Your first two days on the West Highland Way.

Drymen Camping is a campsite at Gartness Road, Drymen, Stirlingshire G63 0DN, directly on the West Highland Way at the end of Stage 1 from Milngavie. Standard pitches are £14 per adult per night and pods start at £52. Because the site sits just outside the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park Camping Management Zone, no camping permit is required to stay here.

Where we sit on the trail

The official West Highland Way skirts around Drymen village on its way to Balmaha, but most walkers finishing Stage 1 come into the village anyway for supplies, food and somewhere to sleep. We are on Gartness Road, right on the Way and on National Cycle Route 7, about 2km from the centre of the village.

We are also just before the start of Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park's Camping Management Zone, so you can pitch with us without needing a permit. There is more on what that zone means if you are planning the rest of your route.

Stage guides

We sit between the first two stages, so there is a full guide to each: what the walking is like, what you pass, where you can stop and how much climbing is in it.

• Stage 1: Milngavie to Drymen, 12 miles, the gentlest stage on the route and the one that ends at our gate.
• Stage 2: Drymen to Rowardennan, 14 miles over Garadhban Forest and Conic Hill.
• Food, supplies and things to see within reach of the site.

How far is Milngavie to Drymen?

Stage 1 is 12 miles, about 19.8km, and takes most walkers five to six hours. It is the gentlest stage on the route, with no major climbs: out of Milngavie through Mugdock Country Park, along the old railway line past the Dumgoyach Standing Stones and Glengoyne Distillery, then through Gartness and past the Pots of Gartness, where salmon leap the falls on the Endrick Water each autumn. From there the Way joins Gartness Road, which is our road.

What a walker gets for the night

Toilets and hot walk-in showers, charging points and wi-fi in the sheltered area, and the Purple Pod shop for a TentMeals dinner, a gas canister or a freshly ground coffee in the morning. All of that is included in the pitch fee rather than added at the end. Standard pitches are £14 per adult, and the pods run from £52 if you would rather not put a tent up after twelve miles.

If you would rather not carry your bags, most baggage transfer companies on the Way already deliver to and collect from us. Ask at reception and we can sign you up on the spot. Dogs are welcome on pitches, which is not true of every bed on the route.

Do you need a permit to camp on this stretch?

Not with us. The Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park runs Camping Management Byelaws from 1 March to 30 September, and inside those zones you camp in a campsite or a permit area or not at all. The East Loch Lomond zone runs roughly from Drymen north to Rowardennan. We sit just before the boundary, so a booked pitch here needs no permit. There is more detail on the zone if you are planning the nights after this one.

Day 2: Drymen to Balmaha and Rowardennan

From here the Way climbs into Garadhban Forest, about two miles north of us, and Loch Lomond comes up on the skyline. Then it is over Conic Hill, which sits on the Highland Boundary Fault and gives the best view of the loch islands anywhere on the route, and down into Balmaha, roughly eight miles from us. Most walkers carry on to Rowardennan, making 14 miles for the day.

If you are walking in lambing season, and in particular around Conic Hill, follow the National Park's advice on dogs and livestock. There is more on our dogs and horses page.

Last updated 14 September 2026.