West Highland Way Day 2 - Conic Hill to Rowardennan (approx 11 miles)

I awoke surprised to find that the rain had stopped hammering on our tent and that the wind had died down enough to stop me thinking that we were going to be blown into Loch Lomond.

I rolled over to see James, still asleep, lay halfway down the tent, apparently we'd pitched over a tree stump and there was a huge lump on his side of the tent; looks like he pulled the short straw.

There's a great thing about pitching your tent in the pitch black. When you wake up in the morning the view is always a surprise, and as I poked my head outside I was hit with one of the nicest surprises of all. Straight ahead of me the moors dropped off and about half a mile down rolling hills lay Loch Lomond. I often hear of stories of monsters living in Scottish lochs, and the view I was looking at now made me think that these could be true.

A fine mist hovered above the surface of the giant lake, engulfing anything that lay on its still waters. Occasionally tree studded islands punctured through the shroud, giving the appearance of high mountaintops poking through a cover of clouds. To the left was Garadhban forest looking rather mysterious and to my right stood our next obstacle, Conic hill.

A short while later we'd packed up the tent and donned our still-damp over clothes, we snacked on a few breakfast bars and then we hauled our rucksacks onto our backs. Had someone put bricks in mine?! It was feeling mighty heavy today.

We started the day moving swiftly through the fields at the foot of Conic hill, crossing over swollen burns and passing happy hill-walkers on their Saturday strolls, everyone giving us a nod and mentioning how they'd walked the WHW in August last year.

(It's strange, August 2010 must have been a VERY busy year on the WHW. Just about every Scottish person we met (and we met a lot of Scottish people) mentioned that they walked the trail, in August. I'm glad we came in February and avoided the masses!)

We then started our ascent of the 360m high hill. The trail started off climbing a set of steep stone stairs before gradually easing off and following a well walked path up its slopes. Although the hill is 'the first significant uphill' encountered on the WHW, it was surprisingly easy going and within 30 minutes we found ourselves descending the other side and dropping into Balmaha. It must be said though that the view from Conic hill is exceptional. From the path you can see the noticeable division of Lowland and Highland Scotland and Loch Lomond stretches as far as the eye can see with snow capped mountains towering above it to either side.

After a fairly straightforward descent and a short amble through woodland we reached Balmaha, a quaint hamlet on the shores of the loch. It was getting quite late now (we'd started walking at 12 as we thought we deserved a lie in) and we decided we could do with some food so we stopped for a bite to eat in the Oak Tree Inn. It perhaps wasn't the best idea as after we'd dined we emerged onto the trail again just in time to see the sun disappearing behind the horizon.

Even so we were gifted enough sunlight to capture some beautiful sights from the shores before we had to don our head torches. The next seven and a half miles can be some of the most spectacular on the trail, however when they're walked under illumination of head-torches they're pretty nondescript, and for this reason I'll save you a pretty boring read.

The weather had been forgiving today, it was chilly but the sun made a few guest appearances, so it was only fair that it started raining towards the end of the night, soaking us just before we trudged into Rowardennan hotel at about 10pm. You'd think that hotel owners wouldn't take too kindly to two walkers smelling of sweat and damp demanding a room and drinks, but they were happy to oblige. The hotel was fully booked but fortunately for us a couple had failed to turn up so we had first dibbs on their warm, dry room, and in the morning a full Scottish breakfast would be waiting.

The West Highland Way, one of the UK's finest treks

Well I did it! I hiked the West Highland Way, all 96 miles (plus some more for getting lost), in six days and in winter! There were times when I wanted to give up, there were times when I wanted to walk to the next train station and hop on the next train to Birmingham, but I didn't. I ended up walking through heavy rain, brief sunshine, light rain, winds, heavy snow, mist and just about every other weather imaginable short of tropical cyclone!

It was tough all right, my feet felt like they wanted to fall off and my back was aching under the heavy load, but I wouldn't have had it any other way. Despite the uncomfortableness of achy limbs the scenery was too good not to enjoy and be part of and the West Highland Way has got to be one of the UK's finest long distance trails.

I'll be updating this blog in a diary format for the next few days giving a run through of my hike, so keep your eyes on here for my next update: Day 1 – Milngavie to Conic Hill which involves getting lost in a forest at night and retreating to our storm shelter.

Let's get trekking - The West Highland Way

"I know how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong but to feel strong. To measure yourself at least once. To find yourself in the most ancient of human conditions. Facing the blind death stone alone, with nothing to help you but your hands and your own head." - Christopher McCandless, (Into the Wild)

Now, call me dramatic, opening this post with a quote like that, but I think it sums up well what I've decided to do next week. On Tuesday I'll be walking the West Highland Way, starting in Glasgow and walking 96 miles north to Fort William.

I know there's countless people that have walked this popular route, but it's usually hiked in the more favourable conditions of summer. A quick check on the weather forecast shows that there's heavy snow and gale-force winds of up to 80mph in the area where the trek is (west Scotland).

Now I might be making this sound a bit apocalyptic, but I'm really excited about getting to walk one of Britains finest long distance trails, and I'll be getting to do it in some 'extreme' conditions, hopefully. The thought of camping in deep snows and braving freezing temperatures might seem like hell for some people, but to me, it's a way of testing myself. Proving that I have the mental and physical strength to do it, and like the quote above says 'to measure myself'.

That said, the weather might be beautiful next week, who knows! Anyway, it'll be my first long distance trail and I'll be walking it with a mate of mine I've known since high school.

I won't be able to update my blog as I go along the trail as we'll be wild camping with no access to internet, and I'm not going to lug my laptop around with me anyway. But, I will be keeping a diary of each day and when I'm back I'll post them up daily.

For more info on the West Highland Way check out this website that's dedicated to the long distance path, there's some great info on there: http://www.west-highland-way.co.uk/

Or if you have any questions on the trail leave a comment below and I'll find the answer for you!

Or or, if you've walked the WHW, or are going to be walking the WHW let me know!