SHEEP WORRYING & TUNNELS OF GREEN

August 07, 2023

STATS-Today we walked 14 miles from Milngavie to Drymen while hiking 586’ up and 561’ down. Sunny in the morning and cloudy with showers in the afternoon.

We drop our transport luggage at the van at 8 am sharp and are hiking a few minutes later. We walk about 2/3 of a mile to the official start of the West Highland Way at an obelisk in the town square of the village of Milngavie (pronounced something like “mil-guy”). Only 96 official miles to the end of the West Highland Way at Fort William.

The morning starts sunny and warm, but not too warm. Looks like a great day for walking. And easy hiking it is today with only minor elevation changes.

We spend almost all of he day on dirt or gravel paths, only near the end of he day do we have a couple of miles or so on narrow asphalt rural road. There is minimal vehicle traffic so it is fine walking.

To start the morning, we walk along some small streams on narrow paths through what seems like tunnels of green…green trees, green shrubs, and green undergrowth. Before long we are surprised to discover that the sheep in Scotland spend a lot time worrying, in particular worrying about dogs. We past several signs warning us about this strange phenomena.

A sheep worrying sign

Part way through the morning we divert off the trail to visit the Glengoyne which is famous for their premium scotch whiskey. Our hearts are set on a wee bit of tasting. We’re disappointed to learn that the only tasting is after you pay for and complete a long tour of the distillery. Not having 75 minutes for the tour we depart brokenhearted…but not before Scot purchases a 3 bottle sampler that we will enjoy the next couple of evenings.

A short distance up the trail we decide to stop for a proper lunch at the Beech Tree, where our muddy boots are welcome. We fill up on baked potatoes smothered in cheese and cold slaw. It sounds bit strange but was tasty and filling.

Shortly after lunch we see an approaching rain and stop to don our rain jackets. We decide to hold off on the rain pants. That is a mistake and 5 minutes later our shorts are soaked and we dash beneath a sheltering tree and hastily put our rain pants on. The worst of the rain is over in a few more minutes and it becomes Light on and off drizzles for the remainder of the hike.

Once in Drymen, we check in today our bed and breakfast and head a few yards around the corner to a pub for a round of pints. Then we make a stop at the tiny corner grocery to get cheese, crackers, salami, and chocolate for tomorrow’s trail lunch. It seems there will be no cafes or pubs along the trail tomorrow. We each brought sport bars with us from home for morning and afternoon calories.

Tomorrow the hike will be much more climbing in the morning and then we spend the afternoon walking along a huge loch (lake). The forecast for tomorrow looks good at this point!