L2L Day 65 Glasgow to Strathblane - 7.5 miles

We decided not to walk miles through Glasgow suburbs to the start of the West Highland Way, so we caught the train from Queen St to Milngavie.

In glorious sunshine we found our way through the shops and cafes of Milngavie 


to the official start of the West Highland Way where with the assistance of very friendly and helpful ladies and varying degrees of success we managed to record the happy event.



Perfect walking conditions.


In just the first few miles, it struck us how many people seemed to be doing the walk - either North / South or South / North.

We decided on a short detour off the West Highland Way to go to through Mugdock Country Park and see Mugdock Castle.




We stopped for a grown-up lunch at Craigend Castle and then continued through the Carglas Plantation with amazing views of the Strathblane Hills up ahead.



We dropped down to Strathblane passing some hungry horses on the way.


After a beer in warm sunshine in front of the hotel,


I went for a walk around the village and came upon a Commonwealth War Grave at the Parish church.


War graves and memorials seem all the more striking and poignant in small villages.

Over supper we got talking to Colin and Mairi who were here for a family wedding at the weekend.


Colin is a retired headmaster and Chemistry teacher and Mairi a retired Surgical nurse. They explained that they had moved across Scotland, the North, South, East and West with Colin's promotions and currently live in Aberdeen. A very interesting and charming couple. It sounds as though the weekend is going to be quite a gathering of the clans. 

We shared a dram before retiring but on the way Neil overheard a family on another table so we sidled over to join them and Neil impressively slipped into fluent Portuguese.


Parents Horacio and Rita from Sao Paolo were visiting their daughter Carla, with Bruno and Lara who have been living in London for the last 10 years. It gave Neil an ideal opportunity to reminisce about the happy years he spent in Brazil.

Another late night!!!

My chosen charity this year is Medecins sans Frontieres, here's a link to my JustGiving page which should take you straight there

https://www.justgiving.com/page/david-thomas-lewes2lewis?utm_medium=FR&utm_source=CL


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