West Highland Way Day 3 (Inverarnan to Bridge of Orchy)

Not everyone slept so well at Inverarnan although this was nothing to do with the accommodation, more about the the roaring snorer in the shared cabin.  Personally I don't know what all the fuss was about, I slept like a log and didn't hear a thing although I did wake up with a few bruises in the shape of Gill's fist.   The four man cabins are perfect for the job, basic but exactly what is required.

You can buy breakfast or use the basic facilities including kfs, bowls and cookers etc.  While talking about the day ahead. Gerard changed his 10th pair of socks and found it amusing that he still didn't have a blister.  We left Beinglas and started over mixed terrain before moving onto some nice ground under foot.  The sheer beauty of the place, at times can really take your breath away.  You could easily think you were somewhere in the rocky mountains if you didn't know otherwise.  I cannot believe that I speak to people who live just a couple of hours away from these areas and have never been.  We climbed to an opening in the woods before we stopped for lunch. 

A few people pass that we've spoken to previously but they always seem to look fresher than I feel.  After eating we start to move downhill (pain) and are a little concerned when we come across the lower half of a deer's leg on the path.  It's like a scene from the film Deliverance.  We take a look around and find nothing but Martin is away into the forest just in case.  Pretty grim but it can't be helped.  We came out of the forest and started to move down to the site of the Battle of Dalrigh and a small loch known as the Loch of the Lost sword.  I was expecting to see excalibur but apparently that's another story.  We descended and came past some old lead mines before moving into Tyndrum forest.

After a couple of km's we came out at the site of the famous Tyndrum and the Green Welly Stop near Crainlarich.  Now i've probably tasted some of the best bacon sarnies around but after so many miles this feels like the finest ever. It's a famous stop so you can't complete the WHW without visiting.  We left Tyndrum and on the track to the Bridge of Orchy the first thing we saw was some pretty amazing Totem's.  God knows how people do this stuff.

The road from Tyndrum to the Bridge of Orchy is around 6 miles long and is relatively flat and easy walking.  Just outside Tyndrum we saw some gold prospecters panning for gold and apparently they find a bit now and then. It wasn't too long before the Bridge of Orchy hotel and station came into site but again it seemed to take longer than expected to actually reach the place.  On arrival we grabbed a quick drink before crossing the bridge, at the back of the hotel to set up our tents for a bit of wild camping.  It's a great little site but I imagine it can get quite busy during the summer months.

The hotel is very accommodating to walkers however it does seem as though they are trying to price walkers out of staying there.  They are building new chalets at the back of the hotel with prices starting from £120 a night and the hotel is pretty much the same now, hence the reason we camped.  There used to be a bunkhouse for walkers but, unfortunately this is gone now.  After eating we went into the bar for a drink and as the night was drawing to an end the drama started to unfold.  Looking out of the bar window we could see, what looked like an older boy hobbling about.  Someone said something along the lines of "oh he looks in a bad way" but we all thought he was suffering from walking.  He sat on the bench outside the bar and collapsed on the deck.  We went to make sure he was ok but he clearly wasn't so an ambulance was called.  We brought him into the bar and Gill was asking some questions and he said he was a hunter gatherer called Tom Tucker.  No one even thought about the nursery rhyme at the time but this was pointed out by Rosie after we finished the walk.

Now i'm not sure what your understanding of a hunter gatherer is but Tommy Tucker had a small chemist in his rucksack along with a brand new looking samsung galaxy s3 with a solar powered charger.  I've never seen Ray Mears pull one of those out of his pocket.  I think Tom needs to have a re-think about his hunter gathering as he doesn't really seem to have Ray's skills at the moment.  The ambulance came and Tom Tucker from Surrey got a bed in Fort William for the night which is exactly what we think he was after because it was pretty brass monkey's that night.  After all the excitement it was time to get our heads down so we took the short walk across the bridge to our camp and crashed.

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