Some of the heartier hikers choose to walk the 10 miles from Glasgow to Milngavie. However, since we were still on Seattle time, we opted for the 15 minute taxi ride to the official start of the WHW. Once we transferred our luggage to "Travel Lite" (a sherpa service), we checked out the WHW Information Center and got all the latest details on the trail. We found out that the walking season was really slowing down, midges were almost nonexistent and September is the best walking weather of the entire hiking season! Yay! After Rhonda purchased a red rain poncho (just in case) and getting the obligatory official start photo at the West Highland Way Obelisk, we headed through neighborhoods to Mugdock Country Park, leaving the city behind. It was early in the morning and the sun was shining! The day promised to be warm. We passed many locals out walking their dogs in the park and exchanged "hiyas", a common Scottish greeting. Seems as though everyone was smiling and cheerful!

Our first stop was to be the Glengoyne Distillery followed by lunch about the half-way point at Beech Tree Inn, a pub in the tiny hamlet of Dumgoyne. Since we had taken our time along this portion of the day's walk, we opted out of the tour. The scenery was beautiful with sunny skies, puffy clouds, a beautiful lake with fishermen and we passed through the first of many pastures.

After lunch of a sandwich and a pint of Tennet's Lager, we resumed our walk. At this point we had about 4.5 miles to go. The day's weather just got better as we went along and the scenery continued to be breathtaking, but we were anxious for this day to end. We looked forward to turning in early.

Photos l to r: Heading into the Highlands, a typical farm and one of many streams to cross

The trail is marked sporadically with a yellow thistle carved into the top of a wooden post and were fairly easy to spot. There was one as we entered the outer region of Drymen (pronounced "Drimmen"), but we needed to ask a local how to find the town center so we could locate our next B & B, The Hawthorns. We arrived at the B & B and were shown to our room which was at the top of a very long flight of stairs....the good news: our bags were already in the room. The host directed us to a pub for dinner and thankfully it was just around the corner. We celebrated the end of our first successful day of walking by indulging in a hot Irish Whiskey at the Winnock Hotel.

Photos l to r: Flowers and shrubs along side Winnock Hotel, The Clachan Inn Pub, View from our B&B window.

Exploring the 'lands' of Scotland, Ireland and Iceland

To commemorate my 60th year, I wanted to go on another adventure. I had hiked the Chilkoot Trail when I was 50 and another "hike seemed the right choice. However, I don't think I will wait 10 years between hikes!

My good friend and proven traveling companion, Rhonda Sleighter (Juneau), and I chose to hike the West Highland Way in Scotland http:www.west-highland-way.co.uk/home.asp which is a 96-mile route beginning in Milngavie and ending in Ft. William.

We departed Seattle on Iceland Air for Glasgow after having Rhonda's traditional "Beginning of Vacation" Bloody Mary.Travel time to Glasgow was almost 12 hours. We changed planes in Reykjavik, Iceland and again in Manchester, England. the time difference between Seattle, WA and Glasgow is eight hours with Scotland being ahead of the U.S. Even though we landed at 1:40pm, it still felt like 5:40am to us!

We took a taxi from the airport to our B & B, Amadeus Guest House and waited for our hostess to check us in. We were directed to a neighborhood restaurant for dinner. The food was delicious but we were tired. After re-packing suitcases and organizing backpacks we headed to bed and looked forward to the first day of our walk. We did question the sanity as to why we thought a12-mile walk would be a good thing the day after arriving in Scotland, but felt we could handle it.

On the Rhoad with Rhonda, Day Three, June 17, 2010

If I were in charge of the Alaska Marine Highway Ferry timetable, I would not schedule a departure that required drivers, passengers and their vehicles to be queued up at the dock at the indecent hour of 7am for a 9am departure. I would change the departure to at least 11am so we wouldn't have to show up at the dock until 9. That way, Rhonda and I would not have had to get up at 5:00 in the morning....I really don't care if the sun has been up for hours. I should actually rephrase that. I would not have had Rhonda telling me at 5 in the morning that I need to get up and get into the shower :-( We had to get checked in at the ferry terminal early so we could make the "latte call" at Mountain Market at 7:00 a.m. to procure our highly coveted caffeine fix. With perfectly mastered lattes in hand, Rhonda and I decided to do one last quick tour of Haines. We were amazed at all the early-risers out walking their dogs! We commented on many of the structures of the downtown area, the sleepy little 'hoods and then greatly lamented the loss of touring one of the greatest attractions to be found in the hamlet of Haines lying along the Lynn Canal. The one and only highly coveted The Hammer Museum. A must see that we will definitely add to our Bucket List!

Driving with Rhonda for the last two days was more fun than I have had with her in quite awhile. We shared lots of stories and laughs along the way. She is easy to travel with and easy to love. It was with heavy heart when we bumped onto the ramp and into the belly of the ferry. This was it. Like Rhonda has said all along on this trip, "Once the door to the airplane is closed, there is no getting off". We lugged our reading materials, word puzzles and my ever-present 50lb laptop all over the ferry trying to find a perfect spot to set up. Rhonda went one way and I continued to meander through the halls and cubbies looking for the ever-elusive signal. The route was beautiful. We saw Orca and Humpback whales breaching, two picturesque lighthouses and listened to the Park Service rep as she told us the differences between black and brown bears...... We snacked, talked, compared puzzles and walked the decks. The day grew sunnier (always a good sign) and the temperature inched higher. Auke Bay came into view. Rhonda became quiet and walked up to the bow to watch the ferry dock. I looked at her and marveled at her courage to start again at the age of 60+. I have felt good about her decision and felt even more comfortable as we drove off the ferry. She pointed out familiar sights and talked about old friends and times gone by in her earlier days in Juneau. We hooked up with her good friend, Donica, and she patiently drove us from one public bulletin board to another. The next mission is to find a new, but temporary home, for our dear friend, Rhonda Sleighter, Squirrel Slayer.

On the Rhoad with Rhonda; Day Two, June 16, 2010

The day dawned with what seemed to be the promise of a little sun in Tok and after fueling up with both gasoline and two 16 oz cups of coffee, we were on our way. We had hoped to be on the road by 9am with an ETA of 4pm in Haines, AK. However, I ended up wandering around the hotel lobby and parking lot with an open laptop trying to pick up a strong enough signal to post Tuesday's blog. Rhonda patiently paced around waiting for me to get the darn thing posted AND then finally we were off ....... already 30 minutes behind schedule.......this did not bode well.....

We hadn't been on the road long when we began to encounter areas of road construction complete with flagmen and pilot cars. We pulled off at the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge Center to walk around a bit and take a "break". The visitor center was very informative and the views from the observation deck were fabulous. This also happened to be an area where traffic was being stopped for road construction. I was busy snapping pictures and doing the obligatory ooooiinnggg and ahhhinnnngg when I heard what was going to be a familiar refrain, "Hurry up Debi, we have to get ahead of all these RVs."