West Highland Way: Milngavie to Drymen

Directions

The official start of the West Highland Way is a granite obelisk in Douglas Street, Milngavie (NS553744). To reach the obelisk from the station, head through an underpass and up some steps to reach Station Road. Turn left along this; it becomes Douglas Street for a short distance before reaching the obelisk which sits on a bridge over a stream.

Leave the obelisk and take a sloping path that heads above the stream to reach a small car park behind the shops on Douglas Street. The path runs through the car park and heads straight on down its access road. Almost immediately there is a T-junction; here take a good surfaced path to the left for 100 yards with a stone wall to the right and Allander Water on the left. The path passes under a bridge under a road; take the right-hand fork in the underpass to reach a tree-lined lane that follows a disused railway line.

The path passes Milngavie Library and its car park on the left; shortly afterwards turn to the left to join another path that soon curves to the right to join the eastern bank of Allander Water. It follows the river for a distance and passes a bridge on the left; when the path forks take the right-hand branch which heads uphill across an area of grassland in Allander Park. After passing a bench at the summit it descends for about ten yards to reach a junction with a track.

Turn left to follow the obvious track north-northwestwards. After a couple of hundred yards it crosses a stream; continue on along the main path that heads northwestwards, soon entering an area of trees. It runs high above Allandale Water through Mugdock Wood with no strenuous ascents or descents. A little over a mile after the path junction go through an attractive pair of metal gates in a stone wall to reach a road above Craigallian Bridge at NS538770.

Turn left down the road for about twenty yards; as it swings to the left turn right past some boulders to join an unsurfaced track. Initially this heads in a north-northwesterly direction, crossing a stretch of wooden causey with woodland on the right and the floodplain on the left. At NS536774 it joins a track that comes in from the right before skirting the base of Scroggy Hill and crossing a bridge over a dark, peaty stream. The track heads northwards past Craigallian Loch on the right; at NS535789 the track forks; take the right-hand bend to continue along the larger track (do not continue on to the houses at Carbeth). This heads north, passing Carbeth loch and some chalets on the left. It descends to get a glimpse of the loch to the left before ascending once more. 1.8 miles after leaving the road, go through a metal gate to reach the B821 at NS537795.

At the B821 turn left and follow the road westwards for a quarter of a mile. There is no pavement and the verges are narrow so care needs to be taken; fortunately the road is not too busy. Turn right through a metal gate opposite the second entrance to Easter Carbeth Farm. A good path slowly rises in a northerly direction between two stone walls. Go through another metal gate and continue on. The path crests a hill and descends to cross a track at NS535802, with the ruined buildings of Arlehaven are out of sight on the left. Descend steeply downhill for a few yards to join another track; turn left to continue northwestwards along this.

The track twists and turns in a rough northwesterly direction. It passes the steep, wooded Dumgoyach Hill on the right; continue on as it swings to the right to climb northeastwards towards Dumgoyach Farm. Keep the farm buildings a short way away on the right to reach a metal gate. Go through this and continue on the other side.

A path heads between fences to the left of the access track to the farm, then heads through trees before joining the track. After a sixth of a mile it crosses Blane Water using a wooden bridge. On the other side of the bridge turn left through a metal V-gate to join a good path that runs along the old Blane Valley Railway line. Follow this north-northwestwards with a large bank on the left that blocks the views. The railway path slowly curves to take a more northerly direction and crosses a couple of tracks guarded by gates; the Glencoyne Distillery is in the distance to the right. After 1.3 miles it goes through a metal gate to reach the A81 at Dumgoyne (NS523834), with a pub on the right.

Turn left for a few yards and carefully cross the road, then turn right through a wooden gate to rejoin the old Blane Valley Railway line. This slowly curves to head northwestwards; after a while it parallels the A81 and passes under a few bridges (including one under the B834 road), passing through a number of gates on the way. At one point it rises up onto an old bridge over a railway line; do not cross the bridge but turn left through a wooden gate to rejoin the old line. Two miles from Dumgoyne it curves sharply to the right for a few yards to reach the A81 road at NS506862.

Carefully cross the A81 on the level and take another path directly opposite that goes through a gate to rejoin the old railway line. Follow this north-northwestwards for nearly half a mile until it approaches an old overbridge. Turn left through a metal gate to join a path that parallels Kirk Road; it emerges through another gate onto the road at NS502869. Turn left to follow the road westwards; it crosses Blane Water at Gartness Bridge and then curves sharply to the left.

The road heads westwards before slowly starting to curve to the right to take a more northerly course, climbing past Easter Drumquhassle Farm to reach a summit. It descends down the other side before curving sharply to the left; immediately before the low stone walls of a bridge are reached turn right down three steps to reach a footbridge over a stream. Cross this and take a footpath that leads up to the top of a small hillock. On the other side the path descends to cross some boggy ground before climbing uphill, initially with a stream on the left; aim for a gate in the upper-left corner of the field. Go through this and another gate to reach a slope that leads down to the A811 at NS482888.

Drymen is about half a mile away to the left; to reach it turn left and follow the A811 westwards before turning right up the B858. This soon curves to the left to head westwards into the village.

Places of interest

Transport

Aberfoyle Coaches service C8 runs once a day every morning between Drymen and Milngavie (twice on Saturdays). Other services are available, but you need to change at Killearn.

As usual, Traveline Scotland is an excellent resource for planning public transport journeys.

Other walk accounts

This leg is mentioned in the following web pages:

• Milngavie to Drymen (WalkHighlands)
• Milngavie to Drymen (JButler)
• East Drumquhassle to Inversnaid (BritishWalks)
• Milngavie to East Drumquhassle (BritishWalks)
• Milngavie to Drymen (AdventureJournal)

Map information

Landranger (1:50,000)				Explorer (1:25,000)
Landranger 64 (Glasgow, Motherwell & Airdrie)	and	Landranger 57 (Stirling & The Trossachs)	or	Explorer 342 (Glasgow)	and	Explorer 348 (Campsie Fells)	and	Explorer 347 (Loch Lomond South)