Day 93 Bad Shoe Day

Today was a fifteen mile day on the east side of Loch Lomond along the bonnie banks and braes-just be thankful you weren’t there to hear my singing.

First, the bonnie brae, Conic Hill. I have read about Conic Hill. I thought it was just a cone shaped hill. No, it is a massive hill. I’m glad I’m not climbing that, I thought, only to find I was.

The views from Conic Hill were lovely-Loch Lomond from many different angles. I reached the top and started the long descent. It is a popular day walk from Balmaha so there were a lot of people making their way up. The descent wasn’t fun-it went on and on, and there were a lot of steps. My knees turned to jelly. An achy sort of jelly. Still, at last the path morphed into a not very steep woodland path and there was a cafe at the bottom (and a pub but I was more focussed on the cafe today). I had a delicious cup of coffee, and succumbed to the lure of a cheese toastie leaving my Spar ploughman’s sandwich untouched.

The rest of the day was along the bonnie, bonnie banks. (I just can’t resist a good lyric.) Initially the path wound along the shore but it became hillier and hillier and my knees became more and more rebellious. To put it in perspective-I did the same amount of ascent after Conic Hill as I did on Conic Hill.

But enough of my knees, actually my left Achilles’ tendon is quite bad as well but we’ll skip that because at 4pm, thirteen miles in, I got a text from Matthew who had arrived at the Youth Hostel where we are staying tonight. I’d like to say it put a spring in my step but, I don’t think anything could have done that. It was great to see him though. Rowardennan Youth Hostel is right on the banks of Loch Lomond. We have a double room and the hostel does food (and alcohol) although we can’t have dinner until 8pm. I was a bit hungry so I have eaten my Spar sandwiches and am enjoying a beer as an aperitif, sitting on a window seat, looking out at the loch.

So what about the bad shoes? I have been looking forward to my third pair of shoes which I ordered in late 2019. They were difficult to find and I got them from a Danish company. Only thing is, they’re the wrong size. How did I not notice that? They’re definitely too small so my worn out 500 mile shoes will have to do another three hundred miles. I’ve got new insoles though. And Fort William might have a shoe shop.