West Highland Way | Day 7

West Highland Way | Day 7

Happy Easter! Hope you all had a fantastic day

We only walked 4.3 miles today because Eve isn’t feeling too great, more on that later. I used to think that we should be aiming for higher mileage or a minimum daily mileage, but I quickly learned that this would be totally the wrong approach.

We have met so many people over the last week doing 25-30 miles a day and every single one of them is in pain or struggling. They’re gaining absolutely no, or very little satisfaction except to hopefully say “I hiked the West Highland Way”. Worst thing is, it could so easily put them off ever doing it again or thinking they ‘can’t do this’. Anybody can do it, and we are the proof!

Now, I fully understand that we are very different and have the time to slow down, take more time as Eve and I are outside everyday and hiking full time. What I do feel is a sense of imposter syndrome and a sense of guilt coupled with a negative feeling of wanting to say “try to slow down and give yourself more time”. The benefits from letting the whole experience absorb you is one of the best feelings in the world not to mention the benefits to your mental health!

Last night, after I wrote the post, we popped to the Drovers Inn for a drink. The Drovers Inn is the quirkiest pub we have ever been to. It’s exactly how I would imagine a pub was about 100 years ago, with hundreds of taxidermist animals. Eve chose a J2O and me and Sarah had a non alcoholic beer. It was a lovely treat (Drovers Inn pictures at the end)

Last night we also had a first for 2023…I found a small tick embedded in my arm. Luckily Sarah fulfilled the nurse role and managed to get it out intact using a O'Tom Tick Twister that we always carry with us.

We all slept well last night but woke more tired than the previous few nights. I wonder why that is?! After getting a good nights sleep you feel more tired than an unsettled night?

Sarah, being the best and most awesome mother and wife, drove up last night bringing pancakes for this morning’s breakfast. She had even weighed out the ingredients to make it simpler to make. They were fantastic!

When we started walking it was cool. Cooler than it had been for the last few days with a nice breeze. The coolness didn’t stop Eve with her stopping after a few minutes to swap her trousers for shorts.

The walk today was really easy compared to the few days along Loch Lomond. Today we walked along Glen Falloch and passed the beautiful Falls of Falloch. It was wonderful, listening to the cascading water and looking at the plunge pools as we walked. The views around us looking up at the hills and mountains were spectacular, and Eve kept stopping to just look and stare. It’s an awe inspiring and inspirational sight!

We had to walk through a couple of hikers tunnels that went under the railway line. One we could walk straight through however the second was more challenging as it’s actually made for sheep! As a consequence Eve had to stoop and I was about 2 inches away from being on my hands and knees! It’s was a surprising highlight of todays section as it’s such an odd obstacle to navigate on a hike.

It wasn’t long after that, where the trail goes under the A82 that we met up with Sarah after just 3 hours of walking. Apart from the odd brief stop to stare at the views, talk to people or have a drink, we hadn’t stopped so we were finished even earlier than I had expected at about 1pm.

We made the decision (we made it yesterday) to have tomorrow off because I have a FaceTime chat scheduled with a university lecturer.

Also and more importantly Eve has been feeling a bit rough. After giving her a daddy style medical checkup we discovered Eve has developed Tonsillitis!

She has all the classic symptoms including pustules on her tonsils, a sore throat etc. We did consider hiking on as we did the other week when she had a cold, but decided to give her 24 hours to chill and then give me some time to get on-top of a few things, but more on that tomorrow.

This evening has been chilled. We haven’t done much except some washing etc. Eve enjoyed a wee Easter egg hunt that Sarah had set up for her. Sarah is at work tomorrow so I will be looking after Eve and maybe watch a film with her (Back to the Future II)

The plan is to be back on the West Highland Way and camping on Tuesday. But will have to see how Eve is. We are really looking forward to reaching Tyndrum and visiting The Real Food Cafe

Ian, Sarah and Eve


Become a member and show your support...