Day 53 (24.2 miles)
Posted in : LEJOG on by : Nick
Kilsyth to Drymen (rhymes with ‘women’, not ‘piemen’)
Starting out today everything was eerie and gloomy. I felt as if I was walking through a scene in a post-apocalyptic thriller like ‘The Day’ (2011) – recommended. (The film not walking this morning. This morning would have been better spent in bed, having a lie in).
As I wandered along the canal everything was grey and still. The low cloud making it seem as if it were still the early hours. Then inevitably it started to rain, great…
I was heading for the Strathkelvin Railway Path (SRP) – a dismantled branch line of the Edinburgh & Glasgow railway. It would take me north west to Strathblane and nearly to join the WHW. (More about this later)
On the SRP walking was easy, mostly tarmac, no hills or sharp bends. I met two ladies from San Francisco going the other way, they were walking the ‘John Muir Way’ – A coast to coast route through Scotland’s heartland. They came from an area of constant drought, so they were not overly enthusiastic about the conditions.
By the time I got to Strathblane I’d probably walked about 14 miles. My book said there was an ideal ‘lunch stop’, the Kirkhouse Inn, everything was telling me to stop, so I did. A BLT & 2 pints later I felt much better.
After lunch I was looking forward to joining the WHW, I knew the path was good as I walked it 4 years ago. First I had about 3 miles to do to get to it. This 3 miles was the worst bit of the day, boggy, fallen trees across the path… not fun.
After that however, all the clouds lifted, there was blue sky & the sun came out. I joined the WHW just south of the Glengoyne distillery (where my cask of whisky is) and started to quicken my pace to Drymen.
After I passed a popular lunch stop for the WHW walkers (The Beech Tree). It was 3:30, I could see groups of walkers on the path in front of me… I passed about 5 sets of walkers doing the WHW. It’s a very popular trail. We all had about 5 miles to go, I felt a bit smug, they’d have walked about 7 miles so far today, I’d walked over 18.
Dinner in Drymen was Chicken Enchiladas with chips & 2 x pints of Jarl (a very nice hoppy ale).
Some stats:
Mileage count: 944.2
Pint count: 195
economy: 38.7mpg
Malt Whisky count: 12
4 thoughts on Day 53 (24.2 miles)
Whiskey count seems a bit low – for somebody whose sitting room is a whiskey-fest! Enjoy the rest of your journey.
looks like Scotland proper from now on.The weather doesn’t seem as bad as it has been forecast or as bad as it’s reputation.
You’r doing great Nick keep it up.
Sat reminiscing with my “Bob Book” photo book trying to picture exactly where you’re up to. So many fond memories from the WHW, our 1st long distance path walk together. Hope the weather is as kind to you now as it was to us then. You’re doing Brill-y-antly, very proud of you xx
we’re proud of you too. Can’t wait to meet up with you at the end, but as you said it will all be over then, what an achievement and what memories you’ll have.