This is the moment! We have been working toward this goal for over a year! This adventure will take us over 150km from Mulngavie to Ft. William by foot. This is also an adventure for Bill to connect to and learn more about his Scottish heritage. We were up early for a 7am breakfast and luggage drop behind the inn by 8am. We walked into town to the starting point to touch the obelisk and take some photos. 🤗 It is customary to touch the obelisk for good luck. 🤞
At the entrance to the WHW, there are some beautiful metal art pieces of the key sights along the way.
It took a good amount of time to just get out of the urban forest and park area, but as we continued, we had some special sights. There were several posts of scholars rocks, and occasionally, there messages embedded into the trail.
As we progressed along the trail, it was with a fairly good breeze. We were grateful for that since it meant there were no midges! There were more surprises such as a fairy house.
We came along Glengoyne Distillery, which we considered stopping at, but neither of us are Scotch drinkers, and it was only 11am, so our friends went and we carried on down the road, passing by The Beach Tree and Turnip the Beet restaurants and several honesty boxes and loads of blackberries (although hardly any were ripe enough to eat). Honesty boxes usually have an assortment of baking or snacks and supplies for purchase on the honor system. At the last honesty box, we treated ourselves to a brownie and some Scottish tablet!😋
When we stopped for lunch at one of the benches along the way, we had a nice visit with Marion, from France.
Blackberries were a welcome treat along the trail.
We made good time and got into Drymen at around 2pm.
Since we couldn't check in until 4pm, we chatted with Stewart and Calvin from England. We had a fair amount in common with them, talking about everything from wastewater treatment to having the same brand of shoes. Calvin says he has hiked thousands of miles and has never gotten a blister wearing these!
We continued a few yards down the street to the Drymen Inn for a pint (or half pint for me). There, we met Mac sitting at the bar. He started chatting with me about the Guiness that we ordered, and that it is the best in all of Europe - I'll take his work for it! Eventually, he pulled a chair up to our table, and the time passed quickly!
We checked in to the Braeside Inn. A quaint guest house with tiny rooms - what else can be expected - but excellent service!
We made reservations at the Clachan Inn for this evening. Bill had a steak pie and I had the special - venison pie with baby onions and puff pastry. So yummy and flavorful!
Tomorrow brings us a longer day, climbing up Conic Hill and making our way to Rowardennan.
