West Highland Way Day 2

Friday April 7, Drymen to Rowardennan. According to most estimates, today’s walk was 14 miles. My iPhone thinks I walked 17. Hard to know. 

The great news is that I walked it. There were moments - pangs in the locale of the injury - but they passed. My imaginary Jesus kept telling me “be not afraid, your foot is healed.” But when I told him I was getting those pangs he just shrugged and said he wasn’t infallible. Only his human representatives were infallible. Anybody who thought God was infallible, he said, had better take another look at the world. 

I started around 5:45 only somehow I forgot I was supposed to leave my luggage for the luggage transfer folks and there I was wheeling my suitcase down the road when it dawned on me. Then after I left my suitcase I walked away and left my walking poles. And found the front door this time locked behind me. I put aside my chagrin, rang the doorbell (twice), then phoned. The incredibly kind owner (the one who had set out a hot water bottle for me because the room was cold, and who put together a breakfast for my early departure) answered and instructed me on how to turn the handle on the door (it was not locked). 

So I walked away, finally, on my third attempt, from “Kip in the Kirk” - sleep in the church - touched by having slept in a house of worship and by the kindness that reminded me of people in religious orders, and noticed the full moon. I wondered why I hadn’t seen it before and then realized this was my first clear day in Scotland when a moon would be visible. 

Once again the birds were singing loudly and clearly I was very happy to be there and I kept hearing that “Here I am! Here I am!” voice in my mind, that I do so love. As the day lightened I watched the moon until it set. Took lots of photos, here’s my favorite. 

The first part of the walk I was reflecting on the soft rolling hills and the curves and how hard it was to find a photo that would express that. There was one hill that struck me - not that it expressed all those curves and folds sort of - I don’t know - talking to and enfolding one another - but it was an odd and striking hill the way all the trees lined up just at the edge of it. 

I had intended to hike down to the road and catch a bus and shorten the walk by about 4 miles but when I got to the detour I was too late to catch the 7:30 bus. The next one would be 8:40. The temperature was still in the low 30s and I didn’t fancy waiting almost an hour for a bus. I thought given the cold and no warm place to wait, even though it would be better not to ask so much of my foot, that I’d rather be walking. And yes I could have taken the detour and road walked and made it shorter and gentler but then I got greedy to climb the the hill and see Loch Lomond from above before hiking along it and that it was I rather foolheartedly decided to do. I did this knowing downhill is worst on my foot and having been warned of a steep downhill trail with lose rocks. We humans can be strangely contrary creatures, can’t we?

And yes the view from the hill was very special but I didn’t get any photos that give me goosebumps. I do however like this one of a highland sheep gazing at the view of the lake. The first photo is the more or less what the sheep is looking at. 

The hike up the hill was very crowded and I really became aware that it is a holiday weekend with kids out of school and families travelling. I though Loch Lomond would be crowded too but it wasn’t. Maybe people like the idea of hiking up a steep hill on Good Friday (maybe like carrying the cross)?

The downhill hike was not as difficult as I expected. Part of it was beautifully paved with slabs of rock..

I took another break with my feet in the air (lying with my back on the ground, leaning my butt and the back of my legs against a tree. Looking up at the patterns the branches make, feeling the earth under me, these are moments of deep - sigh - peace and contentment. 

I really love trees. The downhill walk was through a very lovely forest. One of my favorite photos of the day is just an appreciation of trees. The ways their trunks curve and seem to dance with each other even without moving. 

I remember at one spot walking down the hill there was such a strong smell from the trees and the mud and I just loved breathing it in. 

The second half of the day I walked along the lake. I started to get really really tired not so much from the walking (at least I hope not) as from the fact that I haven’t gotten a single good night’s sleep these three nights in Scotland. Last night was the worst with only two hours sleep. I sure hope the jet lag fades and I sleep well tonight. But I did get one sweet photo of the lake. 

Then I started to listen to Harry Potter (I started listening because it is set more or less in Scotland and kept listening because it is such fun.) to distract myself from foot pangs and exhaustion. 

Tomorrow is supposed to be the toughest terrain - lots of climbing and scrambling up and down rocks and roots. I hope I can manage it and I hope my foot can do it. The youth hostel where I am staying is a gorgeous building at the edge of Loch Lomond. Here’s the building from outside and the view from the lounge. (I am staying in a bunk room with eight beds). 

A young man working here at the hostel offered to give me a packed lunch since I leave before breakfast. We chatted a bit and i asked what brought him to the hospitality business. “Do you like people?” I asked. “I can tolerate people,” he said. Of course that made me laugh and to me it seemed very Scottish. 

So good night. Thanks for coming along on my walk today. It’s a beautiful world, isn’t it?