Wednesday 4 February 2026 - Conic Hill

Nine of us set off from near Drymen on a dreich morning. It was a day on the West Highland Way. Unusually, there were very few people about. Mainly dog walkers. 

There was lots of lichen on view, this one being Fishbone Beard Lichen.

Elevenses were taken in the shelter of the forest. Mike adopted his usual position. 

Conic Hill, 361 metres, lay ahead.

It was a good track all the way to the summit.

After leaving the windy summit, the cloud cleared briefly.

The descent was steep, and punctuated by lunch.

Apparently some 250,000 people visit Conic Hill every year. The path has been upgraded to cope with this.

Eventually we reached Loch Lomond, where a pair of Shelduck flew off to avoid us and some of the team lined up for another photo.

It was a pleasant walk along the beach.

The Gorse is coming into bloom. Snowdrops were also in evidence.

We finished with a forest walk to pick up cars that had been left at Cashel Farm.

Here's our route - 14.5km with 410 metres ascent, taking 5 hours.

Later, Sue's Chocolate Truffle Torte went down very well after a good helping of lentil and aubergine moussaka. 

Delicious!

Tuesday 3 February 2026 - Primrose Hill

Leaving Tigh Mor (pictured above) at 10am, all 13 of us drove a short way to the Loch Katrine car park (£5 for 4 hours), from where the Primrose Hill walk was recommended by those who had been there before. "Ideal for a wet day" they said. It was a wet day, so we set off briskly past the harbour from where the ferries were running despite the miserable weather. 

We soon passed some luxury 'pods'. They didn't seem to be occupied.

Still on tarmac, but lacking any traffic, we soon came to the Glen Finglas waterworks. 

A little further on we left the road to ascend the Primrose Hill path that climbs gently for about 200 metres to the course of an old tramway at around 300 metres.

There were good views across Loch Katrine towards Ben Lomond, which was obscured by the mist and rain that had thankfully petered out in our vicinity. 

There are several good viewpoints along the track through the forest and we paused at some of these to 'muster the troops'.

We passed high above the Brenachoile Lodge pier.

Eventually the waymarked path (the green route) led back down to the tarmac, where we waited for the backmarkers to catch up.

We soon came to the pier that we'd already passed high above, and this proved to be a good spot for elevenses. 

There was very little by way of flora and fauna to admire today, although a large animal with diarrhoea had recently passed this way, but we did observe robins and a dipper. Sue also found some Membranous Pelt Lichen to add to her long list of 'already seens'.

Signs along the way, attached to newish railings where sidestreams cross the road, indicate that this is a popular place 'in the season'.

Back at the waterworks, some of us climbed up to the impressive weir.

Then we wandered back to the car park and paid a visit to a viewpoint platform that was installed in 2024.

After that it was back to Tigh Mor to finish our lunches.

Here's today's route - 12km with 350 metres ascent, taking 3.5 hours.

Monday 2 February 2026 - Our house at Tigh Mor

We were here last year - my reports are here.

This year Sue and I are sharing house A16 with David and Tom. Elsewhere nearby another nine of our friends can be found - Richard, Jenny, Mike, Julie, Jessica, Sue and Phil, and Alison and Russell. 

Thursday 29 January 2026 - A Trip to York

A day in York to celebrate Sue's University friend Anne's 60th birthday. This involved ten contemporaries plus me meeting at a Costa coffee shop at the station before 11am. From there we spent the rest of the morning in the railway museum before adjourning to the Blue Barbakan restaurant.

Here we are in Anne's photo at the coffee shop.

There's a magnificent giant fireguard at the entrance of the museum.

I will not attempt to annotate many of the pictures taken in the museum. Where I took photos of the information boards they mostly appear after the picture(s) of the subject matter.

Click on an image for a slideshow. Enjoy...

Evening Star, which I saw when it was in service, is being 'remediated'

This engine - 'Prince William' was designated to pull the royalty's coaches

We didn't get as far as the yard where an engine was in steam. Next time, perhaps.

There's a magnificent exhibition of beautiful scale models in a separate hall.

Eventually we dragged ourselves away, and over the bridge to the city centre and an excellent long lunch at The Blue Barbakan.

It has been raining here, but not today.

An excellent menu - I chose the 'Hungarian potato pancake' version of their beef stew.

 

A bit of shopping, then it soon became dusk - and time to get our train home.

What a lovely day out. And here's a picture from some earlier celebrations. I can't think of a caption that wouldn't be rude!