Milngavie Station to Drymen (17.8 km)
We got off the train in Milngavie in the early afternoon, filled with excitement – and a bit of nerves, and immediately saw signs to the start of the route.
Once we reached the official starting point there was a big sign to mark it, and even though they must see so many walkers setting off every day, lots of people stopped to wish us luck on our journey. One guy told me the secret is to rub Germolene on your feet each night.
The first section goes through the beautiful Mugdock Country Park where the woods were filled with wildflowers including bluebells and wood anemones.
We met a couple of fellow late starter hikers on the way, one of them looked a bit worse for wear… but at least he had some beer to keep him going.
We stopped for food at a great place they told me about when I booked the campsite called Turnip the Beet, which is right on the route. They have an honesty box in a phone booth and they make homemade meals. You can eat at the tables outside or they can put the meals into ‘boil in the bags’ for you to cook on your camp stove. We had the most delicious Keralan vegetable curry and gunpowder potatoes there with naan bread fresh out of the oven, and they filled my empty flask with delicious Spanish wine for the road. The WHW was off to a great start!
After that we crossed Endrick Water…
…and found ourselves in Middle Earth.
By now it was almost sunset, so we were happy to see a sign saying we were nearly at the campsite.
We arrived at Drymen Camping just before dark, and set up all cosy for our first night in the tent.
