Hello lovelies! Before the start of this summer, I'd never really done anything for charity. Unless you count carting off a bag of unwanted cardigans and old jackets to the local hospice shop a couple of times a month, and maybe giving in a pound for Jeans for Genes day at school. I wanted to do something that would actually make some kind of a difference (even though I didn't really earn that much money at the end of it). I had the idea to do the West Highland Way after my friend mentioned she was doing it with her school. In case you don't know what the West Highland Way is, it's a 97 mile walk through the beautiful hills of the west of Scotland - really lovely if you're into views and scenery, like I am. Less lovely if you're not into strenuous exercise. A category into which I also fall. So, as you can imagine, this walk was certainly an adventure - after surviving solely on lucozade and aspirin for almost a whole week, I'm keen to share my story. I thoroughly enjoyed this walk for the most part, but it was certainly an interesting experience!
My dad, my sister and I looking fetching at the starting point
I have to apologize for the extremely poor picture quality - because of the constant rain and frequent storms we didn't want to get the proper cameras out, so what you're seeing right now is the product of an eight year old Nokia flip phone courtesy of my dad. Sorry about that.
I recruited my dad and my sister to join me for moral support, and we set off on Monday the 22nd of July. As you can see from the picture, I was feeling optimistic about the weather. Or maybe I just didn't want to be recognized...
My outfit:
T shirt - Tribes shirt, I bought at the NME Awards Tour 2012 for £10.00
Hoodie - Criminal Damage, from Pulp in St Ennoch's Centre, Glasgow for £35.00
Leggings - Primark, £4.00
Sunglasses - Vintage, thrift shop in Cornwall, £6.00
Boots - Walking boots, North Face, £55.00
Hat - TK Maxx, £5.00
We decided to break the walk down into six days; going from twelve miles in one day to almost thirty in another. If the weather had held up okay, it might have been pleasant enough. And on the first day, it was lovely: a nice, easy walk with minimal uphill ground and plently of sunshine. When we got to where we were staying that night; which was a B&B set up in an old converted church called "Kip in the Kirk" (highly recommended if you're ever thinking about staying in Drymen!), we had no idea of what lay ahead. But that's what made it exciting!
Unfortunately, we had just wandered up Conic Hill on day two, right when a major lightening storm was scheduled to hit. "Just keep going!" my dad said optimistically. "If we get over it quickly enough, we might miss the storm!"
We did not miss the storm. Within about five minutes my first poncho was soaked through, as were the contents of my rucksack. Traipsing over that thing in the cold and wet Scottish weather, while watching the faint withers of smoke drift from trees in the distance was not my idea of an ideal Monday afternoon.
Coming down Conic Hill after the storm
After a certain point it became apparent that it was too dangerous to continue over the hill in the midst of the storm. Not only were we a little shaken by all of the lightening strikes on the trees around us, but an ominous mist had settled around the reasonably narrow walkway right at the top of the mountain - meaning we couldn't see where we were going! One wrong step and we could've been in trouble. So, we edged our way to a little wooded area and found a clearing, where we discovered the rest of the walkers had had the same idea. After sitting in there for about 25 minutes waiting for the storm to subside we had befriended a nice French couple who offered to take our picture (above) and had sorted out ponchos, rainjackets and everything else we needed to continue for the next couple of miles. Even so, I was pretty much losing the will to live.
Looking my very best in my bright blue poncho
Because of the harsh weather conditions, we didn't really get to appreciate the wonderful scenery until we were a good way down the hill - but it was lovely when we did. I wanted to get my camera out but knew it wasn't really sensible.
The third day was a tough walk, with lots of hills and uneven ground. But what was really memorable about day three was the accomodation - wigwams at the lovely Beinglas Farm, near Loch Lomond. Very basic accomodation, but still better than camping, which would also mean lugging a heavy tent around with me on top of everything in my rucksack. Yeah. Not camping was an alright idea.
Again, Beinglas Farm is definitely recommended - it's a beautiful campsite with areas to pitch your tent as well as the wigwams which you can hire for roughly £25 per night for one person. Surrounded by mountains and with a lovely stream and free roaming sheep, it was an ideal place to relax after a hard day. But, we knew we had to prepare ourselves for tomorrow's feat; day four, our longest walk yet.
We walked from Beinglas to Tyndrum and went to the famous Real Food Cafe in the evening to see its claims of having the "best fish and chips in the UK" were true. I wasn't overly impressed, but I'm not a big fish lover anyway.
At the end of day four's walk, which was very long and very tiring, we stopped at a hotel and had our first bath and rest for days. My sister and I also had a television in our rooms, so we took the opportunity to check the weather forecast for the next day. And it was bad news.
"Scotland will be facing even more storms tomorrow at about one o'clock, particularly in the Western areas."
There was no way we could've avoided that - if we went after the storm had finished, which could have been hours, we may have still been walking into the wee hours of the morning. Similarly, if we'd tried to make it before one o'clock, there was the high chance of us getting caught in it whilst on the top of the Devil's Staircase - 547 metres high, completely exposed to the lightning. It was too risky. We had to call it a day.
Arrangements have already been made to complete the last two days and we were all gutted, me especially, that we couldn't finish it all in one. However, everyone who sponsored me still seems perfectly willing to give me their money, so it's all worked out okay! I've raised roughly £250, which isn't much really - but I'm still proud of the achievement I made. All I can say now is, to be continued!
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The charity I was raising money for is called Alliance for Youth Development UK, and is an organisation based in Ghana that aims to give a voice to women and children who often don't have one as a result of Ghanaian traditions. A girl named Shadee is in the process of building an orphanage in Ghana and the work she's been doing is so inspirational! Please, if you can it'd be great if you could donate!
You can find the page on facebook by searching the name of the charity, or click here to go directly to their website, where you'll find a "donate" button if you want to help this wonderful organisation make a real difference to disadvantaged children. Thank you!
I hope to do lots more to help raise funds for this organisation and others this year, so if you have any comments or suggestions I'd absolutely love to hear them! Remember, you can comment here or contact me directly using the e-mail address you'll find on the Contact page.
I hope you're all doing well!
Love Rosie xxx
Again, Beinglas Farm is definitely recommended - it's a beautiful campsite with areas to pitch your tent as well as the wigwams which you can hire for roughly £25 per night for one person. Surrounded by mountains and with a lovely stream and free roaming sheep, it was an ideal place to relax after a hard day. But, we knew we had to prepare ourselves for tomorrow's feat; day four, our longest walk yet.
Little sheep making their way across a pretty stream at Beinglas Farm
We walked from Beinglas to Tyndrum and went to the famous Real Food Cafe in the evening to see its claims of having the "best fish and chips in the UK" were true. I wasn't overly impressed, but I'm not a big fish lover anyway.
At the end of day four's walk, which was very long and very tiring, we stopped at a hotel and had our first bath and rest for days. My sister and I also had a television in our rooms, so we took the opportunity to check the weather forecast for the next day. And it was bad news.
"Scotland will be facing even more storms tomorrow at about one o'clock, particularly in the Western areas."
There was no way we could've avoided that - if we went after the storm had finished, which could have been hours, we may have still been walking into the wee hours of the morning. Similarly, if we'd tried to make it before one o'clock, there was the high chance of us getting caught in it whilst on the top of the Devil's Staircase - 547 metres high, completely exposed to the lightning. It was too risky. We had to call it a day.
Arrangements have already been made to complete the last two days and we were all gutted, me especially, that we couldn't finish it all in one. However, everyone who sponsored me still seems perfectly willing to give me their money, so it's all worked out okay! I've raised roughly £250, which isn't much really - but I'm still proud of the achievement I made. All I can say now is, to be continued!
--------------------------------------------------------------
The charity I was raising money for is called Alliance for Youth Development UK, and is an organisation based in Ghana that aims to give a voice to women and children who often don't have one as a result of Ghanaian traditions. A girl named Shadee is in the process of building an orphanage in Ghana and the work she's been doing is so inspirational! Please, if you can it'd be great if you could donate!
You can find the page on facebook by searching the name of the charity, or click here to go directly to their website, where you'll find a "donate" button if you want to help this wonderful organisation make a real difference to disadvantaged children. Thank you!
I hope to do lots more to help raise funds for this organisation and others this year, so if you have any comments or suggestions I'd absolutely love to hear them! Remember, you can comment here or contact me directly using the e-mail address you'll find on the Contact page.
I hope you're all doing well!
Love Rosie xxx
this was really good of you, makes me wanna do something like this :) x
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