Day 13 – Drymen to Twechar – 21 Miles

I have been informed today that the unusual grass that we have been seeing throughout the Glens is in fact “Cotton grass” which also grows in England.  This proves two things, one, that I have not been very observant whilst walking in England, two, that at least one other person is reading this blog.  Maybe someone could also let me know what the strange creature that we saw running into the woods at Inversnaid was, it looked to me like a racoon, but I’m pretty sure that Scotland doesn’t have any of those.  It had a stripy tail and was not any of the following:

• ·         Cat
• ·         Beaver
• ·         Otter
• ·         Loch Ness Monster

Today started out very wet again, I still haven’t managed to get any waterproof trousers, but I’m sure that there is a big gap in the market for wet weather gear in the shops along the West Highland Way.  After heading out on the inevitable “Rob Roy Way”, we soon left behind the West Highland Way that we have been following since Fort William and picked up the tracks of a disused railway line.  We also left behind Gary the milkman whose GPS tracks from his invaluable blog here we have been following since day 1.  This guy can only be described as a “Milkman on a Mission” and achieved some impressive times for his daily walks.  Fortunately the mad milkman now heads towards Glasgow and we follow a slightly more relaxed daily schedule.

The disused railway line that we joined was at first overgrown and boggy, making for another soggy foot day, but it soon opened out into an established tarmac route that made for pleasant walking all the way to Lenoxtown.  We tried to stop for food in Lennoxtown, but none of the pubs did food, so we just had a drink, then left, despite the promise of evening entertainment with “Big Nellie”.

After passing through the fairly dull Kirkintilloch, we reached our destination B&B at Twechar.  As usual, we hadn’t booked, preferring to keep our options open, but there didn’t seem to be many options around here and it looked like we might finally be out of luck as there was no answer at the door or by phone.  Finally we tracked down someone to let us in and we started investigating food options.  As the local pub had shut down and as we didn’t fancy going for a long walk, we ordered a pizza big enough to suffice for evening meal and walking provisions tomorrow.

 Views along the disused railway line to Lennoxtown.

Statistics

Distance: 20.9 Miles

Moving Time: 6 Hours 45 Mins

Cumulative Distance: 306.84 Miles

View the route for day 13 here.