We arrived in Glasgow by train a week ago now. We then left Glasgow, and the comfort of my Aunt and Uncles home, last Tuesday to walk the West Highland Way. Before we had even begun the trip it felt it was getting the better of us. On arrival into Glasgow we found out Max’s bag was broken beyond repair. Thankfully, helpful family members got us to Cotswold where we got a 65 litre Ayuacha bag. I also got a 3 season Vango sleeping bag as Mum freaked me out by informing me it had recently hit -5 in Scotland.

After re- packing our bags, with food and water this time, we discovered two things.

1. They were really really heavy, and
2. My 3 season sleeping bag did not fit due to its monstrous proportions and inability to compress.

Panic ensued. We removed half the food and made a plan to re-stock at Tyndrum and then removed anything we had two off. We now have one thermos, one spare pack of batteries, less clothes and just got rid of anything that could be seen as non essential.

Day 1: Milngavie to Drymen – 16km, mostly flat.

My Uncle dropped us off at Milngaivie (pronounced Mullguy?!) around lunchtime and walked the first half mile with us and my little second cousin before we were left to begin our adventure. The day was perfect and it felt awesome to finally be walking after so much preparation. It was Max’s first day off work in months with submitting his thesis, 2 papers and a press release all in the previous 3 days. We planned the walk as a way to help him unwind and forget his PhD, as well as a way to train for our race.

We have a rough plan of our trip and about a month ago I emailed all the prospective campsites to ensure they would be open as we are walking a week earlier than the ‘open’ season. All the emails I got back said they would be open. So we arrived at our first campsite in Drymen to find a sign telling us they opened on Easter Sunday. A quick flick through my emails proved they were the only campsite not to email me back. The nearest campsite was 2 miles back the way we just walked and I was too stubborn to call a BnB so we camped there anyway. As the campsite was shut there was no facilities or water. Thankfully there was a farmhouse nearby who let us fill our bottles and who also gave us some wild garlic to add to our dinner (Cous Cous). That first night we both slept 11 sound hours.