I woke up in the morning to the sound of Graeme scraping the ice off the tent which gives an idea as to how cold it was. Hot porridge helped and we were soon off. Any temptation anyone had to make life rough for the girls was wasted as they were up as early as the rest of us and in no worse shape. The road to Crianlarich was well made with few problems apart from one patch of mud lasting about a quarter of a mile. In this stretch you are walking parallel to the road but you hardly notice it . It is marvellous to see the mountains arising in front of you, capped with snow. There were quite a few flurries of snow but generally the weather was OK. Again we passed and were passed by the Dutch lads who now had the girl and the other lad permanently attached to them. The other two guys kept to themselves but again it was the same story of us passing each other. On the WHW you really do get attached to people. Just at the Crianlarich turn there is a long upwards drag which took for ages. I was finding that while I had no great difficulty on the walk I did have problems on the climbs and was getting slower and slower. The same thing had happened on Loch Lomond every time we climbed a hill and Graeme always had to wait for me. Although relatively easy walking this section from Crianlarich to Tyndrum seemed to go on for ever. The main reason is that you can see Tyndrum way in the distance so you think you are quite close, but in reality the path winds about and is longer than you think. We met up with the Dutch and all the others at lunch time so we all had lunch together. All very jolly but it was just about here that Graeme's problems started. From here on the path went downhill and Graeme was finding that he was getting sharp pains on his shin on every step down. There was no problem on upward climbs but the pain came back every time we moved onto a downward track. You could see him hobbling as we went down. I said nothing hoping it would go away and thinking it was maybe just Graeme moaning again. He said his ankle was OK , this time it was his shin. From here the path wanders in the glen going across the road and leading to St Fillans church and graveyard both of which are quite interesting. Again and much to our surprise we overtook the Dutchmen who had stopped for yet another break. Although big, tough guys they were clearly in no hurry. The campsite at Tyndrum was not too far which was just as well as Graeme by this time was in agony. We got the tent up OK with Graeme miserable as Hell and then we wandered into town. Got some more cash, this trip was turning to be much more expensive than I had expected, more gas and Mars bars and visited the Green Wellie Shop. Had a relaxed cup of tea in their cafe where Graeme made it clear he had great doubts about being able to continue. We agreed to keep an eye on the situation and see what happened though we more or less agreed we would probably have to get the bus from Tyndrum tomorrow. We kept our options open though and decided on a good meal in Tyndrum first leaving the Dutch folk cooking in the wash up room to get out off the rain. Still dodging the rain we went off to the main hotel in Tyndrum, whose name I forget. [now found out it's called the Invervey Inn] Quite busy but we got a table with a foreign guy reading a book at the other end. Graeme had Chilli and I had steak pie, both excellent. The foreigner had chilli as well and soon joined in conversation with us. He also turned out to be Dutch, doing the WHW on B&B. Because of accommodation problems he had had to do the Bridge of Orchy (he called it Orshy) to Kingshouse and had now come back to do the Tyndrum to Bridge of Orchy route tomorrow. He was staying in this hotel. Again he was a guy who had walked in the Alps but still thought Scotland a wonderful place to visit. Every time we mentioned a place on the WHW he would pull a map out and we would discuss. Quite a pleasant chap, I bought a round then Graeme bought one. When it was my round I noticed the other Dutch folk round the corner and had a chat. They were very jolly but quite concerned when I told them about Graeme. They were still with the fellah - he was very pleasant but I still don't know where he came from. Perhaps he had fancied the girl. Don't know much about his chances. At the Drovers it had looked like one of the Dutchmen had eyes on her but it didn't look like this now, so I'm not sure. Back at our table an English couple, getting food, asked if they could join us. They had been listening to us and wanted to join in. They were from the North of England and had done many long distance paths. They were also doing B&B. What I have found nice about this walk is the camaraderie on the route with the backpackers -i.e. the Dutch, the girl and fellah plus the two young guys, and then in the evenings meeting the B&Bers. The Englishman surprised me by saying he was approaching 50 - I thought he was retired. He called it Bridge of Awky and the strange thing was that all of us, me the Dutchman and the Englishman all had our own way of pronouncing it with none of us listening to the others. Again it was a lovely evening though both Graeme and myself noticed the Dutchman did not buy a round. He held on and on until we were going then as we were leaving asked if we wanted a drink. So transparent. Still it did not spoil what had been a very enjoyable evening.
On the way back to the tent Graeme was still limping but not as bad as earlier. We agreed to leave decisions till the morning and, if he was OK, have a try about getting to Bridge of Orchy, about six miles away. This is the section we had so often seen from the road as it winds round Beinn Dorain and follows the railway line. We had both been looking forward to this section if only to see what it was like from the path looking at the road. The rest of tomorrow would have been across Rannoch Moor but I was not prepared to do that one unless Graeme was really ready, especially as the forecast was for a worsening of the weather. Thankfully we got a good night's sleep as the loudmouths seemed to have gone elsewhere, also the strange character had not put in an appearance.
