(Turns out that my script to update the site from my phone was slightly buggy- so had to wait till we found net access to fix it! Fingers crossed things will work now!)

After a mini pub crawl (starting with the Clachan, the oldest pub in Scotland) in Drymen on Sunday, we decided to have brekky at a milk bar an hour along the Way - although we still ended up hitting the road quite late! Too much time enjoying our bacon & egg rolls and tea :-)

So on with the walking- the 6 or so miles to Balmaha were along forest roads- there's tons of forest that was planted about 30 years ago being logged at the moment- supposedly (says Spontaneous Sue- more about her later) most of it was badly planned (too many pines- not enough forest diversity) and is worth barely no money now so is pulped. We had to dodge big trucks loaded with logs and workers using robotic arms to stack the trees up! Quite depressing at times, but at least Sue says they're not replanting the same forests, instead they're planting more ecologically sensible forests across the country.

I met Spontaneous Sue (one of Jim's nicknames- not her real name) at the farm where we stayed on Sunday- she'd only planned to hike the West Highland Way the day before! She'd already had to post a load of gear home on the first day, but apart from that she seemed to be quite organised. See, more random travellers than me do exist!!

As we came out of the forest we took the "hard" route over conic hill. After bumping into (soon to be Randy) Ian we started the descent down to Loch Lomond on the other side- the day was quite clear, and it was our first real taste of "highland" scenery.

After a bite at the Oak Tree Inn at Balmaha, and a little book reading (the pub had quite a selection) we headed north along the eastern side of Loch Lomond. The walking was quite easy, and the weather was good until we sat down on a beach and had a cherry ripe stop. As soon as we'd stood up on beach after photographing the ducklings the rain started- so it was quickly on with the jackets then off to the dinner stop!

Unfortunately we'd underestimated how fast we were walking, and we had to clamber over two quite big hills before arriving at our accommodation after 6! It was a bit of a shock to walk a hilly 14 miles compared to a flat 10.

I had time for a quick snooze before dinner, and we met talkative Luke (who will feature later). Soon it was time for food! So we strolled from the hostel to the hotel and picked up some beer and haggis.

In amongst the wwf wrestling and dodgey music (quite at odds with the beautiful loch outside) Martin turned up! After chatting up his cute doctor in London, he'd raced for King's Cross and had caught trains, buses and hitched lifts to get to us! Looking quite good considering his run-in with dodgey London crims the week before, he arrived with supplies (for Herr Ghandi's blisters) and enough energy to help us pick up the pace over the next few days!

The last thing I remember was the amount of noise that a sufficiently lubricated German and Dutchman made as they clambered into their bunks for the evening...

The end of our first day.... Almost. We're at the pub (surprise surprise) recovering after 11 miles, a good few pints of beer and a huuuge curry dinner!

But to rewind a bit... Perhaps I was too quick to praise BA the other day- our rescheduled flight was late by nearly an hour- so although we all left home between 10 and 11am, we didn't get into our hotel until 7pm!

And what an interesting place! Only cost us just over £13 pp but we had quite a bit of room and a full Scottish breakfast.... You just had to ignore the strangely sloping staircase and the damp smell throughout ;-)

So after dumping our bags we headed out on the town and ticked off a couple of real ale pubs. We found two with live music, which was nice, and the night finished with Jim and Stephan delightfully sampling some locally prepared "two jugs". Tis great how people are so talkative in scotland- have been talking to many randoms! At least they've been talking back ;-) Well, it's mostly good, apart from the fact that the beggars are more confident too!
B: gii us a poond
J: sorry, what did you say?
B: GII US A POOND!
J: err... sorry I don't have a pound to give you
B: yeah yi do, gii us a poond or I'll slit your throats!
(which is about the time that Jim and I buggered off... he may have actually had an actual knife in his pocket- thought it wasn't worth hanging round to find out!)

So the walk? We had quite a slack first day. We arrived at Milngavie at about 11:30, and took photos at the starting line for a while before starting off. We'd
left it so late that the discussion almost immediately was "will the lunch pub still be serving?"... Quite concerning as us hikers need much food!

In typical Sam style, I barely know anything about where we're going on this trip. I was looking at the map on Saturday and noticed that we walked really near Kate's house (whom, my diligent readers may remember, I visited in Blanefields about 18 months ago). I called her just before lunch and then we were off on a 1 mile detour to her home town! Despite nearly losing Stephan in a ditch as we were bush bashing our way, we ended up in the Blaine Valley Inn for a Sunday roast! Was really nice to catch up with Kate too- shouldn't be too hard to convince her that a visit to London will be quite a good way to spend some of the summer!

Kate dropped us back on the trail and we were off again! Apart from a slight detour for another pint in the afternoon, we arrived at our wigwam at 7pm.

So... I started writing this after we'd had our curry with Ian from Leicester... but now it's tomorrow! We've just finished brekky after an hours walk- but that's a story for another entry :-)

A Slow Start to Sam's Scotland Stay! Someone had jumped under a tube train so we missed our flight!

Fly BA! They changed our tickets for no cost- so although their cancellation policy is crap at least we didn't have to buy 3 new tickets.

I'm so kitted up now... I've even got hiking sticks for 3 people in my bag.... and I'm travelling light- my bag was just 8kg *with* the sticks! Stephan and Jim's bags both top 11kg... I'll be the one pushing the pace :-)

OK next msg will at least be from when I'm in Scotland! Off now to acquire a few more supplies...

Hello All!

Just a quick entry - about to rush off to the airport to go hiking for a week in Scotland!

What have I been up to? Well too busy to update the site, unfortunately. Mum and I only had a week in Italy (have to finish those entries!) and then her partner Russell came over. After I walked them round in circles in London for a while, they decided to rent a car and did a 10 day road trip through England, Scotland and Wales... they've seen more than me now (*bastards* !).

Social life is picking up too - I had dinner the other week with Kah Leng, who I studied with but didn't ever really get to meet. She's still just as bubbly as ever - and tis nice to speak to Australians - I guess I forget how much I normally have in common with them! (errr.. although that might seem quite obvious!)

Work's been a bit less stressful recently... and in the last two days I've been at a "Web standards and accessibility" conference. Met some interesting people, but didn't really learn as much as I would have liked.

Anyway... after having a farewell dinner at Jazz Live (www.jazzlive.co.uk) for Mum and Russel, I've had a short snooze, packed my bags, and am about to rush off like a madman to hike! I'm hiking with Stephan, Martin and Jim, from Glasgow to Fort William ("The West Highland Way"). It'll take us 7 days of hiking, plus a day in Glasgow on each end. Should be fun - should see all my new gear :-)

I've set up this website so I can post to it from my phone! But it won't notify you so if you want to see up-to-the-minute posts of where we are, then you'll have to return regularly in the next 9 days or so.

Okay that's all or I'll miss the plane!

Will write more later, hope to catch up with some of you after the 19th.