The Highland Way Hike - day 1

Today we started hiking on The West Highlands Way in Scotland. Day one involved walking from Milngavnie to Drymaen. We took a bus to the starting point where we had breakfast and saw many other hikers starting the journey, everyone getting their picture taken at the famous obelisk.

The weather was mostly cloudy with occasional sprinkles. Great hiking weather.

We hiked 13.5 miles mostly through meadows next to sheep and cows with some rolling hills. The surrounding hills were very green and beautiful. About halfway, a distillery called out to Jeff and we did a short side trip to the Glengoyne Distillery. We didn't take the time to do a tour but we were able to sample some whisky and purchase travel bottles for later.

There aren't a lot of places to stop along the way so when you find one, you take advantage of it. So, we stopped at the Beech Tree for lunch. They have a petting zoo with Shetland ponies. From there it was just one foot in front of the other until Dryman. Along the way we met two girls from Colorado. One just moved to England to go to school and she and her sister are doing the hike before school starts. We also met Francesco from Italy (Sicily).

We are spending the night at the Buchanan Arms. Once in Drymen we ate at the Crachan, noted as the oldest licensed pub in Scotland.Read more