West Highland Way - Ardlui to Tyndrum

Today was rainy, very, very rainy! It was actually dry for the first couple of hours; we got the first ferry of the day at 9 a.m. back over to Ardneish to resume the West Highland Way. We were well past Beinn Glas farm before the first raindrops fell, but once the rain got started it was relentless for the rest of the day. And it was a long day of 24 km. I had been nervous about how my poor feet would bear up after the pounding that they got yesterday, but when I woke up the ache was gone and I carefully patched up the blisters and the raw bits with Compeed. It worked! I was able to walk without pain all day, and it was only towards the end that I started feeling a bit tired and footsore again. 

So we walked through woodland and up hills and through glens and it was very lovely, despite the grey skies and incessant rain. The green buds on the trees and the grassy slopes were even greener in the soft light. We heard a cuckoo - we have heard them every day of the walk so far. We stopped twice for coffee and snacks but didn’t linger because the rain penetrated even beneath the shelter of the trees. The path up the hill after the Crianlarich turn off was carpeted in very red pine needles. Twice the West Highland Way crossed the A82 and I remembered standing there ushering pupils across the road safely on Duke of Edinburgh school trips. They were happy days but I certainly don’t miss the responsibility! This section of the route was very familiar to me due to those school trips, and it was nice seeing all the old familiar landmarks. Our fellow travellers that we had started recognise and greet were nowhere to be seen today; I reckon that they will now be well ahead of us because they are completing the walk in six days instead of our eight days. But we met some new people; two men from Glasgow who were also on the Ardlui ferry with us this morning and kept overtaking us and being overtaken by us, and two European girls who were a bit slower than us so we didn’t see them again after the Crianlarich turn off. Last night in the hotel we saw two young men who could hardly hobble into the bar due to their blisters. There was no sign of them at the early breakfast sitting this morning.

The last part of the walk was just a trudge for us; we were wet and cold and tired. The receptionist at the Tyndrum Lodges was very friendly and soon sent us to our warm, clean room where we were very glad to take off our wet clothes and I had a nice hot bath. Dinner was just along the road at the Tyndrum Inn and could be described as “hearty” which was just what we needed.