Jim Dabrowski

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 6

A misty Scottish morning. Today started off a bit cold and misty. Had to put on some of our rain gear but that was about it. Not too bad. Cleared up by afternoon and then was just beautiful, again. Today was also the waterfall day. Started out from Inverarnan and basically followed the River Falloch north then north-east for the first half of the day. Lots of walking through farmland, but not crops just sheep. Lots and lots of sheep and the occasional cow. Somewhat surprised we don’t see more lamb and mutton on the menus here. When we weren’t crossing waterfalls, we were walking along misty hillsides. It was really quite pretty.

About mid-day we ventured off the actual path to find lunch. The place we stayed at didn’t provide one so we had to shop. The trail took us by the town of Crianlarich (I forgot to ask them how to pronounce that), so we detoured off to stop in town to find some food. Turns out about the only thing open was a convenience store so it was pre-packaged sandwiches and chips for us. It was fine. Back to the trail and the onward to Tyndrum (TINE-drum).

Aside from the weather clearing up, the afternoon was much the same. Waterfalls, valley vistas, moss covered forests and generally beautiful countrysides. Made good time and got to Tyndrum by about 4:30. Tomorrow will be a pretty short day, only 6.5 miles so we plan on sleeping in a bit, maybe look around Tyndrum, then head to the Bridge of Orchy Hotel, our next stop. See you all then.

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