Walking the West Highland Way – My thoughts
As many of you are aware, I spent 8 days in October walking the West Highland Way. This 150km walk through some of Scotland’s most beautiful scenery was a challenge but a worthy one that I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to anyone wanting to take on a long distance hike.
Most of my family and friends were a little confused by my
desire to take on this challenge and had a lot of questions so I thought I’d
share these with you to give you some more information in case you also might
be interested in walking the West Highland Way.
Why hike the West Highland Way?
The number one question I got asked was “why?!”, and me
being me, my usual response was “why not?!” but lets get into it properly.
Why tackle a long-distance hike? Many of the people I met on
the trail were doing it for the physical and mental challenge that long
distance hiking represents. It’s one thing to hike 20km in a day, it’s quite
another to do that for 7 or 8 days in a row. For me, I wasn’t interested in the
physical challenge, and I wasn’t even sure my slightly battered body would make
it. My reasons were the mental challenge of being out somewhere on my own and
having to tackle anything I faced by myself. Plus walking and being immersed in
nature for a week sounded like my idea of a good time!
Why walk the West Highland Way specifically?
Because it’s stunning! The walk is well established with 30,000 people walking it each year. In fact, I would say that it is one of the most accessible long-distance walks in the UK and many people I met along the way were not big “hikers” or like me, were novices at multi-day hikes. In fact, people come from all over the world to walk the West Highland Way, and I would estimate that well over half the people I met weren’t UK residents and many were surprised to find out I was from England.
Where does the West Highland Way go?
The walk starts in Milngave (pronounced Mull-guy), which is
just a 25 minute train ride North from Glasgow, so it’s hugely accessible. It
finishes in Fort William, which whilst being in the midst of the Scottish
Highlands, has easy transport links back to Glasgow or further north to
Inverness. Being able to access the whole route by public transport was
important to me, as was having access to buses and trains throughout the walk
as it meant I knew I could bail at any time if my health didn’t hold up.
Though the path can of course, be walking in either direction! I chose this way as the guidebooks all agree that walking South to North is best as walking northwards means the scenery becomes more spectacular each day. The land around Milngavie at the start is beautiful but it feels like it would have been less impactful coming to from the dramatic landscapes of Glen Nevis and Kinlochleven.
How long will it take?
I took 8 days to walk the way and I would say that was about
right for someone who wasn’t hugely fit/had a dodgy knee and a giant
backpack/wanted to enjoy the scenery. I met people who were pushing to complete
it in 5 days, and others who were planning on 10 days or more. It’s really up
to you how much walking you want to complete a day.
To break it down, here’s what I walked each day according to
my Garmin:
Day 1 - Milngavie – just past Drymen (22.57km)
Day 2 – Drymen – just
before Rowardennan (19.79km)
Day 3 – Rowardennan – Inversnaid Hotel (13.47km) Ferry and
bus to Inverarnan
I had to bail on Day 3 as my knee
couldn’t cope with the rough terrain – the total for this day would have been
24.41km
Day 4 – Inverarnan – just before Tyndrum (18.1km)
Day 5 – Tyndrum - Bridge of Orchy (15.58km)
Day 6 – Bridge of Orchy – Kingshouse (19.88km)
Day 7 – Kingshouse to Kinlochleven (12.77km)
Day 8 – Kinlochleven to Fort William (25.93km)
As you can see, I had a wide mix of day lengths, some of
which were much harder than others! Everyone says that Day 3 alongside the
northern half of Loch Lomond is the worst day but I don’t think I really
understood just how bad it was going to be, especially not with a barely
functioning knee!
By the time I reached Inversnaid hotel, I knew there was no
way I was going to make it to Inveranan by dark so took the executive decision
to cut the day short and take the ferry across the lake and the bus. For those
that did the afternoon, I didn’t meet anyone who had anything positive to say
about it so I can’t say I feel too bad about it!
Why camp the West Highland Way?
I got a lot of questions that went something like “you’re
camping?! Why??” and it was definitely somewhat of an unconventional choice.
There are hotels and accommodation all along the west highland way and probably
75% of the people I met were staying in these and having their luggage
transferred between them each day. The West Highland Way is incredibly well set
up for this.
So why did I camp? Honestly, because hotels weren’t even a
consideration. It was a budget trip – I just couldn't justify the cost of
staying in hotels for 8 nights minimum, just for me. I also decided relatively
last minute that I was actually going, and the hassle of booking every single
night’s accommodation would have been a lot. There’re limited rooms at each
stage of the hike, so you do need to think about booking them well in advance
if you’re going to do it that way.
The other reason was that I wanted to be able to walk as far
as I liked each day and just stop then. I mostly ended up sticking to
predetermined plan but knowing that if my knee got bad or I was tired that I
could stop for the night at any point was a big comfort!
In the end I wild camped four nights and stayed in
established campsites three nights and at the backpackers hostel in Fort
William once I’d finished. It was easily possible to wild camp the whole time
but the joy of a flushing toilet, a shower and somewhere sheltered to cook dinner
cannot be overstated!
It's also worth noting that I walked the way after the
management zone for Loch Lomond ended for the year, if you’re walking between
March and the end of September then there are restrictions as to where you can
camp which you should be aware of which means you need to do slightly more
planning than I did.
Why are you going on your own? Won’t you get lonely/bored?
Simply for me, it was that I wanted to go and if I wanted it
to happen this year then it had to be by myself so it was more a question of
logistics than a wish to go alone. Having said that, 2023 was the year of me
pushing myself to do things solo and this felt like a natural progression of
that.
I’ve decided my 30s are all about embracing doing things
even if no one else wants to/is free to join me, and to prove to myself that I
can do things on my own. And you don’t get more alone than in the middle of the
Highlands! Or at least that’s what I thought, but there was so much company on
the route that I barely ever felt alone.
Most of the 30,000 people who walk the West Highland Way
each year walk from South to North and take around 7-8 days to complete the
way. This works out at around 80 people starting the hike each day, though of
course that varies depending on the time of year. But there are nearly always
people who started on the same day as you, going the same direction at a
similar speed who you’re going to keep bumping into on the trail and at pubs
and campsites.
When I was planning to walk the West Highland Way, the
people I would meet hadn’t even factored into my plans, but the camaraderie of
the route blew me away. The people I met along the way were as much of a part
of the walk as the landscape and there is a community amongst those on the way
which is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced but I can understand why it
calls people back and that many people have walked the way multiple times.
How safe is it to walk solo?
Very safe! I met lots of solo women hiking the way,
possibly more than solo men if I think about it. One thing that helped me feel
safe, even when camped in the middle of nowhere is that there’s mobile phone
signal along nearly all of the way and I was able to stay in contact with my
family the whole time. If there wasn’t signal in an area, I carried on until
there was an didn’t wild camp there.
Would I do it again?
Now I’m back this is the question I’m being asked and my
answer is “absolutely!”. I’m excited to walk the West Highland Way again in the
future with my husband who is keen to come with me and see what he missed out
on. But I’ve been thoroughly bitten by the long-distance hiking bug so I’ve got
quite a few trails I want to squeeze in before then!
So, there you have my answers to some of the questions I’ve
been asked a lot about hiking the West Highland Way. Do you have any questions
you’d like to know about? Let me know in the comments.
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