West Highland Way: Day 2

Date: Monday 2 April

Route: Drymen to Balmaha

Distance: 7 miles

Accommodation: Ashbank B&B, Drymen

When we were planning this trip ages ago, we could choose to complete the route in anything from 5 days to 10 days walking. Even though we do more than our fair share of walking at weekends and on holidays, we have only ever done day walks before, with the option of wussing out for a day if the weather gets too atrocious!

Given that the West Highland Way is our first long-distance path walked linearly and on consecutive days, we decided to go for a leisurely option i.e. average 9.5 miles per day and only one 14-mile day during the course of the week, so we had the interesting experience today of completing a relatively short section of the Way (7 miles), whilst many of the people who had set off from Drymen at a similar time were powering off to cover another 7 miles. We’re hopeful that this means that the number of people walking the same section of the route will decrease slightly, as we won’t be part of a huge crowd who all are starting and ending together.

As we had only 7 miles to cover, we had time to enjoy a great cooked breakfast courtesy of Tommy at the Ashbank B&B, a comfortable place to stay in the centre of the village and very close to the welcoming Potters pub (“Best” bitter, veg curry and pizza all highly recommended!).

The route was very busy leaving the village, but soon headed up into the woods and the number of walkers became more spread out. This first section was a stark reminder that forestry is very much an industry in these parts – whilst the guide book made reference to Garadhan Forest, planted in the 1930’s and pleasant, sheltered walking through a monoculture of pine trees, the reality today was of a wide exposed road, obviously well-used by timber trucks, with woodpiles on either verge and a hillside looking as though it had been ravaged to create weaponry for an army of Orcs. Obviously, from a more positive perspective, the forestry brings much-needed income – and walkers benefit from long-distance views across to Loch Lomond - but I suspect it will all look better in a few years when some of the new plantations are at a more advanced stage and wildlife has returned to the bare hillside.

The path heads steadily and stealthily upwards, so is not unduly exerting and only really turns into a proper climb once you have crossed a footbridge and started climbing 170m, winding your way around Conic Hill (also referred to as Conich Hill on some signs). The West Highland Way does not include the detour to the top of the hill but given that it only takes a few minutes it is definitely worth the (steep) effort for some great views across the southern end of Loch Lomond and to the row of islands in the loch which mark the fault zone of the Highland Boundary Fault, the geological fracture which separates the Lowlands from the Highlands.

From the top of the hill, the path starts to descend again and, after passing a grassy bank with more fantastic views across the loch, becomes easy again, heads into pine woods and exits the woods into a car park and on to the loch-side and the welcome sight of the Oak Tree Inn.