Surprisingly we had managed to keep our packs to reasonable levels but only at the expense of fleece jackets. All ready we left fairly early and got to Fort William early in the morning. A bit of a disappointment that there was no snow on the hills - it was because of snow we had decided to do the WHW as we thought the hills would be too bad. First problem was finding a place to park. None of the car parks allowed long term parking and it took ages to get a place up in the back streets, not even being sure parking was allowed there. Breakfast at the railway station, the only place open and then caught the bus back to Glasgow. This was fuller than expected, mainly backpackers plus a few Asians. It always puzzles me that there always seem to be Asians on these journeys and I wonder where from and whereto they are going. I don't mean individuals, it's always whole families. The trip was made at a very easy pace, and the driver obviously knew precisely how long it took to get from one spot to another, including the Glasgow traffic as even with her apparent dawdling the bus turned into Buchanan Bus Station spot on time. A quick snack at the Burger King and the bus to Milngavie. A pleasant and helpful driver who had clearly driven multitudes of foreigners to the start of the WHW. Milngavie had changed considerably since I used to go there as a youngster - not surprisingly as it was over 35 years ago. I had told Graeme about the monorail system that sat outside Milngavie for many years but I don't suppose it was of any interest to him. The start of the route is through a pleasant park and into Mugdock Wood. Again I bored Graeme with my tales of hiking into Mugdock with John Laney, who is now dead, and lighting fires, something you cannot do any longer. Certainly this area has an awful lot of memories for me. Gradually the walk moves onto easy paths and the terrain is very similar to that you find in South East England, though the hills at the side of the valley were a wee bit bigger. On the way a couple passed us and stopped for a chat. They had done the walk last year and in only 5 days, though they said it had nearly killed them and the walk really needed the extra day. Looking at the guy I wondered as with florid complexion he looked a candidate for a heart attack. Still I have to admit they were much faster walkers than us. Today they were only out for a stroll to the Beechwood (?) pub on the way. This seemed to us one helluva walk for a drink, possibly six miles, but perhaps they had left their car at the pub and were walking to it. A cheery pair though. Having travelled overnight and bussed it to Glasgow we were, not surprisingly, getting very tired but when we stopped at a little village, Gartness I think, for a break and look at the map, found that the campsite was only a mile up the road. Great for us tonight but meant a longer walk tomorrow. The campsite was in a little field next to a farmhouse, a bit rough but had decent toilet facilities. The farmer gave lifts into Drymen so we had to act sharpish in getting the tent up and a brief wash then off. Farmer was, as now expected, English but pleasant. His wife was Scottish, from the East coast, and he had been up here about eight years. Drymen is about one and a half miles away so thank goodness for the lift, even if only one way. He dropped us off at the Clachan, supposedly Rob Roy's pub but it was packed. Just as well there was another hotel close by, whose name I can't remember, where we got a meal - OK but nothing special. The walk back wasn't as bad as we thought it might be, even though we missed a short cut and had to walk in the rain. As we got back I noticed a guy sitting in front of his tent staring at us. He had been there when we first arrived and I think he stared at everyone. Sort of gave you the creeps and made sure you didn't leave any valuables around.
