West Highland Way 2010
May 25th 2010 - Day 1: Milngavie to Drymen (13 miles)
We were up early and settled for the rather meagre continental breakfast at the hotel. Given it was the most expensive night of the trip, we felt a bit cheated not to be offered a full cooked breakfast. We dragged our luggage along with our day-packs on to the busy commuter train from Argyle Street station to Milngavie. This didn’t seem to phase the locals at all, and arriving at Milngavie I could see why – we were starting on a Tuesday morning, before 9am, in May, and there seemed to be at least half a dozen groups getting off the train with us, fully kitted out to start the walk.
We dropped off our bags at the train station with AMS, who were doing our baggage transfers for the route - they were professional and polite as well as quick and efficient .
Milngavie is a small suburb of Glasgow. Really it’s a village swallowed by urban sprawl, which takes its position as the start of the West Highland Way very seriously. There is a granite obelisk to mark the starting point in the town square and a big arching sign over the path as you start on your way. After the obligatory photo call, kindly taken by the guy who was trying to drum-up business for the new tourist information point in the town, we were off!
At the start of the West Highland Way, Milngavie – 95 miles
to go!
Slowly we wound our way from civilisation through tree-lined walks, merging into country parks which gave a very liminal feel to the first part of the day. In fact, this was what the whole first day was to the rest of the walk – like crossing the border into another country.
We continued on through country woods carpeted with bluebells, gradually leaving the dog walkers behind to be only in company with other like-minded souls.
Bluebell woods outside of Milngavie
We finally got a taste of the promised Highland delights after about four and a half miles, just past Easter Carbeth when the view opened up to show off the Campsie Fells and the treed hill Dumgoyach. Dumgoyne was not far off and always in our sight for the rest of the day. We stopped to appreciate our surroundings, and have a tea break; luxuriating in what was another lovely, sunny and warm day.
The Campsie Fells with Dumgoyne in the centre
The walk along the railway bed was not difficult, but we did feel sorry for the lady in the blue gaiters who kept walking straight on and missed the turn through the wonderful ‘V’ type stile. At the 7 mile point we gave the chance to visit the Glengoyne Distillery a miss. At about the 8 mile point, we stopped in the pleasant beer garden of the Oak Tree Inn. I bought some ‘Tablet’ and we got chatting with two guys and a gal who are in the army and walking all the way to Balmaha on the first day while loaded down with packs. They were also all on their second pints – we wished them luck, as we knew it was unlikely we would see them again, and set off in search of a picnic spot for lunch. Not long after, at a bend in the path, on what might have been someone’s front garden, we broke out the picnic lunch we had purchased at the M&S in Milngavie (right on the main square) when we knew that the weather was to be fine. So far, the miles had flown by.
We continued on to Gartness, stopping to admire the falls, which had eroded the soft stone into wonderful formations, and some tables designed and made by a craft studio in the small row of houses that hugged the road. We also stood and admired a house called the Woollen Mill that had both a fantastic position beside the river and a lovely garden.
Waterfall at Gartness
This was the start of the road walking for the day, and with the heat of the afternoon, it wasn’t really welcome. Fortunately, to refresh ourselves, we did come across some young children selling lemonade on a building site. Turns out this was to be their new house! The road was little-used, and did allow us to knock all the dust and dirt off our boots as we walked into Drymen. As we reached the top of the hill near Easter Drumquhassle, Ben Lomond revealed itself along with Conic hill in the forefront, which we would tackle the next day. Just before reaching Drymen at an abandoned quarry we got our first look at Loch Lomond glittering in the afternoon sun.
Arriving at Lander Bed and Breakfast, we were greeted with an offer of tea and lemon shortbread biscuits in the garden. What great service! I wasted no time in shedding my boots and putting on my flip flops! As we had left early, and the walking was easy, we arrived not long after 3pm. I was feeling good, the day hadn’t been too taxing, and I was blister free! We opted for dinner at the Drymen Pottery Restaurant, as we tried to get a table at The Clachan Inn, the oldest inn in Scotland, but were told it was a 45 minute wait. I think we made the right choice; the food was good and we got to sit in a nice conservatory and polish off a bottle of wine, while enjoying the long daylight hours that Scotland is blessed with at that time of year.