West Highland Way Day 3

The footpath along Loch Lomond coming up to the bothy

Ok, so I have been a little slack lately when it comes to most things especially keeping people up to date. Firstly, I'm still in london at the moment as my visa for Kazakhstan has not come yet. A few phone calls and emails later has established that somewhere along the line my invitation letter has been mixed up with four Korean passports. Apparently it is far too difficult for the Kazakhstan embassy to find and correct the issues even with the assistance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kazakhstan and two travel agencies. Anyway enough of the boring stuff and back to the West Highland Way.

DAY 3

The Bothy with the loch in the background

I woke up on day 3 to find that it was raining outside. I laid in bed for a lot longer than I had hoped while I worked up the courage to get up and out into it. I eventually got up at around 8:30 and headed out into the driving rain wearing my $500 goretex jacket that was still not enough to stop my phone from getting wet in the pockets. It was a difficult slog over rocks and around trees along the banks of Loch Lomond during the morning. The rain was coming down and it was still quite cold. To keep myself going, I promised myself not to stop until I reached a bothy, which is basically a Scottish version of a hiking hut. Unfortunately it was around 6 miles and by the time I got there I was completely drenched.. Once there I stopped and dried out my feet and socks and put on my rain pants.

Glen Falloch

After a short break I continued along the path towards the Inverarnan Hotel where I enjoyed lunch with a few of the other walkers. Met two girls from Ireland in the hotel and thought it might be nice to have some company for the next section of the walk to Crianlarich. The views were spectacular as we followed the fast flowing Glen Falloch River to Crianlarich.

The Glen Falloch River

The plan was to stay in the hostel in Crianlarich along with the other walkers that I had met along the way due to the inclement weather. Unfortunately they were booked up and my only choice was to head to the next town along the way. By this time it was starting to get dark so I had to catch the train. It nearly killed me to think that I was skipping five miles of the way but reminded myself that I was there to see beautiful scenery and not just for the sake of saying I beat it.

Misleading sign

The train to Tyndrum was gorgeous. I watched as the sun set over the hills. It also just so happened that I would be sharing a room with the german walker I had stayed with in Inverarnan. It didnt take long to have some dinner with some nice Scottish walkers and head off to bed ready for the next day.

By this point i was feeling pretty good. my feet were holding up nicely and I was halfway through day 5 having covered 52 of the 95 miles by the end of my 3rd day, so I was making good time.

The path that it talks about

Just before Crianlarich