I never expected to start the trail today but there I was hiking away from the terminus pyramid in the drizzle. The BBC weather forecast promised me that the rain would clear up in the late afternoon and it was only 10 miles to a farm with some cheap wigwams. It was already 16:30 but I had plenty of daylight for the 4 hour journey.

The West Highland Way leaves Milngavie (pronounced Mull-guy I'm told) through a small network of suburban parks. It was just what you'd expect from a walk in the park and the drizzle did seem to be fading away a little bit. The suburbs soon became farms which I smelled before I saw. Mostly it was grazing area for cattle. Unlike Hadrian's Wall Path I didn't have to walk through the poop fields because the WHW is thoughfully routed on little paths around the pastures. The paths even had good drainage but my feet were starting to feel damp. When was the rain going to stop?

The rain never stopped. I hiked the whole four hours (with my camera under my jacket) in a drizzle. It wasn't unpleasant especially since I was headed to a wigwam, what the locals call a basic hut. Plus I was happy to finally be on the WHW after learning about it 5-6 years ago from a coffee table book.

Easter Drumquhassle Farm is a popular stop for WHW walkers because it offers campsites, wigwams, or B&B accomodations. I arrived to discover that the wigwams were all full so I had to put my floorless tent up in the wet grass. Miraculously the rain stopped while I set up camp in tent city. I was surprised by how many people were there although I suspect many of them were part of the same vehicle supported youth group. Anyway I didn't socialize instead preferring to get inside and eat down my food bag. Then the rain began again but I was snug and cozy.