorrow as well. We might have some company!

That’s about it really for today. Actually feeling a bit nervous about this. We have been planning it for so long and looking forward to it but now that’s it here, I’m a bit worried. I’m sure it’ll be fine, right? Guess we’ll all find out tomorrow. :)

JIm

Day 1

Today was a travel day. Left Spartanburg made our way to Charlotte Airport where we flew to New Jersey to catch our overnight flight to London. Because we splurged a bit and bought business class tickets so we could get the lie flat seats, we also got access to the United Polaris Lounge. I have to say, it was nice. The chairs were comfy and they had some pretty nice free food and drinks but Newark Airport is really nice and I think I would have been just as happy in the main terminal. Live and learn.

Got on the flight, tucked in and much to my surprise I was able to get a pretty good nights sleep! Normally for me I can never get to sleep on a plane. It’s frustrating because I’m tired but I spend hours in that weird half awake half asleep state eventually giving up and just staying awake but being very tired. This time it took a little while but I got to sleep and felt pretty good on landing. Unfortunately Dena had a night like I normally do and was pretty exhausted all day. But we marched on.

Got to London Heathrow made it through all the stuff, customs is so much easier nowadays, took the Underground to our hotel (the Hampton Inn London Waterloo), then spent the rest of the day wandering around doing touristy stuff. Saw Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, wandered around Westminster Abbey, saw Trafalgar Square and from there on to Piccadilly Circus. I’m unimpressed with that last place, too touristy. Finally, we tried to find Diagon Alley.

When we were all here in 2006, We took a walking tour and the guide showed us a little road that many say was an inspiration for Diagon Alley. I wanted to go there again so we searched google and the maps apps. We kept circling around where it says it should be but we could never find it. I think that without the kids with us, we just weren’t magical enough to find it to be able to enter. Bummer.

That’s the end of Day 1. Yes, that was actually two days but it really feels like one big long one. Back at our hotel, going to relax and crash and hopefully get a good nights sleep. Then off kinda early tomorrow morning to catch a train to Glasgow to begin our hike on Wednesday.

JIm

West Highland Way Day 1