12 miles, 31,000 steps, 1/2 way done

Hey, guess what the weather was today? You won’t guess….yup, RAIN. And not only rain, but some wind thrown in just to make it more interesting. We are a bit sick of the rain but today’s hike was a good one with lots of interesting sites.

At one point we had to use a sheep creep to continue our our path.

The best part of today’s hike was when we reached Crianlarich crossroads. It meant that we have officially completed 1/2 of the WHW.

We stopped for a quick, and I mean quick, picnic lunch before heading off fo the next half of the day. A beautiful view greeted us – with the sun.

The next half of the hike started as we entered a very thick conifer plantation. I learned that Scotland did not have any trees because of the quality of the soil for over 3000 years. Conifers are planted since they can thrive in the thin soil and later used for energy – meaning less reliance on foreign sources. You can see in the above picture areas of these trees.

We were inside the forest for at least an 1 1/2 hours which gave us a wonderful refuge from the rain.

After passing an old viaduct we had only 3 more miles to go and our dogs were howling and needed a pick-me-up to get us to go the last bit.

When we crossed into a farmers field and were greeted by some onlookers that just made us laugh.

We passed the ruins of St. Fillan’s Chapel and its graveyard that dates back to the 8th Century and is protected today.

We also passed areas of great battles. One of them was the Battle of Dalrigh

We are staying tonight at the Tyndrum Lodges which provided us a wonderful treat – laundry and a drying room for all of our wet clothes and gear. We are looking forward to a short 10 miles hike tomorrow which we are grateful for since it is going to be —- what? Yes, you guessed it RAINING.