Walking the West Highland Way Day 2: Drymen to Rowardennan
Some links on this site are affiliate links. If you purchase something using an affiliate link, I may earn a small commission. This doesn’t cost you anything extra, and helps offset the costs of keeping this site online. Thank you for your support!
Day 2 of my West Highland Way solo hike in Scotland was my longest mileage day of the trip – I finished with 17. 1 miles.
There were farms, fields, and forests, a tough climb up and down Conic Hill, and my first views of the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond.
Start from the beginning with West Highland Way day 1: Milngavie to Drymen or see all West Highland Way posts.
Like the video?
Subscribe to my YouTube channel and see all my hiking, motorcycle, travel, and adventure videos.
Leaving Drymen on the West Highland Way
I cooked my porridge in the common area at Drymen Camping, then packed up and was back on the trail at 7:30 a.m. What a beautiful morning! There was a bit of mist hanging in the fields. I started along the road, walking by sheep and cows in the misty morning with the early light shining through. The trail moved off the road after a while through fields and a tunnel of trees.
The first views of Loch Lomond along the West Highland Way
I crossed into Garadhban Forest, which had so much brightly colored heather. When I stood up really tall to see over the plants, I got my first views of Loch Lomond. Eventually I came to the point where the West Highland Way splits. You can take the faster, easier route to Balmaha or the more difficult route up Conic Hill. I wanted the views from the top of Conic Hill, so I chose the more difficult route.
Open moorland on the West Highland Way
The guidebook I used had marked on the map “Through gate onto open moorland”. Though there were many gates, it was very obvious when I reached the ‘open moorland’ gate. As soon as I opened it I felt the powerful wind gusts and the temperature seemed to drop instantly. The wind and chill would remain – along with occasional rain – until I crossed over Conic Hill and reached the bottom.
The climb up Conic Hill
From the open moorland I could see the large mound of Conic Hill rise up before me in the distance with the pale stripe of the West Highland Way snaking around the side. The trail had a lot of stones and kept getting steeper. Sometimes there was water flowing over the stones, and sometimes there were stone stairs. It was steep enough that I was getting winded, so I would stop and take a few pictures, then continue the climb.
I followed the West Highland Way to its high point on Conic Hill, but there was another trail climbing up to the summit. It was very steep, very narrow, and very sketchy – but, oh, those views!
It was incredibly cold and windy at the top. I sat down and had snacks, but had to put a fleece jacket on first.
Conic Hill descent
As I started the descent from the top of Conic Hill, there were a few highland cows right along the trail. I had hoped I would see highland cows at some point on the West Highland Way, but never expected they would be so close! Their long hair was blowing in the wind, and their reddish fur was striking against green grass with the distant hills behind them.
After getting some photos and videos, I started the trek down Conic Hill. The walk down was so much more difficult than going up! It started out very rocky – the kind of rocks you have to carefully pick your way over. And then it switched to stairs. Very tall, very steep stairs. There were really planks of woods holding in the dirt in place in the shape of stairs. Many of them were falling apart or broken – it was very difficult walking. And the steepness made my knees hurt. I ended up having to take sideways steps to relieve some pressure off my knees.
As it looked like I was nearing the end of the stairs at last, the wind suddenly quit and the temperature rose as abruptly as it had dropped as I entered the moorland. I had reached the bottom of Conic Hill.
National Park Visitor Center, Balmaha
When you reach the bottom of Conic Hill, you walk by a visitor center for Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park. This is a great opportunity to use the loo if you need to!
Balmaha
From there you are in the town of Bamaha. Many people choose to have lunch here. I was still concerned about how far I had to go for the day so I didn’t stop. I was planning to have protein bars and snacks for lunch and I just ate snacks at the top of Conic Hill.
Tom Weir Statue
When you go through Balmaha, wander through the Balmaha Bay area – it’s tranquil and lovely. See the statue of Tom Weir – a well-loved Scotsman know for his trademark red hat and his TV show on the Scottish outdoors. People still leave flowers at the statue.
The bonnie banks of Loch Lomond on the West Highland Way
After leaving Balmaha I found myself walking along the famed ‘bonnie banks of Loch Lomond’. By surface area, the freshwater Loch Lomond is the largest lake in Great Britain. I would walk along it for the rest of this day and most of the next. I was about halfway through my miles for the day.
There were a few really lovely beaches along the way. The trail would sometimes wander away from the Loch with some ups and downs, but then return to follow along the Loch’s edge again.
Milarrochy Bay
I hit the 10 mile mark right around Milarrochy Bay. I had promised myself I would take a break at the 10 mile mark and eat some snacks before continuing for what I thought was the last 5-6 miles. Milarrochy Bay was a great spot to stop. I sat on a rock and ate my snacks looking out over the water.
I had walked for a while in the morning with a British man named Jon but he had turned off at one point to get food from a restaurant. He caught up with me again during the walk along Loch Lomond. He only planned his trip 2 weeks before and had never done an overnight hiking trip before. Jon was carrying all his gear and was staying that night at Sallochy Campground, so we walked together again until he turned off at Sallochy, hoping to get his tent set up before the rain started. There had been some light rain so far, but quit as soon as we put our rain gear on.
I slip and fall. Again.
Not long after Sallochy I was walking across a large, flat section of rock when I slipped and fell. That’s 2 days of hiking and 2 falls. That’s bad, even for me. I banged my arm pretty hard – it felt like it probably took some skin off. It hurt enough I sat there for a minute or 2 before getting up, but I needed to get moving before the rain.
And then the rain starts
It started to rain. Then it started pouring. Sheets of rain. So much rain it was hard to even see. And then there was a never-ending set of stairs going up, up, up. I only had my thin raincoat – I had decided to pack the heavier one in my other pack (the one being transported) because I didn’t want the extra weight on my really long day. My thin coat didn’t hold up well in the rain. As a matter of fact, the sleeves – which are cuffed with elastic – filled with water and I had to pull open the elastic to let it out.
On top of the rain and a tough day that included Conic Hill, I was worried about having to do 15-16 miles that day. It turned out to be 17.1. I was so very happy to finally see Ben Lomond Bunkhouse – the place I would stay for the night!
Ben Lomond Bunkhouse in Rowardennan
Ben Lomond Bunkhouse is part of Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park and staying there helps support the park. There are rangers that work out of the building. Sonja – who I had met the night before in Drymen – caught up to me not far from the bunkhouse. She was staying there, too.
The bunkhouse has separate dorms for men and women. Alex, who runs the bunkhouse, greeted us and was trying to get some other guests settled in so Sonja and I waited in the kitchen, dripping wet. I had a puddle under me, and my backpack made its own puddle, too.
I enjoyed the Ben Lomond Bunkhouse. Everyone hung at and chatted in the kitchen for a while – it was a very friendly place. I got to see where I hurt my arm when I fell – I had a giant lump and a bruise. Alex gave me some Arnica cream – something I’d never heard of before. It worked wonders – the lump was gone by morning and the bruise disappeared much more quickly than I expected.
Facilities at Ben Lomond Bunkhouse on the West Highland Way
There were two very large bathrooms. Both had showers and one even had a bathtub! I got cleaned up, then went into the kitchen with most of the other guests to eat and chat. Later I sat in the common room – which was very comfortable with lots of seating options – to catch up on my journal.
The kitchen at Ben Lomond Bunkhouse also had an honesty shop with a good selection of food. I bought some trail mix with dried fruit that was excellent. Alex had also offered in advance via email to pick up things from the story if any guests wanted something specific. I ate one of my dehydrated meals I had with me and saved the trail mix for the trail. Breakfast foods were included – I know there was bread and jam as well as porridge.
There was a drying room – a small room with lots of drying racks and hangers, with heaters to dry out wet clothes. They even had newspaper to put inside your boots to absorb the dampness. Unfortunately there were so many very wet things that it couldn’t keep up – my clothes were still wet in the morning. On the bright side, since my big bag was being transported I had brought extra clothes. I used those the next day, putting my damp clothes in a bag. The smell of those damp clothes would stick with me for a while though!
The longest day was done
I had been worried about this day for a while, never having hiked 16 miles in a single day before in my life. It ended up being 17.1 miles, and some of those were really tough miles. Conic Hill, all those stairs, a fall – I was glad to know the longest day was behind me. Not that the rest would be easy but I knew I could manage big miles if I needed to.
Start from the beginning with West Highland Way day 1: Milngavie to Drymen or see all West Highland Way posts.
