West Highland Way Day 5.
Distance today: 25.3 miles.
Total distance: 362.7 miles.
Accommodation: AirBnB.
After the relatively easy walk to Balmaha, the first main challenge of the day was climbing Conic Hill. Most of the time I never really considered whether it was easier to do the end-to-end walk north to south or south to north but this was one occasion where the Lejogers definitely had the advantage of a more gentle slope. After lots of steps and fair bit of mud, the hill was finally conquered. Although technically, I didn’t go to the very top. The trail passed nearby and while typically the completist in me would have made the effort to do the last couple of hundred yards to the summit, today the miserable weather and the desire to conserve energy (aka laziness) convinced me otherwise.
Once the hill was out of the way, the rest of the day was mostly a fairly gentle stroll along country paths and lanes. It was still a long day and by mid-afternoon I took advantage of another handily located pitstop, the wonderfully named Turnip The Beet deli. There were a variety of world food combinations on offer and after a fair amount of dithering, I opted for the carb-heavy onion bhaji wrap with hummus. That and a flat white were just perfect. It was interesting how important these little treats were becoming. As with the amazing views, they were all part of my unofficial incentive program. Walk some miles, get a reward.
The West Highland Way was definitely more well-travelled than the previous 2 trails and it was easy to see why. The variety and quality of the surrounding landscape was amazing. Over a hundred odd miles there were bound to be the occasional dull patch but, to my eyes, surprisingly few. What made me smile was the variety of people attempting the trail. All ages and abilities with equally varied clothing choices. I assumed that some people were just doing bite-size pieces because if not, they had some awkward sections that they probably weren’t prepared for.
The final stage of the track takes you through a couple of country parks on the outskirts of Milngavie. It was here I bumped into a retired teacher called Robin. Was I starting or finishing, he asked. We had a good chat about the trail and before he rode off on his bike, he generously gave me a tenner for the cause. I love the fact that all these random donations end up being worth double.
And that was another trail done. After taking the obligatory photos at the finish line, it was time to find my accommodation. I’d opted for an Airbnb in Bearsden because there didn’t seem to be any campsites around and I wasn’t sure what opportunities there would be to wild camp given the urban environment. It was a bit of a schlep over to Bearden but the place was nice and there was a bonus of a bath with Epsom salts. Now that is proper luxury. I had thought about going out for a mini celebration but in the end I just had a quiet night in. I have got work tomorrow.
