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Walking Land's End to John o'Groats with Mark Moxon

Drymen to Rowardennan

Peta on Duncryne Hill with Loch Lomond in the distance
Peta on Duncryne Hill with Loch Lomond in the distance

I really didn't want to go to work today. I never thought I'd end up classing a day's walk as a day's work, but after two months of getting up early, strapping on the boots and hitting the trail – which then, more often than not, traipses through endless bog and moor – this walk has most definitely graduated from a holiday into a full-time job. The novelty has worn off; in fact it wore off miles ago. Now, although it's a job with a large number of excellent perks, it still feels too much like hard work for an annoyingly large proportion of the time.

Loch Lomond from Duncryne Hill
Loch Lomond from Duncryne Hill
Loch Lomond shoreline
Loch Lomond shoreline

Soup of butternut squash with vanilla, orange, apple, parsley and a swirl of cream

Venison fillets with a whisky and cream sauce

Yellow peppers stuffed with mushrooms and spring onions

Dauphinois potatoes

Syllabub with forest berries in raspberry coulis

Nottage Hill Cabernet Sauvingon Shiraz

Coffee and mints

Is it any wonder that I didn't want to get up when the alarm started yelling at 7.30 this morning? See, I told you this walk was work.

Onto the West Highland Way

The harbour at Balmaha
The harbour at Balmaha

I've been looking forward to the West Highland Way for a long time. I've heard only good things about the track, which takes in some of Scotland's best landscape in its 95-mile route from Glasgow to Fort William. The first day from Glasgow to Drymen is a pretty standard walk, though after the ridiculous initiation ceremony of the Pennine Way, an easy first day gets my vote. However, the second stage from Drymen to Rowardennan is another story; it really is special.

The Loch Lomond shoreline
The Loch Lomond shoreline
A pretty beach on Loch Lomond
One of Loch Lomond's many little bays
Approaching Anchorage Cottage
Approaching Anchorage Cottage