Important Info

Planned kilometres: 31 (cummulative 1377)

Kilometres walked: 29 (cummulative 1448)

% Completed: 79.6%

Weather: Drizzle and a few showers

Pubs visited:

Pints: 3 (cummulative 170)

Kms per pint: 8.5

Blisters: 0 (cummulative 4)

 

Tyndrum to Glencoe Resort

Today is the longest day (31kms) that I have on the West Highland Way (WHW) and as the forecast was for worsening weather in the afternoon, I decided to get an early start to my walk. As I was on the WHW early, I didn’t see any other walkers on the first ten km’s and the only other living things I saw weren’t worried by the drizzle/showers.

The walking for the first ten km’s was mainly flat on a wide road so I made really good time.

At Bridge of Orchy, the path started climbing up a hill and I saw quite a few walkers in the distance. At the top of the climb, I got great views over Loch Tulla.

After descending the hill and going past the Inveroran Inn (it was to early in the day for pub to be open), the walk moved onto the Old Parliamentary Road (Drove Road) which I would follow for the rest of the day.

 

The road climbed into Rannoch Moor which is 50 square miles of peat bogs and I had read on other blogs/websites that this part of the route is very exposed and tough going if done in bad weather. I was fortunate that there were only a few showers and drizzle through out the day.

 

Due to the walk being all on very good roads, I made it to my destination by 2pm. Tonight I am staying in a Hobbit Hut at the Glencoe Mountain Resort and I had purchased a sleeping bag in Glasgow specifically for this one night. I was worried that the huts would have very small single beds but was happy to find that it had a double mattress in it.

 

Buachaille Etive Mor (name means ‘the Great Herdsman of Etive’) was the view that I had from the front door of my Hobbit Hut

 

I had an email early on in my walk from Jimmy (www.werewolfandflump.com) who had done Land’s End to John O’Groats (LEJOG) last year and lives on the Scottish Boarder. Jimmy was hoping to catch up for a couple of beers and a chat as I went through the borders, however the timing wasn’t right to meet up. Last week Jimmy sent me a note saying he would be walking in the Glencoe area the same day I was and as I was sitting in the bar at Glencoe, Jimmy turned up. We chatted and had beers for a few hours and it was great talking to someone who had done LEJOG and understood the experience and what it entails.

 

Jimmy is currently working on climbing all the Munros (Scottish mountains over 3,000 feet) in Scotland. There are 282 Munros and climbing them is called Munro bagging and Jimmy has done the majority and was trying to finish them all by the end of the year.