How NOT to do the West Highland Way - part 1

West Highland Way - part 1

 

 Introduction and Section 1 from Milngavie to Drymen

 

Introduction

This is my account of our West Highland Way experience in May/June 2012. I decided to write this blog as a detailed account of how NOT to do the West Highland Way. I've been reading so many blogs of people's brilliant experiences that I thought it was important to share mine also. Don't get me wrong, some parts of my journey were truly wonderful; but general lack of awareness and planning caused me to drop out early and so I wasn't able to complete the walk. 

I have learnt a lot from this experience however, which is why I wanted to share - and hopefully prevent others making the same mistakes that I did. I am currently planning to tackle the walk again next summer, and hopefully with better organisation, planning and training I'll be able to complete it this time.

In the meantime my partner and I are planning to try some of Scotland's shorter walks for training purposes this year - so stay tuned for my updates and thoughts on these!

Which way??!

Day 1 Milngavie to Drymen

We all arranged to meet at Waverley Station at approximately 8 am, and I was relieved to bump into one of our gang at the top of the stairs. There was definitely a sense of excitement in the air, and also a few nerves as this was the first time any of us had attempted a long distance walk.

It felt like we were in the train station for ages as people kept on disappearing to grab a coffee, or sandwich, or go to the toilet or cash machine. – this was merely a hint of things to come! So by the time we got on the train we’d already wasted an hour.

The journey was pretty uneventful, we changed at Glasgow Queen Street, and again at Partick and practically took up a full carriage on our own due to all our bags and equipment. We arrived in Milngavie at approximately 10am and were finally ready to start the walk. The baggage people met us off the train, and were really welcoming and friendly. We exchanged a bit of banter then made our way into Milngavie High Street

Do you think we've packed enough stuff?

My friend and I popped into the tourist information office to sign the register, and when we came back the rest of the group had dispersed, so we decided to pop into Greggs and grab a coffee and hoped that by the time we got back everyone would have returned. No such luck. One by one people started to reappear, and we finally found the others sitting in a café down the other end of the high street eating a full English breakfast! 

After taking the obligatory photographs next to the obelisk and archway we finally began the walk just after 11 o'clock. A bit later than I would have liked, but by no means a disaster – we still had plenty time to complete the first stage.

Just about to begin

A friendly pigeon we met in Milngavie

The beginning of the walk was rather unspectacular to say the least, as we walked around the back of a supermarket, past an upturned trolley, but it slowly opened up into some nice parkland. This was short-lived however, as we approached a couple of policewomen and some crime tape. It turns out a body had been found – clearly we were still not too far away from Glasgow! Had a bit of banter with the policewomen then quickly moved on.

Woodland bluebells

This first section was quite busy with dog walkers and joggers etc, but soon tailed off as we moved out of Allander Park and into Mugdock wood. The woodland floor was carpeted with bluebells, which looked lovely with the dappled sunlight coming in through the trees. 

Beginning to bake in the sun

 The route then continues along the Allander water which is a rather flat section, not much of a challenge and more of a pleasant stroll to ease you in gently. We passed through the Campsie cottages and made use of the honesty box left there - with a fresh supply of ice cold water, tea, coffee and biscuits. Incidently this is the only one we came across the whole journey. Perhaps there were more later on; I didn't get the chance to find that out. It seemed a bit of a shame that we encountered it only an hour or so into the 96 miles, but at the time we were thankful as the sun was beating down relentlessly so an ice cold water was more than welcome.

Just what we needed

 

 The path then opened up and you could see the beginnings of the larger hills in the distance, which was a nice preview of things to come. The path had been mainly flat up until this point, so it was exciting to see what lay ahead. This excitement was short-lived however, as the path continued on through farmland, and then along the old railway line past the Glengoyne distillery. Under normal circumstances this would have been an easy section of the walk, but because of the abnormally hot sunshine we were starting to struggle in the heat. We passed a few people who urged us on with "Only ten minutes until the pub!" and "Five minutes to go!" so this lifted our spirits sufficiently to spur us on. We could barely contain our excitement when we saw the sign for the Beech Tree Inn.

Not only pigeons, but we also saw sheep!

Because of the weather the place was absolutely heaving, so we had to settle for a space on the grass which didn't really bother us to be fair. The sun was shining, we had our shoes off, and our first pint of the day tasted absolutely delicious! I actually wouldn't mind driving up here again as it seemed like a nice place for lunch. We didn't bother with food however, just a few Mars bars and Babybels from our pack, and we decided to get going again after about an hour or so.







The Way continued along the railway bed for the next stretch, but at least this time we were shaded by some trees. We passed a sewage treatment plant which was absolutely stinking in the heat, and then passed by a row of rather run down looking houses. Certainly not the most scenic part of the walk! However due to the shade we were able to pick up the pace, and it seemed like we'd hardly been walking an hour when we reached our campsite for the evening - the Wishing Well at Gartness.

Almost there!

Ahhhh - at last!

It was the bag carrying service who recommended we stay here, as we had originally planned to walk as far as the East Drumquassle site at Drymen. However they had said it wasn't very clean which put us off a bit, and the fact that it was usually very busy. The site at the Wishing Well was faultless, plenty of space, excellent facilities, and only three other tents apart from ours. It turned out to be one of my favourite stops on the whole trip. The only disadvantage was that it was around two miles outside of Drymen, which meant the next day was going to be slightly longer. We were all actually surprised when we reached our destination so quickly, and could easily have continued on for another few hours. 

Anyway we made the most of the rest of the evening and sat out in the sunshine with a few drinks, listening to the ipod through the speakers, and firing up the camp stove - perfect.

Day one complete :)