Whilst walking the West Highland Way we passed through a place called Tyndrum.  It is almost a bend in the road, though has a fairly new municipal cemetry with exactly one grave stone to date!  Significant is that it consists of three shops - a little general store, a place called The Green Welly Stop and another called the Real Food Cafe.  The last of these was where we ate one evening, and it intrigued me more than somewhat - essentially it is an ethical chip shop serving the usual range of deep fried fare but with a conscience.  All the hot drinks are fairly traded, the disposables from sustainable sources, the fish, potatoes, meat etc. locally and/or organically sourced.  They offer gluten free batter for those who need it.  Central to the cafe are two high, communal eating tables where diners sit together to enjoy their repast.  Fresh water is freely available in jugs filled at a nearby butler sink.

The story of The Real Food cafe us told in panels on the wall - how a failing Little Chef restaurant was bought up and redeveloped as the fulfilment of a dream of a couple; how the dream was captured by those they employed and how when one of the owners died suddenly the dream was sustained by those who shared it.  Maybe there's a parable in there somewhere?

I certainly enjoyed my pie and chips washed down with lashings of tea and followed with a chunk of  homemade flapjack.  Should I be up that way again I imagine I'll stop by because there's something intrinsically yet intangibly good about ethical fast food!

There is, so I discovered, a doggerel song sung by Kenneth McKellar, which extols the virtues of the West Highland Way.  The song may be far from great poetry, but the walk traverses some magnificent and diverse countryside as it winds it way from Milngavie (or Kelvingrove if you do the southern extension first) to Fort William.

Someone hearing I was about to attempt this walk wished me well on my 'Long Walk Through the Midges' and despite various assurances that May in Scotland is dry and midge free, I got wet and bitten in equal measure!  It was a great time out from routine: time to "not think", time to "not do."  It was good to walk with a friend I have seen little of for some time and who knows that part of Scotland reasonably well, having moved there a couple of years back to be nearer her parents.

Navigationally, it was the easiest walk I've ever done - wide paths and good way-marking throughout made it impossible to get lost and the diversity of walkers from many nations ensured some entertaining conversations and we enjoyed nicknaming the various walkers we met, overtook, were overtaken by, and then overtook once more.

I could spend a lot of time listing visual highlights - the acres of bluebells, Loch Lomond in the sunlight, Ben Nevis almost clear (just a whisper of cloud grazing the summit) meandering rivers or brooding clouds over Rannoch Moor - but to do so would need greater poetry than I possess.

Lots of great moments, lots of stunning scenery, way too much to eat - and now lots of socks to wash!  Overall a great week away and a much needed rest.