You’re viewing a version of this story optimized for slow connections. To see the full story click here.

West Highland Way

A trail through the Scottish highland.

Story by A Kuld World October 23rd, 2015

Fort william to Lairigmor

10,5 MILE/16,9 KM - 300FT/90M ASCENT

Let’s start from the end! Not in the way of saying but literally. The regular way of hiking the West Highland Way is from south, starting a bid outside of Glasgow and then hike all the way up to the capital of the Scottish highland, Fort William.

So we started our hike at Fort William. A small cosy and quite British looking town located right beneath Ben Nevis – the highest mountain in the Great Britain. It didn’t take us long before we saw the first WHW sign and from there on the trail went straight into the wilderness. We hiked our way to a place called Lairigmor where we set up our camp in the middle of nowhere.

WHW-2.jpg
WHW-3.jpg
WHW-4.jpg
WHW-5.jpg
WHW-6.jpg
WHW-7.jpg
WHW-8.jpg
WHW-9.jpg

LAIRIGMOR to kingshouse

13 MILE/21 KM - 1800FT/540M ASCENT

After spending a night beneath more stars than I have ever seen we continued the hike down the mountain through a little village called Kinlochleven and then up, up, up, again for, many hours, to the highest point of the WHW.

WHW-11.jpg
WHW-10.jpg
WHW-12.jpg
WHW-13.jpg
WHW-14.jpg

The view at this point were magnificent but looking down to the bottom and knowing we have to crawl down “The Devil’s Staircase”, as the following section of the trail is called, we had to continue before darkness would catch up on us. We reached Kingshouse in the aftrenoon tired and hungry, pitched our tent, cooked our meal and went straight to bed.

WHW-15.jpg
WHW-16.jpg
WHW-17.jpg
WHW-18.jpg
WHW-19.jpg
WHW-20.jpg

Kingshouse through bridge of orchy to Auch

14 MILE/22,5 KM - 1100FT/330M ASCENT

A frozen tent and low hanging clouds were the view we woke up to this morning on the 3rd day of hiking.
So we packed our gear and went straight into the fog and it didn’t take long before our feet and body were reheated after the cold night and soon we went above the clouts where we could actually see where we were going.

WHW-22.jpg
WHW-23.jpg
WHW-24.jpg
WHW-25.jpg

Our guidebook told us that this section of the trail would be awful in harsh weather due to the lack of shelter along the way. Luckily for us the weather was great, with only a little wind so we manage to hike a big part of the section in a very little of time. We stopped for lunch near the Lock Tulla Lake watching a man camping in a tent from the ’80 before we had to cross a minor mountain to get to Bridge of Orchy where we stopped for another rest. We continued on the trail for another hour, said hallo to some beautiful Highlands Cows and found a cosy little campsite near a river where we stopped for the day.

WHW-26.jpg
WHW-27.jpg
WHW-28.jpg
WHW-29.jpg
WHW-30.jpg
WHW-31.jpg

At the campsite the clever part of my brain told me: “wow, the water looks nice, why not go for a shower?” So I did but regretted immediately! With the water temperature around the freezing point I only manage to get feet beneath the surface and splashed a little water on my body before returning to the warm cloth and had some dinner.

WHW-32.jpg
WHW-33.jpg
WHW-34.jpg
WHW-35.jpg

Auch, Tyndrum, crianlarich to inverarnan

17,5 MILE/28 KM - 1000FT/300M ASCENT

BIRTHDAY MORNING
I’m not quite sure how this happened but somehow I woke up this morning being the age af 30 (all right it might have something to do with time). A lot of mixed feeling went through my head thinking back on the past 29 years, but my dear girlfriend had decorated the surroundings with little Danish flags and even carried some presents all the way to give to me – fantastic! A friend of mine wrote to me that he were sure that I would be celebrated in my right surroundings and he were absolutely right – I simply cant imagine a better way to start my new age than waking up somewhere in the wilderness with a sweet girl by my side.

Enough of that, we also had a trail waiting for us – actually the longest section on the entire trail. With our beloved (or annoying depending on with one of us you asked) Osprey backpacks placed where they were designed to be we continued the hike.

WHW-36.jpg
WHW-37.jpg
WHW-38.jpg
WHW-39.jpg
WHW-40.jpg
WHW-41.jpg
WHW-43.jpg
WHW-42.jpg
WHW-44.jpg

We hiked all day and in the afternoon we reached the Beinglas Farm with camping and bunkhouse facilities. We rented a bunkhouse this night for a warmer sleep than the other days and treated our self with a cold gin & tonic in my beloved Mumi cup and a hot shower.

WHW-45.jpg
WHW-46.jpg
WHW-47.jpg
WHW-48.jpg
WHW-49.jpg
WHW-50.jpg

Inverarnan, inversnaid, rowardennan to Sallochy

17 MILE/27 KM - 800FT/240M ASCENT

After a warm night of sleep we went back on the trail with another long day ahead of us. As the only one heading south meant that we got a lot of the trails for our self. We only meet people at the middle of the day, half way through the section and therefor our possibility to meet some wildlife on the way were high. And this day we vere pretty lucky to come really close to the wildlife. Only a little hour in the hike we ran into three beautiful wild goats.

WHW-51.jpg

We carried on, an soon we met up with the great Lock Lomond Lake. The tail now became an Obstacle Course rather than an actually tail so we had to use both our feet and hands to get though this part.

WHW-52.jpg
WHW-53.jpg
WHW-55.jpg
WHW-56.jpg
WHW-57.jpg
WHW-58.jpg
WHW-54.jpg
WHW-59.jpg
WHW-60.jpg
WHW-61.jpg
WHW-62.jpg
WHW-63.jpg
WHW-64.jpg
WHW-65.jpg

As the hours went by we got more and more south and closer to the place where vi planned to camp, but suddenly we went by a sign telling us that we were now in a national park meaning no wild camping! Damn! And what made it even worse, the next campsite were located at least an hour further more south than planned. But no time to complaining this is just one of many obstacles you will meet while hiking. A little “trail magic” did help us during the way and eventually we where at the campsite even though the daylight were gone.

WHW-66.jpg

Sallochy and balmaha to drymen

11 MILE/17,5 KM -1200 FT/360 M ASCENT

Our last night out on the trail was once again enjoyed under beautiful stars, and was replaced with another foggy morning. The fog followed us for the most of the morning on the final part of the hike, making the sunbeams visible for the human eye.

WHW-67.jpg
WHW-68.jpg
WHW-69.jpg
WHW-70.jpg
WHW-75.jpg
WHW-71.jpg
WHW-72.jpg
WHW-73.jpg
WHW-76.jpg
WHW-77.jpg
WHW-74.jpg
WHW-78.jpg

Before our hike was done we had to pass one last obstacle; The Conic Hill. This mountain might not be the highest on the entire trail but with a 1200ft/360 ascent within only 0,3 miles/320 meter it’s a sharp little summit. The hill also divides the Highland from the Lowland and is in this way a perfect ending/start point for The West Highland Way although we had to carry on for a couple of more hours ending up in Drymen.

We hiked 136 km/ 85 miles in 5 and half day.

The West Highland Way actually continued for another day, but as we had to catch a plane to get back home, our hike stopped right in the middle of Drymen at a B&B located above the oldest pub in Scotland - a great way of ending a long distance hike.

WHW-79.jpg
WHW-80.jpg
WHW-81.jpg
WHW-82.jpg
WHW-83.jpg
WHW-84.jpg
WHW-85.jpg

EDINBURGH

Before leaning back into the airplane seat, we spend a couple of hours in Edinburgh to watch this halloween city and get something to eat.

WHW-86.jpg

notable gear on this trip

Tent: Nordisk Halland 2 LW
This lightweight yet roomy tent is from the Danish tent manufacture Nordisk. The tent is really easy to set up, perfectly light (1500 g/3 lbs. 3 oz.) and roomy enough for to people + backpacks. A great pro tent but quite expensive as all alter pro tents are.

Sleeping bag: Asivik Supreme 3
This sleeping bag is a Microfiber bag with a comfort temperatur to -2°C/28.4°F. The weight is in the higher end (1400 g/ 3 lbs.). The comfort is great an it drys quite easy during the day. Great value for money.

Backpack: Osprey Atmos AG
This backpack is a truly great trekking backpack especially if you tend the set on your back. The Anti Gravity (AG) suspension works perfect and makes it possible to carry more weight on your back. Like new hiking shoes this bag has to be worn a couple of time to make it fit better.

Footnote: A big thanks to Osprey Packs for providing us with an Atmos AG and an Aura AG pack. www.ospreyeurope.dk
Fort William, Storbritannien