(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...
Posted by Sam at June 13, 2005 06:41 PM