Day 1 West Highland Way - Milngavie to Drymen Camping

Sunday, June 26, 2022 Milngavie to Drymen Camping, 10.9 miles

The alarm woke me up at 6:30am. We packed up and caught our Uber at 8:00am. James the Uber driver was great. We discussed Scottish politics and it was interesting to hear his opinions about Boris Johnson (unfavorable) and Donald Trump (also unfavorable). We got to the train station to drop off our extra bag with our luggage company but then realized we were supposed to meet them at the Royal Bank of Scotland parking lot. James drove us over there instead. But they were not there either. We were starting to panic but James kindly called them on his cell phone since there was no wifi for me to use my phone. Turns out there had been a miscommunication and the driver had already left but he turned around and came back to get our extra bag. Thank goodness! Later we realized that having to take an Uber instead of the train had saved us with the whole luggage fiasco. If we'd taken the train we would have had no phone to call the luggage company.

James the kind Uber driver

Waiting for the luggage van

Collin came back for our luggage

We hired a luggage company called Ginger Routes to transport our extra bag but they had been bought out by Baggage Freedom. I think some of our luggage miscommunication was because we were dealing with the original owner instead of the new owners. Collins was very nice and I paid him 35 pounds to transport our extra bag to Ewich House.

After he left we crossed the street to a mini mart and I mailed another post card to John. The post office in the store was closed since it was Sunday but the clerk found a few stamps in a drawer so I had stamps to mail my post cards. This morning just confirmed how incredibly kind and hospitable the Scottish people are, often going out of their way to help.

We walked to the West Highland Way start and stopped for coffee and some oatmeal at Costa Coffee. Inside was another man who had missed his luggage service and did not know what to do with his bag. I felt bad for him and realized how lucky we were. We used the restrooms in the restaurant and then went to the start to take some beginning photos. John had bought both of us West Highland Way passports to get stamps, which are a new addition this year. Unfortunately the one business at the beginning of the trail with a stamp was closed and we did not want to delay our beginning. I hope that more businesses will also get stamps so it is not so inconvenient to try to get them. I like the idea of passport stamps and it makes a great souvenir but the missing stamp bugs me.

Starting the West Highland Way

Me and Pounce

My first steps on the West Highland Way

The West Highland Way is a 96 mile trail that begins in Milngavie (pronounced Mull-guy) and ends in Fort William. You can also hike it the other direction but the majority of people hike it from South to North. Pounce and I bought different trail guides that we brought with us. The guidebook was useful for planning purposes but I do not recommend the one that I bought (Trekking the West Highland Way by Knife Edge) because I thought it was confusing and poorly executed. It was very difficult to estimate distances. I also purchased the Far Out app for my phone that had maps and hiker comments in it. I found it to be a valuable resource. 

The trail begins in downtown Milngavie and then goes into a park like area with multiple paths. The trail is well marked with the Scottish thistle but if you are not paying attention it could be easy to get lost.

A  beginning placard shows us what lies ahead

A heron along the way

A type of art installation

Within the first mile it began to sprinkle and we stopped to put our pack covers on. Then we put on our rain coats. Eventually I took my fleece off and stowed it in my backpack. This would become a repeating occurrence on this hike. Managing rain gear and the warmth comfort level was a constant  challenge. Pounce elected to hike with an umbrella which seemed to work for her. I did not try that because I like hiking with both poles in my hands and whenever she opened her umbrella she had to stow one of her hiking poles.

We hiked six miles, enjoying the views of Dumgoyne ahead of us.

Hope we do not end up like this guy!

Dumgoyne hill ahead

hiking in my rain skirt

Another piece of my rain gear is my home made rain skirt. As a short person, it is difficult to find rain pants that are not too long. I made my rain skirt myself in a length that works for me. A skirt is also easier than pants to put on and off . This was a distinct advantage since I put it on and off multiple times a day on this hike. Eventually I figured out that when it wasn't raining I could hike it up and tuck the front into my backpacking belt to keep it out of my way. Unfortunately, it was not completely rainproof after a few hours but being a light weight silnylon it dried very quickly.

Glengoyne distillery ahead

About six miles down the trail is Glengoyne whisky distillery. We elected to cut through the sheep pasture to visit the distillery since is only about a quarter mile off the trail. And really, should you visit Scotland and not tour a distillery? We paid 17 pounds per person for the tour and to have a whisky tasting. They locked up our backpacks for us in a closet in their gift shop which was really nice since we had to wait about 45 minutes for the tour to begin. The part I didn't like was that there was no indoor seating area to wait and I just sat on a bench in the rain because my feet were hurting so bad. They had great bathrooms, though.

The tour was amazing and I learned a lot bout whisky distillation. The barrels that the whisky is stored in to age are a very important part of the process. The color of the whisky comes from the barrel and the barrel wood also affects the flavor. A single malt whisky means that all of the whisky came from the same distillery. Blended whisky means that whisky was blended from several different distilleries.

A waterfall at the distillery

Not really sure what this was

This shows how the whisky color changes as it ages. Each glass represents one year.

At the end of the tour we got to try a 12 year and an 18 year whisky. The 18 year whisky was better although I am not really a whisky fan. The reason a whisky gets more expensive as it ages is because of the evaporation that occurs. Each year between 2-5% of the whisky evaporates from the barrel. This is called an angel tax, because the angels get to enjoy that part!

After the tour and tasting I bought a postcard in the gift store, we shouldered our packs and crossed the stile through the sheep pasture back to the trail.

A nice sheep fence stile

Shortly past Glengoyne Distillery was the Beech Tree Restaurant. I was disappointed when we arrived to learn it was closed on Sundays. I had food and snacks in my pack so I did not go hungry but I had been looking forward to a hot meal.

This sign needs a disclaimer that it is closed on Sundays

Diabetic ponies? Who knew?

We hiked on towards Drymen passing sheep and apparently, trolls.

 

Black faced sheep

The road is subject to slides

Looks like a troll could live there

At the 10.9 mile mark we arrived at Drymen Camping. This is a pay campground with toilets, showers, electricity and wifi in an old barn with picnic tables. It cost about 10 pounds. The toilets were clean and there were a couple camping pods in addition to the tent sites.

My camp site

view out my tent

dry picnic tables and bathrooms

tents with camping pods in the back

We picked out our camping sites and set up our tents. Fortunately it was not raining while we did that, although shortly thereafter it began to rain again. We went to the barn to charge our electronics, eat some dinner and plan our next day's hike. We tried to decide how far we wanted to hike and Pounce realized that the no wild camping limitation at Loch Lomond was going to be a problem for us so she booked us a night at the Rowardannan Youth Hostel.

We retired to our tents and I snuggled into my cozy sleeping bag and updated my journal before I made one last trip to the bathroom. When we were in Glasgow I bought a cheap pair of flipflops to use in the hostel shower and they ended up being a great addition to my hiking gear. I hate getting up in the night to pee, usually because it is such a pain to try to get my shoes on. It is so easy to slip on flipflops! I will always carry a pair of these when backpacking in the future.