Month: September 2019

Hamilton to Lanark. 20.87 miles, 1,693 ft of elevation, 28,448 steps

A lovely day of warm dry weather and sunshine. It quickly felt like we had escaped the suburbs of Glasgow and were soon out in more rural landscape. The day was spent alongside the river Clyde again and it remained a formidable companion and a nice background to the days walk.

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It’s strange what your mind does when you have hours to yourself and I enjoyed imagining what had become of these owner of the abandoned crutches. The first was discovered broken and leaning against a gate. On going round the corner the second was discovered high up in a tree. I imagined some miracle cure mid way through a walk in which the owner then flung their crutches in wild abandon as far as they could in to the surrounding shrubbery. But then, what would he have been doing on a walk in the middle of nowhere on crutches to start with……

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Lunch was a quick detour in to a tiny hamlet call Crossford. A cup of tea and biscuit purchased, but on taking them outside I was met by a mildly off putting sight. I quickly moved on…..

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Today’s highlight however was definitely learning the story of the castle at Milton Lockhart (or lack of castle). Googling what befell the grand family home I discovered a fantastic story and one definitely for you Tommy Sato. The castle which dates back a few hundred years was purchased by a Japanese actor ‘Masahiko Tsugawa’ in the 1980’s. He took it down brick by brick, transported it back to Japan via the trans Siberian railway (after seeking permission from Gorbachev) and rebuilt it 2 hours outside of Tokyo. It is now used as a Santa Claus museum with over 1,000 Father Christmas figures inside. Just brilliant. If you don’t believe me, here’s the link. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.scotsman.com/news-2-15012/the-man-who-moved-a-scottish-mansion-to-japan-1-4561585/amp It kept me smiling all day.

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I am staying in a very smart B&B attached to the Lanark race course. Dinner today garlic mushrooms, in garlic sauce on garlic break. WOW, still I have three days before I meet anyone I know.

Central Glasgow to Hamilton. 24.7 miles, 1,355 ft of elevation, 47,776 steps

Thank you Tommy for joining me on what was meant to be a gentle if unexciting walk but ended up being wet, frustratingly long and with a central theme of litter. I also never allowed you a stop for lunch and for that I again apologise.

The plan was a simple one – to meet on the banks of the River Clyde and follow it out of Glasgow onwards to Hamilton. I will continue along the river tomorrow to Lanark.

We were not expecting rural idle and so got what we were expecting. Rubbish (often nicely collected in plastic bags), housing developments, some rather unnecessary ‘no fishing signs’ and evidence of the Scottish obsession with Irn Bru.

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At one point we veered off the rivers edge and walked about a mile along a road. We played ‘count the number of Irn Bru cans lobbed in the verge’. We lost count at 50 before we were half way along the road. We concluded that it must be part of the ritual and high on sugar you just have to chuck the evidence as hard as you can out of the window.

Excitement over, we went through a lovely section of woods with a number of dog walkers struggling with too many yappy dogs and saw lots of little bits of wood nailed to numerous trees. One of the dog walkers told us that it was a local chap who started to put up doors for the tree faries and all the children joined in. There were loads of them but our favourite was the below:

Then it rained. Hard. And this is when the walk lost its adventure and became frustrating. I took Tom through a swamp and then tried to navigate over the M74. The previously well marked ‘Clyde walkway’ decided to give up, we hacked our way along the side of the motorway only to have to turn back and walk the most convoluted route over the motorway almost teasing the walker ‘how dare young choose this ridiculous choice of motion when we have the fast, noisy motorcar. You shall walk an unnecessary mile as we force you over and under this lovely conveyor belt of noise and pollution’. (can you tell it annoyed me).

So after this stupid diversion we then came to the Strathclyde Country Park, and the commonwealth ‘rowing dory’. It seemed endless and we had great fun critiquing Mark Duntan’s stupid sport for the additional 2 Miles’s this took us.

Finally we arrived at the beautiful OYO hotel. A quick beer with Tom, a shower and now the curry. A great, tiring day. It must get prettier again from here……

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One quick shout out to the Newton arms in Newton. A scary, rough looking pub that gave us free tea and biscuits whilst listening to 1980’s hits and admiring the decor. (I dare you to look it up on trip advisor – they were lovely).

lovely day with Kate – thanks Katey for flying up for the day. Lazy morning reading the papers in a Wetherspoon pub ( whatever you think of Tim Martin – (Jonathan, I know you are a fan,) he does a great cheap brecky), a very cultural whizz round the city taking in the statue of Walter Scott and then some admin.

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A bit of route amendment due to accommodation needs and we are all good now to Carlisle. It was soon time for Kate to depart and I am now trying to catch up on Peaky Blinders. Tommy Underwood is joining for a day tomorrow as I start my walk down to England over the next week.

You’ll be pleased to know Kate stayed off the booze today and so managed to stay awake all day.

Drymen to Milngavie. 11.09 miles, 846 ft of elevation, 27,792 steps. I think about 180 miles in total so far

An early start today leaving Jonathan to pack up the tents and sort out the gear whilst I again walked with a very light pack. There was a serious amount of snoring going on at the campsite last night (more of a paddock than a campsite). Having been kept awake one inevitably has to get up for a comfort break…. It’s a mission going out for a pee in the night with a dog in tow. Firstly they think that’s its walkies, and then having got themselves soaking wet they get back in the tent and settle right on top of the sleeping bag.

The walk today was taking us in towards Glasgow and it was clear that it was more suburban, agricultural and with a real smell of silage. Still, there was not a cloud in the sky…. marvellous!

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The weather was spectacular and I took great pleasure in wishing all the walkers going the other way a ‘enjoyable hike’ whilst secretly hoping it will pee down with rain at some point – come on, they have to have the full experience?!

The finish was lovely and my valet was there to record the finish (which is actually the start as we walked the wrong way) and join me for a few beers and late breakfast.

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Kate arrived for a weekend in Glasgow and it will be lovely to catch up although a couple of glasses of wine at dinner and she is now fast asleep in the hotel (must be the excitement of seeing her beloved). Schooner went home with Jonathan for a well deserved break and will be joining again in a couple of weeks. A really sad moment as he has been fantastic company and I now have some days on my own coming up which will not be the same without him.

“Rest up well schooner, we shall be reunited again soon”.

Rowardennan to Drymen. 17.44 miles, 2,949 ft elevation, 28,184 steps

Firstly, can I apologise for any typos on this blog. I am doing it all by mobile and with the limitations of the phone combined with my own IT limitations it’s a surprise any of it makes sense.

First interesting spot today was an old phone box still with the actual phone inside. Much to my disappointment it didn’t work but still makes a change from a stack of second hand books.

Not much else to say on the first half of today’s leg. We followed the shore of Loch Lomond, Schooner had a swim and it rained a bit. I was chasing down the miles for my late breakfast having set off with only a marathon bar for sustenance.

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This afternoons walk however was spectacular having climbed Conic hill which I believe is one of the top 10 views in the UK. A panoramic view which I know my photos won’t do justice to but have tried anyway.

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On our way down Schooner took interest in a calf and slowly made his way over to say hello. We all got a shock when Mum all hair and long horns popped up out of the grass to say hello. How on earth can something that size hide in the grass…..

Anyway, after all the excitement of the afternoon I got to our campsite only to be told by the farmer that Jonathan had disappeared with two girls to the local pub…. poor souls must have been bored so had to rescue them from his Boris talk and we had a jolly evening talking about the WHW, boots and raincoats.

I knew it was time for bed when I called Kate thinking it was 11:45 only to Ben told it was in fact 8:45. Exciting times……

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Crianlarich to Rowardennan. 22.33 miles, 2,753 ft of elevation, 35,448 steps.

Today we really moved away from the Highlands and in to more lowland walking. A beautiful start to the day after a fantastic night at Beinglas campsite – great place which has developed over the last 20 years from a sheep farm to a great walkers retreat.

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After a quick cup of tea at 11, we had our first sight of Loch Lomond and my first go at listening to the cricket. I tried this periodically during the day but decided the distraction of hearing our woeful performance today was too much and soon gave up and preferred the sound of nature (basically roaring waterfalls every five minutes getting rid of all that rain water from earlier in the week.

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the rest of the day was a tough clambering afternoon over rocks and tree routes all pretty tough terrain. We passed Rob Roy’s cave and Rob Roy’s prison. No discernible difference as they both seemed to be just a pile of rocks.

I did pass a lovely memorial for a chap called Bill Lobban who died in 1975 making the ultimate sacrifice. Thanks to the wonders of the internet I discovered that he was a school teacher, 42 years of age who died saving two other teachers and a student who fell in to a raging levy. (Full story on this link – https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2507&dat=19751125&id=D_0-AAAAIBAJ&sjid=XE0MAAAAIBAJ&pg=5422,5294607&hl=en

Anyway, I thought lucky him that it was on the West Highlands Way and all could see his memorial. But then obviously not lucky him in the first place . Whatever – it seemed a nice touch and certainly a good distraction from the cricket.

Jonathan and I decided to go all sophisticated tonight and have treated ourselves to a first rate Chile Sauvignon Blanc. I think that is what Jonathan intended to order, he could have just asked for some cold white wine……..

I discovered that today is my 25 year anniversary at Aon. How time flies. I’m sure I haven’t changed on bit.

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Inveoran to Crainlarich. 17.17 miles, 2,267 ft of elevation, 20,970 steps

Today started as per previous days with rain. So on goes the wet weather gear (which has been kindly dried by the local hotel – despite us sleeping in the woods opposite. Must be a testiment to all the beer we drank), then a steep climb for the first two miles to ensure you are soaking wet inside and outside.

What followed was five miles or so of driving rain straight at us as we walked alongside the Fort William train lines

The end result of all this was Jonathan’s knees being shot to bits. All the training and preparation Clearly did not pay off and the jeans are destined for the street once again. In all seriousness, I am now down a partner and whilst we never spoke because of the weather it was sad to see him get on the bus.

So it’s just me and Schooner for a while. Jonathan has kindly offered to stay and enjoy the evenings together and so I duly felt that I should at least give him one day of Brexit discussion. However, no more as I am officially done.

As luck would have it, no sooner did Jonathan leave but the sun came out. A glorious afternoon followed with the best walking of the trip by far. Even Schooner seemed impressed

Final thought for the day. I am so impressed with the Dutch, in particular the young, and even more the women. They are by far the largest representation and the number of girls doing it the tough way with heavyweight packs and wild camping is seriously impressive. I don’t know what they have In their blood but they are super strong. Well done.

Kinlochleven to Inveroran hotel. 19.43 miles, 3,051ft of elevation, 25,978 steps

More of the same really. I am walking like John Wayne thanks to the need to spend all day in waterproofs. The top is to keep the wind out, the bottoms to keep the rain from running down my legs to my shoes. None of it is actually keeping any of me dry.

So I have been in/on a cloud all day (not cloud 9 I can assure you) although it was another day of no Brexit (although he made up for it in the pub). This is basically a very long, and wet pub crawl but with only one location per day….

Anything else to add today? No not really. I feel like we are now properly in to the West Highland Way and have made a decent dent in to it. Plus the forecast is looking better for the latter half of the week. I might yet get a smile out of Jonathan!

16.11 miles, 2,431 ft of elevation, 28, 609 steps

A different walking companion today, having said goodbye to Grace yesterday and hello to Jonathan. Jonathan is even less well organised than me and this is what he intended to wear for the walk

So, thanks to a jacket and buffalo kindly lent by HB (thank Howie), and a bit of shopping we finally made a start on the walk about 11. Luckily it was meant to be an easy first day with only 16 miles to cover.

I will start with the positives:

1. There is a drying room at the campsite
2. there is a pub in Kinlochleveb
3. As we had our hoods up Jonathan could not bore me all day with his Brexit chat
4. the dog loved it
5. i am curled up with the dog in the tent and it is LOVELY

Now for the negatives:

Rain, rain and more rain. Just so miserable and soo wet. Forecast for tomorrow, more of the same.

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8.68 miles, 200 ft of elevation, 37,401 steps

Well rested, dried out and would you believe it the sun is shining. We had a luxury night in a hotel next to Neptune’s staircase(a series of locks taking boats up on to the Caledonian canal from sea level). Quite picturesque when having a cup of tea in the sunshine. Completely forgetable when freezing cold and miserable.

We walked back up the Caledonian canal almost to what should have been our starting point to the day and on the way had a good look at Fort Tor. We weren’t expecting Bodiam but even our low expectations were above the farm yard we eventually worked out was on the original site.

Eventually we got back in to Fort William for Grace to have one last pie (5 for the trip), a quick sort out of kit and then escorted her on to the Sleeper train to Euston. An emotional goodbye from me and Schooner, left me to sort out his ticks, meet up with Jonathan (who arrived 5 minutes after Graces departure) and then on to the next adventure. 6 days in the West Highland way, camping everyday and with a man whose choice of clothing is jeans and a t-shirt. “John, you have more than one pair of pants and socks? No wonder your pack is heavy…..”. What could go wrong?

I have loved every minute of the last week and spending this amount of time with Gracey and seeing her push herself well beyond her comfort zone has been a real privilege. Thank you for joining me , it makes me so proud to be doing this ….xxx

Just an aside, and if there is at all a silver lining to the weather up here (£2.88 a pint – even with my poor maths that’s three for the price of two). At least that will keep you going on those cold wet days.