West Highland Way Day 2

Day 2

The view of Loch Lomond from the top of Conic Hill

Unfortunately it rained lightly overnight. I got up late, in the hope that the morning sun would help dry my tent, at least thats the excuse that I told myself. The slog over Conic Hill was quite difficult but gave great views of Loch Lomond before the path descended down towards Balmaha. At this point the rain was managing to hold off. Balmaha gave me the opportunity to buy a little more food and grab a cup of tea from the local pub.

After Balmaha, the path followed the shores of the loch wherever possible, with brief intervals of road walking. The going was easy and the views were spectacular. I watched as storm clouds formed over the opposite bank of the loch. The forest along the edge of Loch Lomond was filled with beautiful broad leaved trees.

The banks of Loch Lomond just up from Balmaha

Most of the time, the going was easy along well maintained wide paths, however the last few miles before Inversnaid started to get narrow and it also started to rain. It was during this stretch that i was lucky enough to see the famous wild goats of Scotland. At first I thought they were bears, and then I reminded myself that there aren't bears in Scotland. As I was calming down I noticed the size of their horns and immediately thought they were going stab me with them. I eventually made it to Iversnaid that afternoon. The original plan was to camp at a campsite just outside of 'town', however the weather was miserable and there was a taxi waiting to pick up some other walkers to take them to a bunkhouse. I met some people along the walk her were staying at the bunkhouse and decided that I would have a miserable night in the tent so it was worth paying some money to stay in the bunkhouse.

Watching a storm roll in

Awaiting me at the bunkhouse were warm showers, hot food and a real, albeit springy bed. I caught up with the walkers that I had met earlier that day and also made friends with a German walker from my room who I would encounter numerous times along the way.

The scary as hell goats

Just before Inversnaid

Even though the weather turned bad, I had a great day walking down on the 'bonny' banks of Loch Lomond. By the time I reached Inversnaid I was over a third of the way, having walked 33 of the 95 miles.

West Highlands Way

The start of the way

So I promised some people that I would do some  blog posts detailing my experiences in Scotland on the West Highlands Way. Where to start? Well since my visa application was taking longer than expected I decided that a week long hike through Scotland would be good fun. It was definitely an adventure I don't know if I would say that it was fun.

I bet your wondering, "Michael, wtf is the West Highlands Way". Basically it is a long distance trail from the beginning of the scottish highlands on the outskirts of Glasgow, 156 kilometres north (I think thats right) to Fort William through some of the best scenery that the UK has to offer. The website said that it should take between 7-9 days, around the same amount of time that my visa would take. Perfect. What follows is what I saw and got up to along the way.

DAY 1

Mmmm, lunch

Day 1 started on the back of an 8.5 hour bus ride to Glasgow the night before. The trail started in Milngavie (pronounced Miln-gie) on the outskirts of Glasgow. Immediately the trail headed off through a wooded section and I quickly noticed the large number of people wearing gators along an extremely wide, well trodden walking track. It would soon make sense. I should probably mention that it was aready raining on day 1 and would continue to rain for most of the time that I was in Scotland. The beginning of the trail was very pretty with wooded sections and rolling green hills. I was initially surprised to meet some people drinking beer along the way and I would soon come to learn, that walking in the UK usually involved drinking. At this point I was confident and powering along the track chewing through miles quite easily.

The view from my tent

It absolutely started to pelt down with rain just as I reached the pub for lunch. due to the inclement weather I thought, "Stuff it, I want some hot food". Listening to the woman telling me the specials with a strong Scottish accent I heard the word anchovies and ordered that particular dish. Turns out that it was chicken schnitzel topped with egg and anchovies. It was unusual but luckily I like all those ingredients and scoffed it all down.

After lunch i continued the walk past lovely Scottish farms and up to Drymen. This is supposed to be the end of day 1 according to the guide, instead I pushed on further since it was only 3 and i wanted to camp out. The nex part of the trail took me through a conifer forest and out into a sheep paddock at the base of Conic Hill. The view was spectacular with the steeply rising hill and Loch Lomond surrounded by the highland mountains.

My tent in the middle of nowhere and by nowhere I mean a
Scottish sheep paddock 

I wandered around the field for about half an hour trying to find somewhere flat and dry. . i managed to find somewhere, pitched my tent and ate some food before heading off to bed early, in high spirits, albeit a little lonely.

And that concludes day 1

Heading off to Scotland

So im still in late, at least for the time being. tomorrow night i will be catching an overnight busto glasgow, where i will beginning a 7-9 day hike through the highlands. it finishes at inverness just near Ben Nevis. it shoul be an exciting adventure.

I had to buy a pack today specially for it since my backpacking one is far too large and heavy. consequently i am going to smell really really bad since clothes were low down on the priority list for packing. Whilst looking for a backpack i got to see some more of London. walked from Piccadilly Circus down Regent St, then down Oxford  St to Hyde Park and finally High St Kensington. The buildings were really nice even if i couldnt afford anything inside them.

Managed to buy myself a sweet pack very cheaply and got a further student discount on it. Score.

Anyway I am sure nobody cares much. If u are interest in the walk here is a link to it http://www.west-highland-way.co.uk/home.asp

cheers guys

Down to my last five pounds.

Ok so the last days haven't been the best. I discovered that i had run out of money on my debit card. Unfortunately it takes 2 days to for the money to transfer into. Luckily i have somewhere to stay for free and have been living off the 20 quid in my pocket.

I've still managed to get and see plenty of things. I went on a massive walk around london from St Pauls to Tower bridge and then back along the south bank to Westminster. From Westminster i continued through Hyde Park to Bayswater for some foodage and finished off the day in the museums. So the day was completely free and i got to see some of the best sights in london.

Today i visited the RAF museum in Hendon. it was AWESOME! i spent 7 hours there and still didnt see anything.

Anyway hopefully tomorrow i will be able to apply for my visas since i should have access to money.

will keep in touch

Visa Dilemma

Ok so Laura has headed home leaving me alone in London. I promised her that i would try to keep this blog guying. Don't get too excited though, my writing skills haven't progressed since the 4th grade so don't expect the same quality that Laura was providing.

Anyway, (btw be prepared for lots of sentences starting like this) Laura left me to head home from Heathrow Airport. It was sad to see her go both since we would not be seeing each either for nearly 3 months and because our amazing three months together in Europe had finally come to an end. I am remaining in London, at least for the time being, in order to apply for visas to Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and China. Unfortunately it is most likely going to take far longer for me to get them all then i head previously thought. Apparently visas for foreign nationals take far longer to be processed then for UK and EU citizens. Wish i had known this early. Therefore my plans have to change.

Croatia is looking more and more unlikely and Scandanavia is looking unlikely too. Its alright though since i can remain in England until the train leaves in St Petersburg. To fill in time i hope to see lots and lots of london as well as get myself a Britrail pass (if it is in fact worth it) and explore as much of England, Wales and Scotland. The idea is to head off for a few days at a time and do some short walks or visit other landmarks before heading back to London to apply for the next visa in turn.

Ok so that is the boring stuff over and done with. Currently i am crashing at Martyn's house in London enjoying socialising with his room-mates that all seem to be heavy drinking Irishmen. Last night was fun, although i did pay for it the next day. Btw the stereotype about Irish drinking ability has so far seemed to be spot on. I'm a pathetic lightweight at the best of times but i never stood a chance.

Anyway till next time (hopefully i will have some interesting stories by then)

london, still

hey all, i finished up last time in Amiens - just to quickly bring you up to speed, since then we drove through the incredibly peaceful and moving old battlefields of the somme and up into Belgium. Ypres was incredible, the battlefields of Paschendaele so far removed from what happened there - pretty and ordered, birds chirping. So surreal. The 'In Flanders Fields' museum was incredible, exhaustingly good. Crossed over on the ferry to Dover (not very roman conquerorish i'm afraid) and the next morning explore the beautiful white cliffs. Drove up to Canterbury and got our history nerds on - the cathedral was incredible! After that, Cambridge, and a glorious walk through meadows by the Cam to pretty Grantchester. We then explored Derbyshire (there is no finer county in England!) and the gorgeous Peak District - switching up Industrial Revolution sites with rambles through extremely impressive landscapes. The next day we explored the lovely city of York - cathedral spires, old steam trains, an excellent bookstore, teddy tea-rooms and a dodgy funfair = excellent day :).
Drove through the gorgeous yorkshire moors to stay with some lovely family friends in Stockton, with a pretty impressive walk/run through wild moorland on the way. Day trips through the moors to the coast (pretty but crowded Whitby!) and Hadrians Wall ended with awesome home cooked meals and good company. Drove back down through the lovely yorkshire dales, looking very different from our last visit! this time the rivers stayed WITHIN their banks (thankfully). All through the Peaks district, moors and dales i had several squeal inducing moments due to thousands of gamboling lambs. I think i took more than a thousand photos of them alone. Visited my old favourite Fountains Abbey and had a practically private, incredibly informative guided tour. Next up was Stratford upon Avon, BEST ever: an incredible performance of Macbeth by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Then a super relaxed day in the Cotswalds - parked in the tiny Upper Slaughter and walked to the even tinier Lower Slaughter and the super touristy but cute Bourton-on-the-water. The next day we took a steam train through the lovely Forest of Dean before heading to the gorgeous Wye valley and Tintern Abbey! After this brief stint in Wales we headed back to england for 'the world's oldest watt-style beam engine performing its original task.' Michael got excited. I know there was water going uphill, that's for sure. Then we went back much much further - the prehistoric Uffington White Horse (and iron age hill fort AND dragon's hill aka Uther Pendragon's resting place! oh arthur...) and Stonehenge! (speaking of Arthur...) It was busy, sure, but it was free due to National Trust membership and still worth it. Very picturesque as well as full of history and mystery! Finished the day at Old Sarum, outside of Salisbury - once far bigger and more important than the latter until the cathedral was moved. Occupied in the Iron age, through to Saxons and Normans. The next day we made the most of our travelodge accommodation (15pounds! oh yeah) and spent the morning packing before exploring lovely Winchester. Travelled on through the south downs to the spectacular Petworth House, drove down to Arundel and across to the outskirts of Brighton before heading up toward the excellently named Ticehurst! Spent my birthday exploring its cute bookshop and church before picnicking at Scotney castle - cos its fashionable to have some ruins in your garden :) Then back to London! We handed Lupus back over and relaxed at the hostel before heading out for Thai - satisfying my three month long craving :) The next day was the royal wedding - CRAZY - then we moved to the Raddison. Which brings me to today! Explored Camden, Regent's Park, Trafalgar Square (and my favourite room of the National Gallery - the Sackler Room!) and Westminster Bridge with its spectacular views. I go home tomorrow. And hopefully to Greenwich. But mostly home. I do and don't want to go. Argh!

Anyway I'm going to keep putting my favourite photos on here and Michael will update it as he keeps travelling! Love love love

xxx