Cadder to Drymen
After a wonderful stay with Lindsay, she dropped me back off in Cadder, so that I could continue my journey.
My morning started with the journey to Milngavie, to join the West Highland Way. I walked through a selection of golf courses, lanes and roads to get there. I had the pleasure of another beautiful morning. The rain was due later, but I was hopeful that I might finish walking before it got too bad!
It was exciting to see a finger post to Milngavie. I knew that I wasn’t too far away.
As I walked down the road to Milngavie, I had a beautiful view of the woodland in the distance. I loved how the different species of trees had different colours. There are so many different types of green!
I reached Milngavie and was ready to start the West Highland Way. It was really exciting to be there. The West Highland Way, is another trail that I am completing as part of my route. It is also the trail that is between me and Fort William. At the end of the trail will be my sister, which is the best prize of all. I’m really looking forward to spending our birthday together. It is such a special day for us, and I can’t wait to show her some of Scotland.
The West Highland Way took me out of Milngavie, along woodland tracks. It was a really nice, gentle start to the trail.
The bluebells were out, which were beautiful. When I stayed with Frances, back in Hilton, she predicted that I would have bluebells on the trail. I never doubted that she would be right, it was lovely to see them and think back to my stay with her.
I left the woodland and the landscape opened up and I could see some of the Campsies behind me. It was lovely to see the fells, and I felt excited for the trail to come!
Along the way I came across a cake stall. The young woman who was running it, is raising money for a year long trip to Ghana. She is going out there to volunteer, teaching in a local school and contributing to the community. It was lovely to hear about her trip and see her excitement, for her journey ahead. She has to raise £7400 for her trip, and was hoping to reach the £5000 mark by the end of the day. She was daunted by the amount to go, but we chuckled about each of us being two thirds of the way through our respective challenges. I couldn’t resist buying a flapjack, which kept me going on the next section.
The trail became a track between neighbouring fields. It was lovely to see such a range of wild flowers.
This section of the West Highland Way has had lots of honesty boxes and cafes, it was hard to choose which ones to stop at! I stopped at one cafe and had an orange juice, which was very refreshing! Whilst I was there, I chatted with a pair of sisters that are walking the West Highland Way together.
At Gartness, I joined the road and crossed over Gartness bridge. The bridge felt like a pretty standard bridge, but when I read the plaque, I was amazed at the number of letters that J F Keith, the Court Road Surveyor, had after his name!
Along the road, I passed cycle route 7, which had another of the 1000 commemorative markers for the cycle network. It was nice to see one again.
I continued up the road and soon made it to Drymen campsite. I was very pleased to get my tent pitched before the rain started.
It was a lovely start to the West Highland Way. It is definitely as busy as I expected, but I was able to overtake a wave of people and get to a point where I was walking by myself. It was nice to have the solitude and quiet to fully experience the trail
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