Bimbling along the West Highland Way

I had a phone call from my sister this morning, she is on holiday in Devon and enjoying the sunshine. Here it is raining. Thanks Sis. She rang to wish me a Happy Birthday, I had forgotten all about it and suddenly remembered when I was bimbling amongst the pine trees.

I delayed my start this morning, the tops of the hills weren't visible and the rain was blowing sideways. Not to worry, I have been out in worse. I thought it was a good idea to stay on the West Highland Way, walk for three hours then walk back.

The path was very busy despite the rain. People trudged by getting wetter and wetter, why didn't they bring a brolly like me. Suddenly I felt very birthdayish and wanted to tell everyone. I met a young man and as he was overtaking me I said, 'it's my birthday today'. He said, 'it was mine yesterday', what a coincidence. I asked him where he came from as he spoke with an accent. He said Germany, another coincidence. So then I told him about my German mum, and German name. His name was David. It's amazing how friendly people are when you are walking on a long distance path, even in the pouring rain.

I walked for six hours today, that was enough. The forest was beautiful though, the path was covered in pine needles, and the lush green grass was like a velvet carpet. I passed by several waterfalls, one of them was massive, gallons of water thundering over the rocks at 100mph, the noise was deafening. Close by was a holiday park with a lot of those wooden tents, like small chalets. I don't know how people manage to sleep with that non stop racket going on.

My room mate is an Iranian girl, she is walking with her husband and two of his friends. We have already had a good chat, she is very nice.

You hear lots of different accents spoken at Youth Hostels, it's great that people choose to come to this country for a holiday.

Tomorrow I move on to Oban, if this rain continues I shall be looking for a bed for three nights and not camping. Yes, it might cost a bit more, but this is no weather for sleeping in a tent, or should I say swimming in a tent. So the adventure continues, I am not looking forward to that boat crossing on Friday, please don't let there be a choppy sea.

I have news of the kitty's, Janet and Sue are keeping me informed. Two of my kittens have been rehomed, and a cat which was brought in a couple of weeks ago has given birth to four black ones. This cat has a badly matted coat and when the groomer managed to remove a lot of the hair Sue suspected it was pregnant. So here we go again.

Glad you liked the story of the salad leaves, they are doing very well, plenty to harvest for my sandwiches. I am eating very basic food while I am here, food that doesn't need too much cooking. Even though the hostels are very well equipped, I don't want to be spending hours in the kitchen.

Sorry about the lack of photo's but they will all be posted when I get back. I'll see what the broadband signal at Oban is like, I might be able to post there. Catch you later.