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Well, we're all checked into The Kingshouse Hotel in Glen Coe after completing 20.5 miles since 8am this morning!!
We started The West Highland Way on Friday lunchtime after landing at Glasgow. We thought it would be fun to catch the train to Mulngavie for the start of the walk, which was 12 miles the first day. The weather was fairly kind to us, only a few showers, but the scenery was a little taster of what was to come. The surprise for us was the amount of other walkers that we met along the way - at one point it was like the M5! We headed to our first stop which was Drymen and checked into our B & B for the night which was above a Bank - unusual. We had our evening meal in the oldest licensed pub in Scotland and it was very quaint - a proper local pub. The food was very good and well needed after the first day. Frank was exhausted and a little anxious of the days ahead as we did walk rather fast on the first day as we had a late start. But boy, did he pay us back with
his snoring that night! Boy, oh boy!
Saturday morning, and we met up at 9.15am for our walk to Rowandennan which was supposed to be 15 miles, but in the end it was more like 17! We had a mixed bag, weather-wise with sunshine coming through the showers. As we all had our waterproofs on, it really wasn't a problem. The problem was, we were all carrying a little too much luggage and it was really hard going at times, particularly when climbing. We had a long climb up Conic hill which was really tiring, but when we got to the top, it was worth every step - the views of Loch Lomond were spectacular - even in the heavy rain and black clouds you could see the beauty of the place. The descent was rather more tedious as you had to place each foot carefully to avoid loose stones and heading on down rather faster than planned!! Dave nearly went flying, but had to wisdom to throw himself into the side of the hill - it was a very funny sight.
As we started the descent of Conic Hill, the rain and wind started to hammer us.
It was really tricky for awhile and needed every bit of concentration. As usual when we got to the bottom, the wind and rain stopped and we all dried out again. That day was varied, one minute we were up in the hills and the next down by the side of the Loch. It really was superb. As we were getting to the end of the day, we were all getting tired and the last thing we expected was the steepest climb of the day!! It was like a ladder ahead of us and we all found it very hard going. We were all glad to see our B & B come into view that day and had a well earned drink in the Rowandennan Hotel that evening, then early to bed.
Will write further when we get internet access again.
Bye all and speak soon.
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Rachel Andrews
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Ange how on earth do you have the energy to write all this after such hardcore walks! Sounds like you'll definitely deserve the lovely break at the end. Hope you're all ok and have invested in some earplugs xxx