Drymen to Rowardennan 14.5 miles

I slept ok, but someone left their bathroom light on and so the extractor fan was running all night, and vibrating up the wall next to my bed - I am a light sleeper. On a positive note, that meant that I was awake before my alarm went off. So I was up in plenty of time for a morning shower, something that is very rare on the camino, normally you would shower almost as soon as you arrive at an albergue each day. On the WHW we also have the luxury of breakfast, something that is not guaranteed on the camino, although to be fair, I often set off before any cafés were open. We have pre-booked accommodation at every stage of the WHW but most of them don't allow check in until 3-4pm, so there is no value in starting too early, and that means we have time for a morning shower!

We went around the corner to the Drymen Inn for breakfast, and at last i got my full Scottish cooked breakfast...but it didn't include haggis. My contention is that it is only a Scottish breakfast if it has haggis, and a tattie scone. Most so-called breakfasts have hash browns and fried tomato, which are part of an English breakfast. There is no end to the subversive destruction of our culture! However, the breakfast was good, and just what we needed to get us ready for today's walk.

Today's walk was in two distinct sections, at roughly the halfway point is the village of Balmaha. The name comes from the Scots Gaelic Bealach Mo-Cha, 'the pass of Saint Mo-Cha'. It is a popular tourist spot on the shores of Loch Lomond, and has a statute of Tom Weir, a Scottish climber, author and broadcaster famous for his TV show Weir's Way throughout the 70s and 80s. It also has cafés and restaurants, and shops, and is therefore a popular stopping point for anyone doing the WHW.

After finalising our packing, we set off. It was raining lightly, but enough to need a waterproof jacket, but the ground was very wet, and that's how it would be for the rest of the day, light showers and sunny spells.

We walked steadily uphill for quite a while in the rain, the first section was all uphill before becoming an undulating and winding path leading to the bottom of Conic Hill, mispronounced and now forever known as colonic hill. It was a lot steeper than we thought it would be, It started with some steep steps and continued steeply uphill on very stony, broken, and uneven ground. I soon got a sense of how unfit I had become, having lazily done no hiking since returning from my last camino. It was exhausting, I think everyone was feeling it, especially Chris, he started falling further and further behind (we later found out that he had about 3-4 kilos of water in his backpack which wasn't needed and didn't help). I felt that if I stopped I might not get started again, so I had to keep going, and before long I had lost sight of everyone else. When I got to the top, the views were spectacular.

What goes up must come down, and the next challenge was to get to the bottom of the hill without slipping or falling. What looked like fairly new steps had been built from the top winding all the way down to the bottom of the hill. In some ways that made going downhill easier, but in some ways it was more difficult. The height of each step varied and the stones used were also uneven, and they went on and on. By the time I got to the bottom of the hill my knees were in agony, and as soon as I could, I had to sit down. I messaged the others to let them know I was at Balmaha, and that there were cafés, and then sat down in a café and waited for them to arrive.

When the others eventually arrived, Chris was exhausted, so we decided to have some lunch and a good rest hoping that would revive everyone. By the time we had finished it was 1500, and it was obvious that Chris was not able to walk the next seven miles, and so it was agreed that we would get a taxi to the lodges at Rowardennan.

The lodge was terrific, with a good shower and a fabulous lounge area with great views. Our evening meal was ok but not amazing, I think we were all too tired to really bother too much, but as soon as we were done, we all went back to the lodge and to bed.もっと詳しく