Scotland 2025
October 3-19, 2025

The West Highland Way

This would be the first multi-day hike since Dan and I went to Bhutan half a lifetime ago. I wasn’t sure how I’d do, but it didn’t look any harder than the day hikes we do locally, so I went into it with eager anticipation. As a bonus, a friend of ours (whom we met – ironically – in Bhutan) was joining us, and I was excited to spend time with her along the way.

The West Highland Way route is well-known and well-marked. Due to “reasons”, we hired a tour company (Contours) to take care of the details – and our luggage. We told them how many days we wanted to take to cover the 96 miles from Milngavie to Fort William, and they arranged for our evening accommodations and our luggage transfer. Yes! We would only carry our little day packs, and at the end of each day, our duffel bags would be waiting for us with fresh clothes and a change of shoes. It was sheer decadence. We went with an eight day trip, and were told that we should be in Milngavie Monday night, and our first steps would be on Tuesday. Here we go!

Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday

Tuesday – Milngavie to Drymen
12 miles / 19 km

Monday night’s dinner location, the Burnbrae

It was our first day “on the trail” and it started out grey and damp. We were asked to leave our luggage at reception by 8am, and then we enjoyed a good, hot, breakfast before heading out. We were never sure exactly what our lunch options would be each day and took advantage of the local Aldi to pick up some food for along the way.

We eventually found the marker in town for the Official Start of the West Highland Way. Judging by the friendliness of the locals in the area, they were used to walkers like us and quickly offered to take photos and wished us well. Thank you, kind people!

The trail was easy: a wide, forested path along a creek that was mostly flat and even. We walked together, chatting about stuff and noting the extremely wet conditions from Storm Amy that had blown through two days earlier.

Notice the water on the trail? It was like that all day!

Mid-morning it started to rain a bit, but it was a light rain and we were mostly prepared, just needing to zip up our jackets and pull on our hoods. I enjoyed the softness that the misty clouds gave to the landscape, and while I would have liked to have enjoyed seeing further and more, I knew that “Scotland in October” could do whatever it wanted.

Dan surges ahead

Reaching sheep country

Blue skies!

After a some hours we saw signs for The Beech Tree – tea and cake, take a break! (my jingle, not theirs). The day was comfortably cool, but the idea of a nice dry seat inside, with maybe a little treat on the table in front of us, was too much to resist. The staff were incredibly friendly and made us feel very welcome. It was a fantastic place to stop and we felt refreshed when we got back on the trail.

The Beech Tree (it was nicer on the inside)

This section of the West Highland Way wasn’t very remote, and there were stretches where we followed the road. Mind you, the roads were narrow and not heavily used, but they were still “paved roads” and those don’t lend themselves well to feeling like I’m on a hike.

We walked into the town of Drymen mid-afternoon and easily found our hotel, The Winnock Hotel, mostly because it took up most of the center of town. Yes, it was a sprawling mass of a building but still inviting looking. Our luggage was waiting for us at Reception and we checked in with a less-than-enthusiastic staff member. Our room was located quite far from reception – up stairs, down hallways, down some more stairs, around the corner, down some more stairs…and finally, our door. The room itself was comfortable, but the place was clearly not maintained as well as it could have been. Frankly, the less than half a roll of toilet paper was the biggest surprise, but the poorly-designed shower that leaked water all over the floor was annoying as well.

The sprawling The Winnock Hotel

The three of us had agreed that we’d all share a room whenever possible, primarily to keep the costs down, but personally I thought that it would be more fun this way, too. Our tour company had somehow managed to get us 3-bed rooms for every night of the trip – I hope that the fun would keep for that long!

Dated but comfortable room

The room was now covered in clothing, bags, and footwear. We cleaned up and then went outside to see what the town was really known for: the home of the Clachan Pub, the oldest licensed pub in all of Scotland, going back to 1734!

In the Pub we had a First Day celebratory beer (and cider) and relaxed inside until it was almost time for dinner. There wasn’t much else going on in the town, so we enjoyed the views out the windows, watching other hikers and bicyclists come to the central green before moving on.

Pretty much the extent of “downtown Drymen”

The mobile Post Office van was in town!

View from the restaurant to the other side of the hotel complex (where our room was)

After a well-deserved drink at the Pub we went back to the hotel and eventually to the restaurant for dinner. Dinner was delicious, and our server that evening more than made up for the lacklustre greeting we had upon our arrival.

Wednesday