The West Highland Way (Post Trip Write up)

To get the ball rolling I thought we'd start at the beginning with a write up of our first trip we did which was a long distance hike. This was a few years back now, but a great adventure that has a quite low barrier to entry, whilst still being a challenge. It also has a variety of options from hotels/hostels through to free camping, which is how we ended up doing it.

The West Highland Way is a 151 km trek (about 93 miles) which is moderately hilly but stunningly beautiful and offers varied scenery throughout. We took an overnight sleeper coach from our homes in London called the Megabus Gold, which sadly is no longer in operation. This was a total bargain at about £15, even if for a 6ft4in bloke (193cm) it left a little to be desired on the comfort side. This took us to Glasgow where we took a short train to the start, Milngavie (pronounced mil-guy). Below is us just about to start and full of life!

We started but with a little bit of a hiccup as we started following the wrong sign that would have taken us on the Scottish Coastal Path! Luckily a man walking his dog pointed us in the right direction and we were back on track. Lesson 1: probably best to take a map or at least look at your phone for directions.

The first day was mainly path or road walking as you make your way to Drymen. Here we had lunch in a lovely pub called the Clachan Inn, the oldest registered licensed pub in Scotland (1734). We decided to camp near to Conic Hill. This hill offers great views over Loch Lomond, a loch which you walk up for the next day or two. Where we set up camp was quite wooded and wet, which is where we learnt Lesson 2: midges in Scotland are terrible!

We'd decided that we'd have one main meal at a pub each day. This way we could cut back on the amount of food we'd need to carry which was just as well. As this was our first camping trip we'd made the rookie mistake of taking too much stuff (Lesson 3). We both carried five days worth of clothing, all of our toiletries, clothing for every eventuality and even a wood burning stove called a kelly kettle! To be honest though, the stove was a lifesaver against the midges and it was nice to sit next to a fire every night. In total we carried over 28kg, of which Joal carried 17kg. This proved to be a big mistake as it made the milage much harder, and caused a horrible blister for Joal which ended up covering much of the front of his foot. That said the stunning scenery definitely made up for it!

By Day 3 we'd left the loch to a section which is a lot flatter. This helped us recover as we'd realized we'd gone too hard on the first few days in our excitement to get out on the trail. Our second discovery was also the painkiller that is Scottish whisky. By this time we'd met some really lovely people on the trail who were from all over Europe. Having new people to talk to really helped boost our spirits and take our mind off the blisters and sore knees. Unfortunately it did result in a few sore heads in the morning! We ended up walking the rest of the trail with these people laughing, joking and singing most of the way to Fort William.

Overall this trip is great for anyone in the UK considering doing a long distance hike. It easily fits into a week, and offers options to make the trip or bearable/challenging depending on what you want. It is also stunning, especially when the weather holds up.

Below is a video made by someone we met on the trail. We join him about 2 minutes in.