Day 5 – Inverarnan to Crianlarich

The word of the day is RAINWATER. Thankfully, the three longest days are now behind us. We now have two short days of six miles each day between Inverarnan, Crianlarich, and Tyndrum. It’s possible to do that in one day but during the planning phase, it seemed reasonable that two short days after three long days would be welcome. I’m also thankful for the two short days as from now on I will be carrying my big pack. We don’t have to head out too early and I have time to now reconfigure my packing so that the contents of my daypack are in their place in my big pack.

We thought to wait for a little bit as the radar showed that the rain was supposed to lighten or stop… but it didn’t. Esther and I were all ready so we set off sometime around 10am. As Esther said, the rainwater mistook the path for a stream bed. Like I said, the word of the day is rainwater.

We hiked 7 miles in just over three hours. We were drenched by the time we got to the Crianlarich Youth Hostel which was about a mile off the West Highland Way. I took two trail videos but I can’t seem to add them here. I remember having issues posting videos in my blog from when I first started using WordPress…

We arrived too early; they were still cleaning. But thank the Lord they let us hang out in the lounge area. Esther and I changed out of our wet clothes and sat on the couch under wool blankets to stay warm. We cooked “mountain meals” (i.e., the freeze-dried hiking meals we had brought with us). We drank warm tea and rested on the couch until it was check-in time.

After check-in, we got our clothes drying in the room, showered, and then Esther and I went back to resting on the couch. That’s pretty much the rest of the day; staying warm and dry.

We survived day 5 = 7 miles from door to door.

Day 6 – Crianlarich to Tyndrum

Another nice short day; although today it didn’t rain the entire time. Another smooth day on the trail. Not much to write about today really. Esther wore her sneakers today as her boots were really hurting. I remembered from last time that the Green Welly had an outdoor gear shop where Esther could try on some boots. The hike between Crianlarich and Tyndrum was quite pretty.

Second day hiking with my big pack went really well. I’m happy to have everything I need on my back; I love backpacking. The sheep in the fifth picture of the slideshow above was taking a nap in the trough of the hay holder. I didn’t get to take the picture in time before the baby got up out of its restful place.

After resting at the bridge, we continued and hiked for a little while by a nice stream.

The last mile or so went by pretty slow as my feet were hurting quite a bit again. But the sun came out as we came into Tyndrum and it turned out be a pretty nice afternoon. We got to By The Way hostel about half-hour/45mins early so we rested in the sun at a picnic table. After checking into the trekker hut, we headed into the village to get dinner and to visit the outdoor gear store.

Thankfully, Esther was able to find a pair of Merrill hiking boots that worked for her. By The Way has a pretty good drying room and our gear (including boots) was pretty dry by the next morning.

During these latest few days, everything hurt when I would first wake up and get moving. Between Tyndrum and Inveroran, I felt a sinus infection coming on which isn’t too uncommon for me. The next few days are each between 9 and 10 miles; a good distance for a day. Not too short and not too long.

We survived day 6. 7.1 miles door to door.