Day 1 in Scotland, my first steps on the West Highland Way. WOW, what a fun day. My day started about 6:15, rather than the 6:30 alarm, but I was up and at it. Repacked and down to share in the “free continental breakfast” at 7:15. Two things about that breakfast, first the waitress almost would not seat me, she said I was scheduled for 7:30 and she didn’t know if there was a spot. In fact was, there was about half the place with empty tables, I guess she let me know she was in control. Next, why are those called free, I am sure that is figured into the price of the room, oh well, it felt free and that was good, also the food was actually ok, just a little skimpy. After breakfast, all that was left to do was to deliver my suitcase to the transfer service and then it was off to the trail. As an aside, this hotel was about 3/4 of a mile from the trail head. But wherever I stay it is always uphill both to and from and it is always close to a mile off the trail, sometimes it is even in the snow in summer.
As I walked to the trail starting point, the trailhead, it was drizzling, then started getting a little heavier as I approached the trailhead. I found an alcove and put on my raincoat, my rain pants and my rain cover on my backpack. I needed all those for the first 2 hours of hiking. It wasn’t a bad rain, just a continual heavy drizzle that would have left me soaked without the rain gear. The rain gear that I have had since 2015 has been used twice in all those years. I am guessing it will get some more use over the next few days. It is now in my B&B room hanging up making sure it is ready for tomorrow. The temperature was mild today, even chilly at times, maybe 12 to 14 degrees average. I have already been hiking at Palo Duro this year in 85 to 100 degree weather. Oh, the temperature over here is in celsius, so that 12 degrees is about 53 in fahrenheit.
Today’s hike was fairly simple and not hard, it was just long, my garmin had 15.0 miles on it hotel to B&B. The wonderful thing about today was the beautiful views, some shrouded in mist and ethereal in the views. Some was in nice sunshine with dark clouds in the backdrop, but all were of a green, lush countryside and beautiful hills and valleys. I had to remind myself today, this is not the Scottish Highlands yet, those start tomorrow. I can see how the hill rises where I go tomorrow out the window and that portends two things for tomorrow, a bigger challenge to go to a higher elevation and a reminder that the views of fantastic countryside are not here yet, but coming.
Someone asked how we all walk 10 to fifteen miles, the answer is, not all at once, at least mentally. If you can walk 3 miles then you can walk two sets of 3 miles, even back to back. If you have been walking 3 miles for a while, you can walk 3 sets of 3 miles, yes, even back to back, all in one day. That 9 miles get you close enough that with some more training (walking), you can do a 4 + 3 + 3 and that equals 10 miles!! Once you do ten miles, the rest is just mind control of letting yourself know you can put segments together to get the total distance you want in a day. Why segments, because our minds are wired to set limits for our body, we have to fool the mind, trick it into doing segments and not worrying about the total distance for today. Today, I was planning on 13+ miles, so I planned a start with 5 miles, then relax maybe 10 to 15 minutes. But as with all good plans, things changed, I felt good and was walking and talking to a gentleman from Suffolk, so I passed 5 and went to 8 miles, then stopped for an early lunch. After that, I felt I just had a little over 5 miles to go, so that was a no brainer, I just did it. I will admit that once you get within a mile or so of your stopping point, the body does remind you of your promise to it, it sometimes yells that the stop is near, hurry and get there.
I guess it is time to go eat, I hope you remember I have rigorous daily schedule to keep and eating is part of that. Off to grab a steak & ale pie!
2 Timothy 4:7
Henry Ford once said “Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs”
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