Wednesday: Milngavie to Drymen

After a long drive from Pembrokeshire yesterday, we had a comfortable night in the Milngavie Premier Inn – hypocritical of us as we are opposed to Premier Inn wanting to build in St Davids. We set out with all our stuff at 9:30 this morning, squeezing past all the suitcases waiting for the baggage transfer.

The morning was reasonably fine, despite the forecast, with just a few light April showers, and once we’d taken the obligatory photo at the obelisk marking the start of the walk, we made good progress along pleasant paths which gradually became more rural. We heard our first cuckoo of the year and Ian saw a swallow.

After a brief lunch stop, we just had time to get the waterproof covers on the bags before being hit by heavy icy rain. A shame we hadn’t managed the waterproof trousers too. Half an hour later we saw the next lot coming and dressed up properly. By now we were following an old railway line. The path so far is wide, usually well-surfaced and well-marked, and there are quite a few other walkers of varying ages and nationalities.

I was tired by the time we reached Drymen and my legs are aching, there wasn’t quite the adrenalin rush that got us off to a good start last year. Looking forward to a good meal and an early night before tomorrow’s challenges.