Day 65: Bridge of Orchy

Distance: 10.8 miles
Snow squalls: 3

Our day began at the beautiful Ewich House (pronounced U wick).


Our hosts Ian and Deb put on a great breakfast with the best coffee we've had in a long time. We judge the quality of the breakfast by the mushrooms and these were porcini, so this breakfast was a winner.


Our fellow diners were 2 Canadian couples from Ottawa and their Scottish friends. They were also walking some of the West Highland Way and gave us a ride back from the pub last night. We had a great time chatting. The Scottish gentleman, when asked if Scots eat a full breakfast everyday, told us that he usually has coffee and a cigar. Sometimes two.

We checked the weather forecast and it was -1 degree Celsius with a high of 6. So we broke out the warm clothes and headed out. It was gloriously sunny.


We thought we'd gotten it wrong, but the weather here likes to show off. We knew the sun wouldn't last and we were right. The day alternated between sunny blue skies and snow squalls and rain. Luckily, the precipitation never lasted too long.


The path took us through the town of Tyndrum. We stopped at the Green Wellie store, which was also a petrol station. There were scores of motorcycles tanking up or parked. Not sure if it was some kind of rally or just people out enjoying the long weekend. Since we didn't need petrol, we fueled up with ice cream bars!

The scenery continues to be fantastic.





We arrived at Bridge of Orchy before the hotel's three o'clock check in time, so we stowed our backpacks in their cloakroom and had a drink in the lounge.


The cloakroom was full of packs, all decorated with big paper tags. A lot of people who do the WHW take advantage of the many baggage transfer services that operate here. They pick up your bag at your hotel or B&B and deliver it to your next stop while you walk with only what you need for the day. Michael and Jan started having one of their packs transferred in Strathblane in hopes that a lighter load would be easier on Michael's blisters. I can't say it's been a success, but it hasn't hurt. (In other news, this might be a good time to buy stock in Compeeds Blister Plasters.)


Tomorrow is a day we've long been anticipating. It should be a beautiful walk, over Rannock moor and up the Devil's Staircase then down to Kinlochleven. But at twenty one miles it's also our longest day so far, and this section of the West Highland Way has the reputation of being challenging. The prospect of climbing the fifteen hundred foot Devil's Staircase in the last 5 miles has led us to join Michael and Jan and sent one pack (mine!) ahead. We'll take the extra stuff out of Al's pack, put it in mine, and he'll carry what we'll need for the day. Hopefully, this way we'll make it to Kinlochleven before dark and still able to walk.

Day 64: Ewich House

Distance: 16.0 miles
Octogenarians: 80
Today was another beautiful day, with a mix of sun and clouds, and only a little hail. It almost got warm enough for bear arms! We're really putting in the miles lately. Since Michael and Jan joined us in Edinburgh, five of our six days have been longer than 15 miles. The main casualty of the long miles has been Michael's blistered feet. The good news is that he's helping out the Scottish economy, purchasing Compeeds by the case, and they seem to be helping.




We started our day with four coach loads of grey haired land cruisers. It's good practice for when our kids ship us off to the old folks home. Let's hope the one they pick has better food than this place. On the plus side, the food was soft. The coffee in particular was completely undrinkable, at least by me, and Dawn. Michael managed two cups off the stuff, though it was heavily diluted with milk and sugar. Can you pick out the table with the four of us?




One of the nice things traveling with Michael and Jan is that Michael is a photographer. A good photographer. We've started relying heavily on his images for the blog; yesterday all the pictures but one were his. There are two benefits for our readers. First is that you can see our trip from a new and fresh angle. And the second is that you now get more pictures of me - lucky, huh?




Our walk started with the six miles along the shore of Loch Lomand, to its north end. This section was rocky, with a fair bit of scrambling, making for slow going, but the scenery was beautiful.




After a solid day and a half of walking along the water, over twenty miles, we climbed the hill and looked back for the last time at the bonnie bonnie banks of Loch Lomand.




We stopped for lunch at Inverarnan, where we had some good luck. The first piece of luck is that we found a pub right on the path. The second was that I ran into a couple of nice guys who were camping and they bought me a beer. And the third is that there was a lamb, right there, and we got a picture.




Isn't that lamb nice? It's just not a proper blog post without a cute lamb picture!




The path here follows an eighteenth century military road. Today, the road is shared between walkers, like us, and cows, like this one. She was moving purposefully south, perhaps to visit relatives in Glasgow.




I had some problems today due to my height. Going under this bridge was a bit of an adventure, since the clearance got less and less the closer you got to the end. Even Dawn had to duck!




And this picture speaks for itself.




Tomorrow, we have a relatively short walk to the fabulously named Bridge of Orchy. Then we rest. Because the day after is a 21 miler over Rannoch Moor and up something called the Devil's staircase.

Location:Crianlarich,United Kingdom

Day 63: On the Bonnie Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond

Distance: 16.2 miles
Banks: Bonnie!
Today's birthday girl is Carolyn - Happy Birthday Caro!
Today was a day we've been looking forward to since we started planning this trek. All day along the banks of bonnie Loch Lomond. It turned out that it rained overnight and the day dawned bright and clear.




Our first stop was the Balmaha village store to pick up lunch supplies, in case we didn't reach the pub in Rowardennan in time. While we were there we ran into a gentleman who we met on the road yesterday. His great grandfather came to the area as a miller in 1910, and the family has been working a farm on the banks of the loch, ever since. His property is one of the most beautiful in Scotland, his home looks to the loch on one side, and the mountains on the other. Last week, he had a second hip replacement, and he's already walking the mile or so from his farm into town to pick up the paper. A really interesting, friendly guy.




Tonight we're staying at the rather interesting Inversnaid Hotel which is owned and run by a bus, I mean coach, tour company. The place is filled with octogenarians on some kind of land cruise of the lochs and glens of the Highlands. We were lucky that they take "independents" when they can. That's us. They even had a special entrance for us around back.




Unfortunately, the wi-fi situation is not great and only available in the bar. Plus it's getting late, I'm tired and tomorrow is a longer day,so here are a bunch of pictures from the day. The loch is absolutely beautiful and the trail is amazing!














We stopped for lunch at the pub in Rowardennan. There were several other people hiking the WHW.








Here are Jan and I with the end in sight.




Tomorrow we finish the walk along the Loch then head north east along Glen Falloch.

Location:Inversnaid, United Kingdom

Day 62: Into the Highlands

Distance: 15.2 miles

Thanks to Michael and Jan for guest blogging yesterday! And happy fortieth birthday, Bruce! Hey look, it's another castle!



I have one important yesterday story I need to share, before getting on to today's post. It starts at lunch. We got into a conversation with our waitress about where we come from, and what we're doing, and all of that, and she recognized our accents as Canadian. That happens now and then, and always makes us happy. She told us that she knows the accent, because she once had a Canadian boyfriend, and stayed there for a while. And then she got called off to the bar for some kind of bar emergency. Later that afternoon, I stopped by to ask a very important question: how we catch a bus to Glengoyne, where the whisky is? And I asked a follow up question: where in Canada did she stay? "Oh", she said, "'twas a terrible wee place called Brantford!". In the terrible wee town of Brantford, I heard, people don't even go out on Saturday night. They have to stay in so they can watch the ice hockey! And then on Sunday, it's American football. She broke up with the boyfriend, and found another place in Canada to stay, spending two seasons in Whistler. She liked that better. (for our readers who don't know: I was born in Brantford, and grew up nearby. Larry lived there too!)


Today, according to the borders drawn up by the Scotch Whisky Association, we officially walked into the Scottish Highlands! We've been looking forward to this part of the walk since early in planning, for two reasons. The first is that by some accounts the West Highland Way, which we joined today, is the most scenic part of the whole journey. The second is that the Highlands are our home stretch; from here it feels like John O'Groats is finally within reach.


The weather today was perfect for walking. It started out cool, but not cold, with a thin layer of clouds, so it was bright, but without direct sun. After a few hours, the clouds broke up, and we finished in beautiful sunshine, under a sky of pure blue. It was a welcome change after April. We learned from the BBC that last month was the wettest April in England since they started keeping records. We saw pictures of a few towns that we visited which are flooded; we even recognized our Tewkesbury B&B with water partway up the front door. Our path there was through a flood plain, on the banks of the Severn. It must be completely submerged. We hope that things improve for the people there, and we're thankful for our nice weather now.


For the past few days, ever since Edinburgh, the surfaces of the footpaths we've taken have been very nicely surfaced - often with packed dirt, sometimes even paved. Until this morning We hadn't worn our boots since the Pentland Hills; we just walk in our trainers. So it was kind of nice today to finally have some mud, even if it only lasted a mile or two.


Dawn has become a mud connoisseur. I realized this about two weeks ago, I can't remember on what day, but we had some mud to cross, a lot like in the picture above. "This is nice mud", she told me. "Not too sticky or slippery, and you can feel the bottom. Lovely." Just three months ago, she knew nothing about mud! Or animal poo! Now, she's a pro.


Once the joined the West Highland Way, the mud ended, and we went back to very nicely groomed paths. So no more mud, but we did find these calves. As you can see, Jan communicates with them telepathically.


We also found a Columbia Sportwear vest, out here on the other side of the world from its home in Portland.


We enjoyed a leisurely coffee and lunch in the sunshine at Drymen, and then took the short route along the road for the last few miles to Balmaha, on Loch Lomond. On a sunny evening, the banks of Loch Lomond are bonny; this is a really beautiful place.


Tomorrow we walk north along the shore of the loch to the Inversnaid Hotel. Some weather forecasts are calling for rain. Others for sun. You know which ones I'm pulling for!

Location:Balmaha,United Kingdom

Day 61: Glengoyne

Distance: 8.2 miles
Amateur bloggers: 2

Well, while Dawn and Al are unstoppable walking machines who can nonchalantly find their way across mis-mapped, obstacle laden, foreign land, they seem to have little skill (or perhaps standards) when it comes to choosing guest bloggers.

It's Jan & Michael (the Edinburgh to Inverness interlopers) you've got for today while Dawn and Al get a well deserved day off from blogging if not walking. Will do our best to meet the high bar they set, but please don't expect this to be a blistering report (though a big thanks! for the much appreciated help to Julia@Knit Wits).


Low point of the day: breakfast. Al was only able to scare up limited amounts of 'cold breakfast' as his usual "round 2" of hot foods was not offered. Good thing there was 'only' 8 or 9 miles to go today (their normal mileage before lunch).

High point: hard to call. Lots of competition. Today's weather turned out to be clear blue skies and over 21 degrees (honestly!).



That should have been a shoe-in for high point if the day didn't also include a tour of the picturesque Glengoyne Distillery in Dumgoyne. Described by some as "The best whiskey tour in Scotland." We can agree as it's certainly the best one we've had so far.


But we're getting ahead of ourselves. More on Glengoyne and their wonderfully friendly staff in a moment.

The walk today was on a flat rails to trails path (which we think Al would classify as Type 1 - his favorite for being well marked and generally easily followed on the ground). It wandered through the back of some of the northern suburbs of Glasgow and a number of sheep farms where we photographed cute lambs while Al salivated.


The topography changed from flat to rolling farmland to the foothills of Campsie Fells, which continue along the beginning of the West Highland Way.


It was still morning when we dropped down into Strathblane, and we easily found our destination, The Kirkhouse Inn, just down the street from this small church.


This early arrival was all part of the plan to visit a real Scotland distillery. Glengoyne is said to be one of just 14 distilleries that are today Scottish owned out of a hundred or so in the country. They used to make their scotch from this waterfall


But now they need to pipe in water as they brew over one million liters every year. We were already looking forward to doing a wee bit of sampling following David's interesting tour of the how and whys at Glengoyne, but when we learned their casks are made only from Oregon(!) Pine, we were totally sold.


Natalie was our entertaining guide for a special tasting in a small sitting room, where we enjoyed learning a bit of whiskey history and sampling some Highland single malts including a 21 year old bottle. Like.


While the distillery's shop reminded us a bit of being in Napa Valley, the shop keeper Alistair was 100% Scottish and very charming. He could have easily sent us away loaded up with all things Glengoyne if it wasn't for Larry's law, "don't be the hikers with the shopping bags!"


Tomorrow begins the West Highland Way! The walk from Strathblane to Balmaha is expected to be about 13 'Al miles' :)

Location:Glasgow Rd,,United Kingdom

Day 60: Forth & Clyde Canal

Distance: 17.1 miles
Pilot: Auto
Today we spent the whole day along the Forth and Clyde Canal. It runs right behind the hotel we stayed at, so from virtually our first steps, that's where we needed to be. Not much call for our map reading skills today!




The biggest excitement came early when, after a couple of miles, we arrived at the Falkirk Wheel. This engineering marvel is the only rotating boat lift in the world. It was opened in 2002 and joins the Union Canal with the Forth & Clyde Canal. Originally these canals were linked by a series of 11 locks, but they fell into disuse in the 1930s and were eventually filled in and built upon. When the plans were made at the Millennium to refurbish the canal link between Edinburgh and Glasgow, the planners wanted a dramatic, 21st century structure to relink the two canals. Mission accomplished! Look up Falkirk Wheel on YouTube to see how this thing works. It's amazing! (I don't know how to put a link in on the iPad) Unfortunately, it was not in operation this morning, but it was still very impressive.




The height difference between the two canals is 79 feet!

Beyond the wheel, it was just a long slog along the canal towpath. We deked off in Bonnybridge to pick up some groceries for lunch, but that was it. We did see some wildlife along the way.








We also saw this interestingly attired creature.




We think he might be related to this more sophisticated specimen, but it seems unlikely.




After about 6 miles, it became clear to Michael that the last two days (and 6 miles) had taken a toll. Blisters were pushing the walk from uncomfortable to painful, so he and Jan headed for a hotel near the canal to grab a cab to the hotel they are staying at. Since I'm still just in the uncomfortable zone, Al and I pushed on.
We finally made it to Kirkintilloch and found our hotel. We cabbed it out to Kincaid House, where Michael and Jan are staying, for dinner.




They had tended to the blisters and were looking very refreshed. Michael has wisely decided to skip walking tomorrow, and possibly the next day, to give his blisters a chance to heal and his feet a chance to rest. He'll meet the rest of us at our next stop, Strathblane. The walk to Strathblane is a short 9 or 10 miles, which should give us time to tour the nearby Glengoyne distillery. Funny how that worked out.

Location:David Donnelly Pl,Glasgow,United Kingdom