West Highland Way, Day 4 - Inverrannen to Bridge of Orchy

Distance: 30km

Leaving Inverrannen

This was a lengthy, but very easy 30km. Most of the trail was dirt paths - soft on the feet and easy on the knees.

On the trail

We passed through Tyndrum on the way, which seemed like nice town with great amenities. Our guidebook suggested stopping but as we knew we had a long walk ahead, we decided to keep going. In hindsight, I think it would have been a good idea to stop, as it would have broken up a very long day.

After Tyndrum the trail ran parallel to the train tracks, through a grassy plain. At this point we were getting super tired - and though the hiking was very easy it seemed to drag on. It was also getting late in the day and we had our first experience being surrounded by midges. Luckily the Avon Skin so Soft we were wearing seemed to do the trick as neither of us got any bites.

Arriving at the Bridge of Orchy

We were wiped out when we arrived at Bridge of Orchy so we decided to splash out on a lux cottage and big meal at the Bridge of Orchy Hotel - our other options would have been to stay at the very rustic West Highland Way Sleeper (bunks in a converted train station) .

West Highland Way, Day 3 - Rowardennan to Inverannen

 Distance: 22.5km

Leaving Rowardennan

The third day of the West Highland Way has a reputation for being the toughest day on the trail, and I'd have to agree. Those long stretches of navigating slippery boulders on steep terrain really did my legs in. The route also traces the shore of Loch Lommond for the entire day, which had the discouraging effect of making me feel like we weren't making much progress.

To be fair, the day did start out on a gentle note. We had two options heading out of Rowardennan - a low path that keeps close to the shore of the lake, and a high route, which follows a logging road. You might think the low route would be the easier choice. After all, the description suggests less elevation gain. Our guidebook made it pretty clear though that the route was a tough slog - it described the trail as  narrow, rocky and also slippery in wet weather. With a description like that, it seemed surprising that anyone would choose the low route - but when we left the hostel I noticed most of the hikers ahead of us where going that way. Hmmmm.

On the trail

As we knew the trail would definitely be wet, we decided to take the high route and I'm glad we did. Though I expect there were less views of the lake than we would have seen on the lower route, the glimpses we did catch were very nice. Also, as I mentioned in the first paragraph of this post, there are plenty of opportunities to enjoy views of the lake over the course of the day.  

There are no towns or stores on the trail, but a hotel conveniently appeared right around lunch hour. As we'd purchased yummy packed lunches

Another hiker we met took the lower route and said it was very difficult
Stopped at a hotel for lunch, ate our packed lunch that we purchased from the hostel, filled up our water bottles
 

After the hotel the trail was very difficult - lots of up and down, very slippery and rocky - reminded me of costal hiking in the Pacific north west
 

Glad I had hiking poles
 

Rough trail continued until we got the end of Loch Lommond at the end of the day
 

Climbed up and over a hill

Arriving in Inverannen

Had a delicious dinner at the West Highland Way Campsite in Inverannen
Stopped for the night Rose Cottage B&B, super comfy room and a yummy breakfast

 

 

 

 

See more photos of our third day on the West Highland Way in our album on Flickr

West Highland Way, Scotland - Day 2: Drymen to Rowadennan

Distance: Book says 22km but our fitness monitor says 26km

Leaving Drymen

The entire summer the weather across Europe had been sunny and dry...except in Scotland. Everytime we checked the Doppler radar, there was wet and rainy weather over Scotland. On the plus side, this meant that, while the rest of Europe was scorched and yellow, the Scottish landscape was green and lush. 

On the not so great side, we woke up to a torrential downpour on our second day on the West Highland Way. Sheets of rain slanted just slightly less than sideways rain (we'd get that kind of rain later on down the trail).  In hopes that the weather would let up a little, we decided to hunker down in cozy restaurant and have a big breakfast.

We headed to Skoosh because our guidebook mentioned they made great sandwiches which we planed to take with us to eat for lunch. When we're hiking, we normally hit grocery stores and make our own lunches, but with the weather being what it was, we thought it would be best to keep things as simple.

After inspecting the menu, I decided to go with a Coronation chicken sandwich. I'd never heard of a Coronation chicken sandwich before, so I Googled it and learned that it's a sandwich filled with pieces of chicken, mixed with mayonnaise and curry powder. The description didn't appeal to Baasje, so he ordered the other option on the menu:

Baasje: “I'll have the dry chicken sandwich, please."
Scottish server: “Just dry chicken?”
Baasje: “You don’t recommend it?”
Scottish server: “Well it’s just dry chicken, so it’ll be dry.”

And so we both ended up with Coronation chicken sandwiches.

For breakfast we could pick from either 5 or 7 choices. I went for 7 choices - fried eggs (2x) bacon, tomato, mushroom, sausage, potato scone, toast - and Baasje got 5 - scrambled egg, sausage (2x) potato scone, tomato. Delish!

On the trail

We got every kind of weather on the trail that day - pouring rain, bright sun, cold, hot. I was grateful I'd bit the bullet and splashed out a new Gore-tex raincoat before we left. 

We briefly hiked through the farmland surrounding Drymen  before entering a forest of beautiful big trees (and lots of signs of logging). After the forest, the trail split and we took the high route up Conic Hill to check out the vista of Loch Lommond (beautiful even though the views were partially obscured by fog and rain). It was definitely worth the climb!

Ate lunch in Balahama at the foot of Conic Hill - popular spot with tourists (lots of hiking groups).

After lunch the trail traced the shores of Loch Lommond. Beautiful

Arriving in Rowadennan

We had reservations that night at Rowardennan Lodge Youth Hostel (a converted fishing and hunting lodge). When we arrived at sunset we were famished and we were grateful that the hostel served a delish three course dinner. We both had the tomato basil soup (amazing!), Baasje had the chile con carne for his main and I had the chicken tikka. After dinner I soaked my feet in Loch Lommond before turning in early in anticipation of the next day’s hike (we’d been warned day 3 would be the the hardest stretch of the trail).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See more photos of our second day on the West Highland Way in our album on Flickr

West Highland Way, Scotland - Day 1: Milngavie to Drymen

Arrival at the trailhead in Milngavie 

Distance: 19 km
Start: 10am
Arrival in Drymen: 3pm

Should we walk or take the train from Glasgow to the trailhead at Milngavie?

One of the (many) questions we asked ourselves when we were planning our West Highland Way trip was whether we should take the train from Glasgow to Milngavie - that's pronouned Mull-guy, by the way - or walk the ~12k instead. The main benefit of taking the train would of course be to save energy for the 154km hike ahead. On the other hand, after flying on a redeye from Montreal, a nice leisurely hike might be just the thing to keep us up throughout the day. This could lead to a good night's sleep starting at an appropriate hour - a strategy we usually follow to avoid jet lag.

And of course, we do love hiking.

We eventually decided to take advantage of the opportunity to spend a few hours exploring Glasgow before taking the short train ride to Milngavie. This made it possible for us to also have a leisurely evening in Milngavie. Plenty of time to pick up our WHW passport* (cost 10 pounts) and enjoy a yummy Sunday roast at the West Highland Way Beefeater, situated conveniently beside the inn we were staying in.

On the trail

As our guidebook suggested we had a easy day ahead of us, we figured 10am would be an adequate start time. We had a nice, big breakfast at the Beefeater, picked up snacks at the Tesco and subs at Subway just across from the trailhead (gluten-free buns!) and hit the trail.

The hike from Milngavie to Drymen was for, for the most part, a laid-back hike through pretty parks and rolling farmland - almost a stroll really. We passed lots of farms with sheep, goats, cows and ponies. As an added bonus we stopped at the Glencoyne Distillery, where we filled our water bottles distilled water from their outside tap and washed our lunch down with a few drams of their scotch. We both preferred the 12 year over the 18 year.

Arrival in Dryman

We arrived in Dryman around 3pm and went straight to the pub at the Clachann Inn (the oldest licensed pub in Scotland) where we were staying the night. We initially intended to check-in - and get my first stamp in my passport - before heading to our room to freshen up, but the bartender was so friendly we decided to pull up a chair at the bar and enjoy a few pints instead.

We had dinner in the restaurant at the Clachann that evening. I tried Cullen Skink for the first time (the first of many bowls I would enjoy on our journey). YUM!

 Our guidebook noted that the noise from the restaurant next door can make it difficult to sleep in the rooms located next door. We didn't find this to be a problem at all.

* Purchasing a WHW passport to collect stamps along the way is not necessary. I just like doing these kinds of things. It also provides an opportunity to contribute funds that go towards the maintenance of the trail.

 

See more photos of our first day on the West Highland Way in our album on Flickr

Hiking the Cinque Terre

 

Before arriving in Cinque Terre, we knew from blog posts we had read that we should expect some of the hiking trails on the Blue Path - the route that makes up Cinque Terre’s best-known hikes - would be closed. We learned these hikes, which are near sea level, are prone to landslides and are frequently shut down for maintenance and repair.

But we didn't expect that, due to an exceptionally wet spring, only one of the Blue Path trails (Vernazza to Monterosso) would be open during our stay.

But no biggie! We were more excited about the high-elevation Red Path trails anyway. On the Red Path we were able to take in pretty much the entire length of the Cinque Terre, with the exception of the distance from Riomaggiore to Manarola (which we passed on in favour of adding the hikes at the far ends, Riomaggiore to Porto Venere and Monterosso to Levanto).

The routes we took are outlined in the following blog posts. If you read the posts in the order they were published, you’ll notice we didn’t hike the trail in a linear order. This was because we chose the routes we would take each day based on the weather - longer, more strenuous hikes on nice days, and easier, more popular hikes on rainy days. I’ve rearranged the posts in the list below from north to south so that it makes more sense linearly.

Lavanto to Monterosso, Day 5
Trail: SVA
Time: 2.5 hours
Distance: 7km
Maximum elevation: 360m at College di Bagari

Vernazza to Monterosso, Day 4
Trail: SVA
Time: 2 hours
Distance: 3km

Corniglia to Vernazza via Cigolette, Day 1
Trail: 587 > AV5T > 507
Time: 3 hours
Distance:  ~6km
Maximum elevation: 607m at Cigolette

Corniglia to Manarola via Volastra, Day 2
Trail: 587 > 586 > 506
Time: 3 hours
Maximum elevation: 453m

Riomaggiore to Porto Venere via Telegrafo, Day 3
Trail: 593 > AV5T
Time: 4.5 hours
Maximum elevation: 570m

Hiking the Cinque Terre: Lavanto to Monterosso

Trail: SVA
Time: 2.5 hours
Distance: 7km
Maximum elevation: 360m at College di Bagari

Hiking the Cinque Terre: Vernazza to Monterosso

Trail: SVA
Time: 2 hours
Distance: 3km

We woke up on our fourth day in Cinque Terre to cloudy skies. Knowing the rain was coming, we figured it would be a good day to hike from Vernazza to Monterosso - the only Blue Path trail that was open during our visit to Cinque Terre.

This was the one day - in five days of hiking the Cinque Terre - where it was worthwhile for us to purchase the Cinque Terre day pass as we rode the train twice and had to pay a fee to hike the Blue Path.

We took the train from Corniglia to Vernazza in the morning where we had brunch before hitting the trail.  As we expected, even though the weather wasn't great, this ended up being the busiest trail we hiked. Upon leaving Vernazza we found ourselves in a line of hikers which was pretty much the case for most of the hike. We were also repeatedly in situations where the trail was only wide enough for one person to pass and the traffic was bottlenecked in both directions. Because the trail was so busy, the hike ended up taking a full 2 hours, even though it was fairly short. In contrast, on other days we encountered very few hikers unless we were close to the villages.

Though I'm glad we got the chance to do a section of the Blue Path - which I understand is the most popular trail in the Cinque Terre - I can't say it was my fave hike. At that elevation, I couldn't see much of the coast and I wasn't a fan of all the waiting.

That said, the day did end on a very high note with what I think was my favourite meal of our trip at L'Osteria. Delicious!!