Hike the West Highland Way

How to hike the West Highland Way by raincloud66

It took me

5 days

It made me

sore but proud

"It made me proud to be from such a beautiful country"

How I did it: My sister and I decided to do this as a New Year Resolution and a fundraiser for a local charity, so that gave us some incentive to get it organised straight away. Due to time/money constraints we chose to do it in 5 days over the May Public Holiday. May was a good time to do it because there aren't any midges and the weather is decent - for us, it was sunny with showers (some quite heavy) but very little wind and it was fairly warm. The public holiday meant that the walk was busy, which is OK as long as you've booked as early as possible for accommodation. There were lots of people to meet on the way, and in the pub at the end of the day. It was tough going but the experience was well worth it. Its funny how a stoney track that you wouldn't think twice about strolling along on a sunday afternoon can eventually feel like hell after 4 days of your ankles painfully wobbling over all the wee rocks. It would have been nice to climb Ben Nevis at the end, but by that time I could barely climb into my bunkbed, let alone anything else!! We made some great friends though, and have lots of stories from our 5 days out in the glens. Can't wait to do some more walking around Scotland!!

Lessons & tips: I wouldn't have been able to do this walk without my walking poles, they were like a helping hand to aid me crossing streams and climbing steep parts of the walk. Other essentials are tubi-grips, compeed (put on before you leave, don't leave it till you get a blister) and painkillers. I don't usually take painkillers unless a headache refuses to pass so I didn't think to take any till the last day when I was really struggling, even then it was at my sisters insistence.. she'd been popping them all the way unbeknown to me.. when I did take a couple it was like a new lease of life! Unfortunately, I took the last 2 which meant they wore off a couple of miles away from Fort William and I had to hobble my way to the end. Advice I got from other people was to take glucosamine-sulphate 2 weeks before the walk (I didn't try that but my knee gave in half-way through so I maybe should have) and to refrain from moisturising your feet for a month beforehand (I did do this, and whether this was the reason or not, I didn't suffer from blisters)

Resources: We decided to go with a company (AMS) who would organise our accommodation and pick up our bags from one hostel and drop them at the next, so all we needed was a day pack. We went for the bunkhouse and hostel option purely because of our budget and we didn't expect much but we were pleasantly surprised by the facilities. There was a good atmosphere and we were very comfortable.

Mar 22, 03:26PM PDT | 0 comments

People doing this:

JakeB Derbyshire 2 entries	georgia 1 entry	sweetdreamer85 1 entry
HanniePengu Glasgow 1 entry	jinglejam Glasgow 1 entry	mishy_mo 1 entry
rogiermerlijn Netherlands	simply_becca Bishop Auckland	skaffen

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JakeB is feeling better

Thinking about this again 2 weeks ago

If Plan A doesn’t work, then this is very much on the cards for next Spring. Would love to tie in Glasgow and round it off with a climb up Ben Nevis. Training could definitely include the 3 peaks.

We’ll have more of an idea by Xmas,so going to book late Dec if it’s a goer.

Oct 25, 09:55AM PDT | 0 comments

JakeB is feeling better

Very Excited 14 months ago

A has agreed that we can do this next year. Hopefully we can also climb Ben Nevis on the same trip as well.

Aug 31, 2008, 05:27AM PDT | 2 cheers | 1 comment

sweetdreamer85

First the great glen way.. 22 months ago

I cycled the Great Glen Way last summer so this summer I’m aiming to do the West Highland Way!

Jan 08, 2008, 08:39AM PST | 0 comments

CrazyDuluoz

Helpful advice... 2 years ago

There is this bit of trail going from Rowerdennan to Inversnaid in which the trail divides into two and meets up again. DO NOT TAKE THE PATH THAT GOES ALONG LOCH LOMOND!!! My dad, my bro and I thought it’d be easier, but the path was closed for around ten years for being too dangerous for the public. We didn’t know at the time, since there were no signs telling us not to enter. But that section was truly hell. There is barely any path at all and there are several times when you must walk along dangerous drops. Huge boulders constantly block the path, and if its been raining any time in the past week, the rocks will be slippery and easy to trip on. Incredibly muddy, too. It was a miracle none of us twisted an ankle

But besides that, I loved the whole trip! We did it in 7 days. If going from Milngavie to Fort William, you’ll notice that the further you go, the less people you’ll see on the trail.

Also, be sure not to be frugal about good waterproof clothing. We were incredibly lucky that it only rained on the last day of our hike, but I heard that it rained for a week in Southern Scotland starting after our last day. But we brought some crappy cheapo hiking bags and jackets that couldn’t withstand 12 hours of continuous rain. Everything we owned got wet.

Go with people who you know won’t bitch about it, cause my bro was really annoying at times with his complaining :)

Sep 29, 2007, 07:52AM PDT | 0 comments