West Highland Way – Day 1

What a great day. It’s nice to connect with nature again knowing that we’re on an adventure or a tour – not just a short walk or run.

Every now and again I take a deep breath in, then out and take a moment to appreciate the pace of life right now. I hear the wind rustling through the trees, feel the sun on my skin again and relax into the freedom and simplicity: eat, sleep, walk, repeat.

We walked 15 miles today and set up our tent in daylight, which makes a change. ⁣A lot of the time on our world cycling tour we were left setting it up in the dark, as camping usually came at the end of a long day. You just can’t do that when you’re walking – you’re forced to stop eventually because you just can’t walk for hours on end quite like you can on a bike.

The first 15 miles of West Highland Way is totally flat making it really easy to walk!

It’s lovely walk and the atmosphere is positive. There are lots walking and you see the same faces as you pass each other. There are solo walkers, one solo female from Lithuania, couples, couples with dogs, men, women, dads and daughters and more! On route there are so many honesty boxes. Hot tea and coffee, homemade cakes—there’s even fridges stocked with cold drinks and freezers(!) with ice lollies on the roadside! Most even have BACs details or email addresses so you can pay with PayPal!

We’ve followed narrow paths through woodlands, popped into small villages and stumbled upon surprise cafes and honesty boxes for snacks. We’ve had a glimpse of the mountains and what’s to come!

A lot seem to stop at Drymen, but we carried on a few miles stopping shy of Garadhban forest.⁣

We did go into Drymen as we needed water, we came across a butchers – slide through to see dinner 😋 and how we celebrated the end of day 1 🍻

Those last few miles were heavy carrying extra food and water, but it was worth it!

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