July 24, 2007
(Originally in the notebook, now here in convenient digital form. Post date has been appropriately manipulated.)
I had dinner last night at a pub in Drymen, sitting at the bar and listening to local gossip. I didn’t join in the conversation, though, because I really had trouble understanding the local accent. Fell asleep in the B&B around 7:30.
I woke up at 7 this morning and, after a quick breakfast, hit the road.
I lost about 30 minutes going the wrong way through a cow pasture. (It was quite an inauspicious start, and a pattern that would be repeated a couple more times. I just am not at my best, sense-of-direction-wise, first thing in the morning. –Ed.) When I picked up the route for real I walked through a beautiful pine forest. There was a detour that added some distance but I didn’t mind. I’m here to walk and to see the country, and that’s what I’m doing.
I’m writing now from the summit of Conic Hill, from which I can see a huge chunk of Loch Lomond. The ascent was about an hour of extreme effort, which makes me nervous because this is supposed to be one of the easier days, according to Lonely Planet: Walking in Scotland.
Heading down now for lunch in Balmaha, at the base of the hill.
(The walk down was punishing–mile after mile of steep slippery gravel which would’ve been hellish in the rain. Balmaha, though was nice, if touristy, and the subsequent walk along the short of Loch Lomond was great. Had a brief panic moment later in the day when the West Highland Way merged with a local nature path loop–I didn’t know what to do, and the waymarkers were hidden in the trees. But it all worked out for the best. –Ed.)
