Day 2 West Highland Way - Drymen Camping to Rowardannan Youth Hostel

 Monday, June 27, 2022 - Drymen Camping to Rowardannan Youth Hostel at mile 27.5, 16.6 miles

It poured rain all night long. At some point during the night I recorded the rain.

When I woke up I realized that my tent had flooded during the night. Fortunately most of the water was contained in one corner so most of my gear was dry. One of the advantages of my Sea to Summit air mattress is that it keeps me far enough off the ground that I stay dry in most conditions. I realized that I had not staked my tent tightly enough which is why water got in.

water in my tent

Fortunately the rain had stopped while we packed up but I did have my first experience with midges. Midges are tiny gnat like insects that bite. Using a head net keeps them from your face so I slipped mine on. When I took my stove to the barn to heat up water for coffee I discovered that it no longer worked. Pounce let me use hers to get hot water and I threw my stove in the trash, unwilling to carry anything that no longer worked. I ate an energy bar for breakfast and we got our passports stamped at the office before we left. The nice owner explained some things about the West Highland Way and said that Westhighlandway.com is a better and more up to date website than the westhighlandway.org site. Good information to know and we used the .com website the rest of the trip when we needed to look up things.

wildflowers

The flowers were planted to help the bees

The thistle marks the trail

rainbow

We skipped going into the little town of Drymen since we had plenty of food and headed up the trail, going through some pastures and forestry areas. The trail goes through pasture land and people are allowed to go through private property but are expected to act responsibly and close all gates behind themselves.

This reminds me of the Pacific Northwest

We crested a hill and got our first glimpse of Loch Lomond.

Loch Lomond ahead

Loch Lomond

Conic Hill

Conic hill and stone fences

We entered a sheep pasture with stone fences and could see Conic Hill ahead. We filtered some water before starting up the hill, and I took advantage of a grove of trees to pee in privacy. You have to plan these things strategically when the terrain is as open as it is in Scotland.

Upwards and onwards

Looking back at where we came from

Loch Lomond

Descending was terrible

Conic Hill is a popular day hike in Scotland because the views of Loch Lomond are stellar. There were lots of people when we got to the other side. We skipped going to the actual summit since it was raining and windy. Although going up the hill was a lot of work, going down was way worse. The trail was wet, slippery, rocky, steep and eroded in multiple places. I was so thankful to have my hiking poles. I was never so glad to be done as when we got back down to the tree line. 

Pounce quote of the day about descending Conic Hill: "I'm not going to lie. That sucked."

We arrived at the Balmaha Vistor's Center and got another stamp in our passport there before we went to the Oak Tree Inn to eat lunch.

Balmaha Vistors Center

Oak Tree Inn - best sign on trail!

Such good food!

Pounce had a gluten free pizza and I had a beef pie with chips and peas. Peas seem to be standard fare with almost any meal. Luckily I like peas. A hard cider and a couple of ibuprofen helped with the sore muscles after that steep descent and soon we were back on trail for another eight miles. The trail paralleled Loch Lomond and the rain had mostly clear up. My pack felt very heavy after buying additional snacks at the Oak Tree store.

The trail marker can be found in many different places

In some sections the shore of the Loch is nice and sandy

The sun broke out at this spot

We attempted to dry our tents in the brief sun

The trail ambled up and over various rocky outcrops

These stairs were a killer

Uprooted but still alive

Rowardennan ahead

Rowardennan Youth Hostel

We got to the Youth Hostel by late afternoon. We were in a dorm room with six other women. Two were from Belgium, Lauren was from England and three were Americans. I dried my still wet tent on a handrail outside while I went and took a shower. I washed my clothes in the shower with me and then hung them to dry in the drying room. Drying rooms are an amazing part of the West Highland Way and most hotels and hostels have them. You can hang your wet clothes and footwear in them and they have heat that dries everything out overnight. An absolute life saver in such a wet climate!

My feet were really sore after my 16.6 mile day and I put on my earbuds, listened to the desert sounds option on my white noise app and crashed for the night.