Rob Roy Way – Day 00 and Day 0

5th & 6th May 2023: Home to Pitlochry to Drymen

When I was planning this walk, it seemed like a good idea to arrive in Pitlochry late on the Friday night and spend the night in the car, rather than leaving home in the middle of the night to try and get here in time for the morning train. Once I tried to get comfortable in the passenger seat, even with it reclined all the way down, I quickly remembered how bloody cramped it is, how my knees catch on the centre console and how I can’t even straighten my legs. By the time the skyline was showing the first signs of dawn, and I eventually gave up on trying to convince myself that I may drop back off to sleep for an hour, it was 4.30, and I realised I should have chosen the warm and comfy few hours in bed option.

The plan for today was to drive to the end of the walk in Pitlochry, then catch a train to Glasgow, another train to Balloch and then a bus to the starting point in Drymen. The last minute decision to sleep in the car, saw me leave home late Friday afternoon and despite it being a bank holiday weekend, there was surprisingly little traffic on the roads and I arrived at Hamilton services just in time for tea. I find Hamilton perfectly situated for the first stop on a long drive into Scotland and I must have stopped here dozens of times over the years. It was fairly quiet and you could have heard a pin drop in the McDonald’s food area, never mind the little exclamation of “how f***kin’ much” that escaped me when I saw the cost of my meagre selection! I rarely use McDonald’s and I don’t know if it’s because it’s a motorway service station, or if it’s representative of a massive price increase across their outlets, but I don’t recall having to spend almost £10 for nuggets, chips and a drink. There were so few people waiting, they actually had to make all my items from scratch, so at least they were hot!

Another bit of last minute planning had me diverting slightly off course as I approached Pitlochry, in order to drop off a supply parcel at Acharn. I stop here at the end of Day 5 and there are no shops or pubs nearby, and the B&B doesn’t appear to offer an evening meal option. I guess they don’t really cater for walkers, and folk staying with them in cars can easily drive to get something to eat, unlike me. I’m also paying £90 for the night and even if they did provide tea, I doubt I’d have added it to the already exorbitant bill. I say exorbitant because I think it’s the most I’ve ever paid for a walking B&B room, but certainly seems to reflect a huge increase in accommodation pricing in the last couple of years. So, I’d decided a supply parcel was the answer. Some savoury snacks, a couple of bottles of juice and a small bar of chocolate for the evening and some lunch snacks for the following day. I’d wrapped them all up in a couple of bin bags and found a likely spot to dump it, just before the B&B, using Google Street View. I stashed the parcel behind a tree and covered it in old bracken stalks and some twigs. Hopefully it’ll stay hidden and not get knawed on by critters!

I arrived in Pitlochry about 9pm, stopped in at the Co-op and picked up something for an early breakfast snack, then headed up to the Ben Vrackie car park just outside the town. It’s not huge, but I ended up sharing it with two large motor homes and a campervan. The camper turned up late and spent a lot of time faffing about trying to find a flat spot, engine revving, then doors banging for 10 minutes, voices pitched louder then they needed to be, and generally I thought they were a bit anti-social about it all.

As I’ve said, I was awake about 4.30, and my knees were sore, my neck was sore and my left shoulder was sore. I left as quietly as I could, stopping a few yards down the road to run the engine to clear the windscreen, rather than disturbing my neighbours by doing it in the car park. I drove down into the town and found my researched parking place. With hindsight, it had been a good decision to get here earlier than expected, as there was almost no space for me. If I’d arrived much later I would probably have had to find somewhere else at very short notice.

I managed to get an earlier train from Pitlochry, which was mostly empty and I arrived in Glasgow at about 9am, with 4 hours to kill until my next train. It had rained during the train ride, but it was dry in Glasgow, albeit quite cold. It felt more like March than May! I found the nearest McDonald’s – not to do any price comparison research, but because I actually really enjoy their breakfasts. The rest of their food offerings are pretty much just fuel, but their breakfasts are awesome. I had a sausage and egg muffin (which are much smaller then they used to be, I’m sure) and a hash brown and a much needed cup of tea. I plugged in an audiobook (book 2 of Christian Cameron’s Long War series) and sat and watched the world go by. I rang home to check in and then wandered back over to Queen Street Station about 12:45. I had to wait to cross the road as a huge parade, or march went past. Thousands of people waving saltire flags and chanting something I couldn’t make out (I still had my headphones in, and I wasn’t bothered or curious enough to take them out and listen), but I assumed it was some sort of independence parade.

Once I managed to reach the station, I found the right platform (there doesn’t seem to be a waiting room in Glasgow Queen Street?) and then waited in the cold for the 13:13 to Balloch. This train too was mostly empty, although what few people were on it seemed to be marchers (protesters?) from earlier and they were very loud. By the time we reached Balloch, it was properly raining and as I walked across to the bus stop I hoped there was a shelter. No such luck of course, so I stood beneath the overhanging porch of a nearby pub and tried to keep an eye out for any approaching buses. It arrived on time and was also mostly empty. Is everyone at home watching the coronation? When I’d rung home, my wife said our youngest daughter was watching it, and so were her sister and brother in law – none of whom I would have expected to be interested. It’s certainly not something I’d sit and watch and his request for everyone to swear an oath of allegiance had actually annoyed me. I generally don’t give a toss either way about the royal family, but that request had seemed so tone deaf to me, that it had turned me off him completely. Anyway, if the coronation was responsible for making my public transport journey all that much more enjoyable for being quiet, then it was serving some useful purpose!

Thankfully the rain had stopped by the time I arrived in Drymen, and I checked into the Clachan Inn without any issues, just before 3pm. I’ve got a twin room with a separate, private bathroom and the WiFi is good enough to stream the Man City vs Leeds match on Sky Sports, which I’m watching with one eye, while I type this up with the other. Bizarre ending with Gundogan missing a penalty for his hat-trick and then Leeds immediately scoring to leave a nervous few minutes and a 2-1 final score. Phew!

At half time I popped over to the Spar to pick up some bits for tomorrow’s lunch. I packed all my stuff into a bag and started to walk out and the young lad behind the counter had to call me back twice, telling me I hadn’t paid! I have no idea what I was thinking and I could have happily crawled up my own arse and disappeared. I apologised profusely to both the cashier and the queue of people behind me, who had all been held up as I’d tried to make my escape.

I’ve got food booked for 6pm, so I’ll maybe follow up after that and close out this report. The weather for tomorrow looks better than I was expecting (although Monday looks pretty dire). As I was waiting for the bus in Balloch, I was trying to think if I’d ever set out on any of my previous long distance walks in the rain. I don’t think I have. I’ve had plenty of wet days of course, but I don’t think I’ve ever had the start of a walk marred by rain! How impressive is that? Let’s hope the record continues!

The bar and seated eating area in the pub were absolutely jammed. It was so busy I had to wait for my table to come free. I had a pint of West Highland Way, which was a bit flowery, but the only other draught beer was a Deuchars IPA, so Hobson’s choice really. I stood in the noisy bar, propped up against the fireplace and waited as patiently as I could – I’ve come to hate small busy places and this was testing me. At 6.20 I decided to give them a reminder, so I went round the other side, and without having to say anything, the guy who’d put me on hold, waved me over and showed me to a table. It was a lot quieter in the corner he showed me to, and my stress levels dropped nicely.

The menu in the Clachan is so badly worded I managed to order their special burger with cheese! I f***kin’ hate cheese, especially the melted variety! The menu said something like ‘cheddar and peppercorn sauce’ – so I asked for the sauce to be put in a little pot rather than on the burger. An Oxford comma would have avoided any misconceptions about weird meat sauces! When it arrived and I spotted the error, it had been another 25 minutes and I was already absolutely ravenous, so rather than send it back I ate it. The haggis and black pudding toppings seemed to counteract the cheese, or possibly overwhelmed it and it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. I’m honest enough to admit I actually enjoyed it (despite the cheese I hasten to add, not because of it).

The bill came and they hadn’t included the pint I’d ordered in the bar, and in a mad rush of honesty I told them! The waitress came back with the amended bill and when I asked her what time breakfast started she looked at me oddly and said they don’t do breakfast! I was a bit taken aback. I’m normally fastidious about checking stuff like this and it threw me. If I’m being honest (I’m on a run, why break it) if I’d known that before the bill error, I wouldn’t have owned up to the missing pint! I now have to go to the Spar in the morning and find something breakfasty to go with my in-room tea bags and UHT sachets .

2 thoughts on “Rob Roy Way – Day 00 and Day 0”

  1. Sounds like a traumatic experience before you even start the walk! As regards sleeping in the car, I don’t know what make/model you have, but if it’s a hatchback you could fold down the seats and sleep in the back. Add a lightweight camping mattress that can be rolled up when not in use, and you have a bit of cushioning.
    I hope the walk goes better than the build-up, and look forward to reading the next report.
    Dick

    1. I’m making more of a drama of it than it really was to be honest. Any day where three consecutive public transport legs leave and arrive on time is a good day in my books! I’m ever so slightly too tall to sleep in the back of the car, but it only happens a couple of times a year, so no big deal. Cheers, Stuart

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