WEST HIGHLAND WAY JULY 2018 - DAY 3 Rowardennan to Invernan

Start 07:15m

Finish 15:45pm

Distance 14 miles (22km)

As we woke up very early we decided to have an early start and so we left our hostel after 7am.
We felt pretty well nevertheless yesterday tiredness.

The morning was beautiful and quiet; a bit sleepy and yet not disturbed by any civilisation noises.
The air was cool and crispy and nicely filled our lungs when we took deep breaths.

Loch Lomond at 7 am

We walked through forest and some fern fields and we were quite surprised by their size as we've never seen fern that tall.

Naiad asked me to take a photo of her with the ferns as she as very impressed by their height.

And then we met a sweet bumble bee.

As we walked and walked and walked we were craving for hot drinks and suddenly in the middle of nowhere we saw this cute cafe with the best coffee and home baked muffins. 

I couldn't think off anything in my life which tasted that good.

Not only our tea and muffins were good but also the view was amazing and we enjoyed this moment so much.

After our wonderful meal we were off continuing our trip.
We walked along Loch Lomond hills and it was not easy walk but now when the whole adventure is finished I can't say that it was the best part of our walk.

Sometimes we had to push ourselves between a narrow gap made by trees and rocky hills.

Then we stopped by to admire beautiful waterfalls.

And even there was a ladder which we had to climb on to get to the higher part of the path.

In the afternoon we arrived to the end of Loch Lomond where we found this beautiful peaceful beach and decided to take a break for a snack.
And here we met a wonderful 65 year old woman from Australia who came to Scotland just to complete The West Highland Way and she was doing it all by herself.
I was so impressed by her personality, her story and her spirit; she confirmed again that the age does not matter at all.

And after our meal we were off again leaving Loch Lomond behind us and walking towards Invernan.

Pretty tied but so happy and cheerful.

And when we finally arrived in Inernan we had a meal and then we laid on grass resting and breathing fresh mountain air.
We stayed in this beautiful wooden cottages which made our trip more exciting.
We were supplied in sleeping bags, pillows and bag-like sheets.

Naiad in her sheet in our cottage.

WEST HIGHLAND WAY - JULY 2018 - DAY 2 Drymen to Rowardennan

Start 09:00am

Finish 17:45pm

Distance 16 miles (26km)

As we walked we came across this amazing huge tree which fall down but was still impressive.
Naiad loved it and wanted to have a photo taken with it.

We walked  through some gates and bridges and then we took a few silly photos:

And then we walked through Conic Hill and Loch Lomond was shining below:

This path has usually a very heavy traffic as many people walk here from Balmaha. 

almaha is a small lovely village where travellers often make their night stop when doing West Highland Way however we decided to pass through it. 

We stopped by the lake just to have a snack and put our tired feet into the freezing water.

Naiad in the Loch Lomond

   

This cute georgues cottage we met in in the middle of nowhere and as we didn't want to bother its inhabitant we've just taken a photo form distance and then moved on.

Late in the afternoon we arrived in Rowardennan a place which had only two houses a posh hotel and more posh but cute and beautiful hostel called Rowardennan Lodge. As we discovered there was no a single shop and we didn't have any food left and a bit of panic raised In our hearts. However our hostel had a kitchen so we ordered a dinner and then bought sandwiches fort he next day. We were saved. 

After our dinner we went to the beach and admire calmness of the loch. trying to get back our strength. Our whole body was aching and felt very exhausted. We went to bed quite early.

Autumn in Edinburgh

Autumn came to Edinburgh slowly and quietly welcoming us with crispy chilly mornings but sunny and still warm days. Leaves are falling off the trees and making beautiful carpets on the streets. The whole city looks very colourful and happy.

          

                                  Edinburgh in autumn light looks like that:

                  Grove Street, Edinburgh                                      Trinity, Edinburgh 

Kimmerghame, Edinburgh

And this bush looks like a man sitting on the fence and admiring this world; I discovered it while walking Logan in the morning in the nearest park. 

WEST HIGHLAND WAY - JULY 2018 - DAY 1 Milngavie to Drymen

Start 09:30am

Finish 15:45pm

Distance 13 miles (20km)

Weather – cool, sunny, a bit of rain.

First part of the trip was easy and mostly flat – perfect for stretching our legs and getting used to long walk and carrying heavy backpacks.

There was plenty brambles and raspberries along the road, so we stopped quite a lot to pick them up and they went straight to our mouth.  The weather was perfect sunny and cloudy and a bit of rain. As we walked we have seen many other hikers who decided to do this trip as well. 

We stopped a few times to admire wonderful nature or to have a snack, but we didn’t do long stops as we wanted to prepare our legs to long distances. 

The first night we spent in the Buchanan Arms Hotel in Drymen and after leaving our backpacks in the room we went out to explore the town a bit. It was not much to see so we came back to our room and tried to get as much rest as we could.

Drymen - a cute town

Buchanan Arms Hotel

WEST HIGHLAND WAY - JULY 2018 Naiad and I

The idea of doing West Highland Way came to me by accident while shopping in Fort William as I got myself a bandana with a whole map of West Highland Way. Till that moment I never heard about this trail so of course I googled it and straight away decided that I wanted to do that. 

Then I asked my friend Naiad if she wanted to join me and a year later of this here we were - at the start point in Milngavie with our backpacks each weighted 15 kilograms ready for the adventure. We were full of excitement but also a bit of worries. We knew there was an amazing trip in front of us but we worried if we trained enough and we would be able to finish it as we had 94 miles (156 kilometres) to conquer. 

We took the first photo shots at the start point, said good bye to my husband who dropped us there and we were ready to start our adventure. 

Naiad and Lou at the start point