Their story, in their words…
We began our journey with a 12 hour coach ride trip from victoria station in london to glasgow central. We arrived at around 9 at the coach station because the coach had been delayed, however we were still on time on our schedule because we had accounted for a delay. We then set off to catch the 308 bus that went towards Ben Lomond. Along the way it rained a little but luckily we had our waterproofs handy when we got off the bus. The day brightened up when we set off on our day 1 route. We took beautiful pictures as we walked up the west highland way as the views were truly breathtaking and then had our lunch on the shoreline and cooked it using the gas stove. We brought a lot of Uncle Ben’s meals which were practical since we could heat them up easily, however they were quite heavy, around 300g each meal, so if we were to redo it, we would bring a lighter alternative.
We continued walking and were now thinking about somewhere to pitch up our tent since it was getting late. We were still in the camping management zone and had been for a while, so as soon as we left it, we could find a suitable place to pitch up our tent. It felt as if we would never leave the management zone and were getting worried until we finally saw the end of the camping management zone sign! We were relieved. So we make dinner and pitch up our tent to call it a night. We walked around 15km from the bus stop to where we pitched up our tent.
The next day we woke up early to summit Ben Lomond, but underestimated how long it would take us to take down our tent and eat breakfast, so we left later than anticipated. Additionally, we attempted to summit Ben Lomond with 10kg packs on, which in hindsight was not a great idea. The path up was clear, however with the weight of the packs made the way up much longer than the planned route. We then had lunch and ate heavy meals to try to shave off more weight so our packs would be slightly lighter. When we had reached the first peak, Cruinn a’ Bheinn, we decided it was better to turn back, because it was already 4 meaning it took us 4ish hours to climb it, discounting lunch break and smaller breaks, so we climbed down and pitched up our tent near a bunk house since the pitch up fee was not expensive.
Our next planned day, we were to walk 14ish km then catch a ferry from Inversnaid to Inverglas. We walked the 14km and had lunch along the way, remembering to take pictures of everything, and right before we reached the pier near the hotel, there was an amazing waterfall, so we took plenty of pictures of that too. However when we went to book the ferry as planned, they said the ferry was not running today since it was only for hotel guests, despite the fact that when we called when we were planning the trip, they had said the ferry does run, which was frustrating but out of our control. We decided it was best to pitch up our tent and get an early ferry across to Tarbet the following morning since the option to go to Inverglas was unavailable. We also ran out of water along the way so we filtered some river water using the filter and a purification tablet.
We also had a little problem with the midges, despite the midge and tick repellent. Although, some areas were worse than others, specifically areas where there was no wind and near water or near the loch. I (Gabriella) also found a tick on my belly, however we successfully removed it with the tick remover in our first aid kit. Phew.
The following day we decided to summit a nearby mountain Cruach Tairbeirt (1,300ft) and reached the summit, and we decided on the way down to find somewhere to set up our tent. We managed to find a cheap campsite (£5pp), so pitched up there and began to plan what to do tomorrow because of the ferry setback. However that evening I (Gabriella again) was feeling quite unwell so I was lying down for most of the time while Maciej made dinner and pitched up the tent. Soon after I felt even worse and began vomiting a lot. We did have to go to the hospital as there was no sign I was getting better, but we still aren’t sure what could have caused the stomach bug, potentially the water, however it was filtered and purified.
Unfortunately we did not manage to climb all the mountains we intended, but despite this, we still learnt a lot about backpacking and hiking (the dos and don’ts) , managed to take beautiful pictures and met a lot of amazing people on the way who were sharing their stories with us. We are fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to go on an incredible expedition such as this one, since we otherwise wouldn’t have had a chance to do this. Reflecting on our experience, we’ve come very far independently and have learnt a lot about not only ourselves, but also what we are capable of through dedication, perseverance and good planning.
