West Highland Way - Scotland Day 2 - Drymen to Rowardennan

West Highland Way - Scotland

Day 2 - Drymen to Rowardennan (13.5 miles)



Once again we awoke at 7:00am (the sun had already been up for hours) and down in the dining room by 8:00 for another great Scotish breakfast.

We hit the trail around 8:45 after a 1/2 mile of road walking out of Drymen. The morning started off misty, but soon cleared up.

The first part of the hike was through pine forests that made me think of Little Red Riding Hood walking on her way to Grandma's House. The only dissappointing part of this section was all the logging that was going on in the area and the sections of clear cutting. We followed old road beds through most of this section of the Garadhban Forest.

Once through the woods it was now time to conquer Conic Hill. This was the first real climb we had and Lisa's first real test. Once again she made me very proud. Although a little slow on the climb and descent she hung in like a trooper. We had lunch of ham, turkey and cheese sandwiches (we made the night before) at the top while enjoying our first "REAL" views of Loch Lomond (the view was breathtaking!!).

We made our way to Balmaha which was a very nice lakeside town right on the shore. We decided to stop at the local restaurant for an Italian Coffee to get a little rest break and some caffeine to keep us moving.

After the short stop we were on our way. For the most part we skirted the shore on our way to Rowardennan.

Everything about this section was incredible. We had fabulous weather (we have yet to truelly experience the fabled Scotish weather - Rain :) ), beautiful views and really no sign of midges. I took plenty of photos and videos and just enjoyed looking out over the Loch most of the day.

Just before reaching our destination we met a woman who had hiked the WHW a couple times before and gave us loads of information about the trail as well as other things to see and do before leaving Scotland.

Entering Rowardennan was another wonderful surprise. The hotel was situated right on the lake which our room conveniently overlooked. We showered up and headed down to the restaurant where we once again met up with Jack for dinner. Lisa enjoyed the Fish and Chips while Jack and I had the Sea Trout all with rounds of Guiness (which really taste much better than back home!!). Then it was off to bed. We dozed off to the sounds of Sudden Impact (Dirty Harry) coming from the flat screen tv.