Day 92 The West Highland Way

Today I caught the train to Milngavie (pronounced Mull-guy) to the start of the West Highland Way (WHW). I wandered about Milngavie looking for some meths -for my stove, I’m not yet reduced to drinking it-and eventually found some in the pet come-things you might need for the WHW-shop. They had a grey parrot on a perch as well. Suitably equipped, I headed off for the twelve miles to Drymen (pronounced Drimmen).

The path was well-signposted and started through woodlands. There were a lot of people out and about but I didn’t see any WHW walkers for quite some time.

A couple of miles in I met Sam amd Katriona who were walking the path to reccy it for a client of Katriona’s. She has walked everywhere-Mongolia, Kilimanjaro, Colombia- leading tours and running Ad Astra Adventures. Sam is less experienced but was enjoying the day so far!

I carried on along the path and suddenly went from having lots of energy to none at all-time for lunch. I ate my sandwiches and two pieces of Elaine’s cake, and I was still hungry. I decided not to eat any more as I had seen on the map (and Elaine had told me) that there was a pub in about a mile and a half. The path was straight and rather hard on the feet and the pub turned out to serve food and cake as well as alcohol. It also had a good line in pet animals-rabbits, guinea pigs etc. As it was quite warm and sunny, I decided on a rehydration strategy (just in case, you can’t be too careful) and had a Coke and a slice of carrot cake that came with a scoop of ice cream. I wasn’t hungry after that but Katriona and Sam arrived for lunch so I chatted to them for a while, until their food turned up. (We were all sitting outside.)

As is often the way after lunch, the path was hard going. There were rivers to see but I never quite regained the enthusiasm of the morning. The last two or three miles were along the road so my feet started to protest (I’m so looking forward to my new shoes).

I’m staying in a converted church (Kip in the Kirk). Frances, who runs it, offered me tea and a scone when I arrived. When she found out I was walking LEJOG she offered to do my washing as well.

I have had a shower, changed and been to the pub for a meal which was so large (vegetable and wild mushroom risotto) that I had no room for pudding. Now there’s a turn up for the books. Drymen was looking lovely in the evening sunshine as I made my way back to my room. Now I find my lower limbs ache all over so I am trying to do some stretching and massage to combat this although all I really want to do is lie down. Thirteen and a half miles today, not really sure how it was that long, it definitely said twelve on the map. Fifteen tomorrow. Or maybe longer.