West Highland Way – Stage 2 – Drymen to Balmaha
Today’s miles: 8.00
Total miles: 21
Miles Remaining: 75

Today (Saturday) was a shorter day in terms of miles, but with a big hill to climb. It was a beautiful and warm day. A little too warm for climbing big hills, but we took our time and did fine. We ended our day in the small town of Balmaha on the shores of Loch Lomond. It was very busy with tourists and holiday makers since it was a sunny Saturday.

This is Conic Hill, our climb for the day. You can see the trail snaking up the right hand side. It was very exposed with no shade and quite steep in places. Some hikers joke that UK hikers and trail designers have never learned about the joy of switchbacks, they just go straight up the mountain.

And here are our first views of Loch Lomond. It is Great Britain’s largest lake. See the string of islands and peninsula’s running across the lake? Those are all on a fault line that separates the lowlands from the highlands. So today, we cross into the highlands.

The view from the top was beautiful. Here are my reactions to the climb…and then the view.

It was a steep path down.

 

We made it down to pretty little Balmaha and its harbor and took a picture with a Tom Weir statue, a Scottish journalist and outdoor enthusiast.

The name Loch Lomond may ring a bell with you. It is part of a very famous song. I encourage you to search YouTube for a version of the song and listen to it. I would provide a link but my internet here is allowing me to copy YouTube urls. The song is beautiful. Here is the story behind the song according to Rick Steves.

“Celtic culture believes that fairies return the souls of the deceased to their homeland through the soil. After the disastrous Scottish loss at the Battle of Culloden, Jacobite ringleaders were arrested and taken for trial in faraway London. In some cases, accused pairs were given a choice: One of you will die, and the other will live. The song is a bittersweet reassurance, sung from the condemned to the survivor, that the soon-to-be-deceased will take the spiritual “low road” back to his Scottish homeland—where his soul will be reunited with the living, who will return on the physical “high road” (over land).”

Have a wonderful day and stay tuned for more updates and pictures.

God bless,
Coe