Being back home I have the time to write some more about the West Highland Way.

We split the WHW into 8 sections:

Day 1: Milngavie to Drymen (~18km)
Nice, pretty flat, easy trip to get used to walking with a backpack. We were lucky, there was a wall of clouds behind us the whole day, which never managed to catch us. We enjoyed the sun, we didn’t know it was the last sunshine for the next few days. In the evening I was pretty tired anyway because I carried way too much water (~4l with 2l left in the evening). We stayed at a small campsite before you reach Drymen with 2(?) Wigwams (wooden pyramid-shaped bunkhouses).

Day 2: Drymen to Rowardennan (~26km)
What could have been a nice walk was ruined by terrible weather. Two guys we met (Carsten and Dirk) hitched a ride after ~10km and I was close to giving up, too. This one was a real torture.

Day 3: Rowardennan to Inverarnan (~20km)
Actually this was Day 4, we planned a day of rest in the Rowardennan Youth Hostel. Because we had decent weather (== no rain, but cloudy) we went up Ben Lomond (974m, a ~10km walk).

Looking on the map, we saw a path parallel to a height line besides Loch Lomond. We did not know that the path was constantly going up and down a few meters, which made this (at least for me) the hardest section of the WHW.

After 10km there’s the Inversnaid Hotel with decent prices for the first stop of the day. After 15km we rested at the Doune Boothy for ~1h to warm up, dry and change clothes.

We tried to get into a bunkhouse at Beinglas Farm but due to the terrible weather everybody else had the same idea which ment we had to pitch our tent during the rain. Thanks to my groundsheet, we could at least put up the outer tent first and the inner one remaind dry.

There’s a nice but expensive pub in Inverarnan called Drover’s Inn were we spent the rest of the evening and I had too much guiness.

Day 4: Inverarnan to Tyndrum (~20km)
Due to the visit to the Drover’s Inn the night before it took me probably 10km to wake up. Still a loooong walk. We stayed at the

Tigh Na Fraoch Bed and Breakfast
heather.clement@virgin.net
Tel. 01838 400354
Mob. 07776428 508

in Tyndrum, which I can highly recommend. A Very nice host, nice room, a bathtub which relieved my hurting back and a great breakfast: baked trout caught the day before by her son.

Day 5: Tyndrum to Inveroran (~15km)
Finally a shorter walk and better weather.

Our initial plan was to stay at Bridge of Orchy (10km away from Tyndrum) but all the bunkhouses were full and the campsite didn’t look too good, with millions of midgets.

After a short break and a soup we decided to walked another 5km to Inveroran. We stayed at a beautiful wild campsite a few hundred meters from the Inveroran Hotel beside a small river with a nice view.

Day 6: Inveroran to Kingshouse (~15km)
Another short walk and decent weather. We met a group of german schoolkids doing parts of the WHW with some of them clearly not enjoying the trip…

Camped at a wild campsite behind the King’s House Hotel, another nice campside. This time we reached the destination around 2pm left us some time to relax, enjoy the day, and rest our feet.

Day 7: Kingshouse to Kinlochleven (~15km)
This section featured the “Devil’s Staircase”, which is completly overrated. It is steep and it is the highest point of the WHW but 548m is not very much and the path is well-maintained.

More annoying was the way down which seemed to go on forever. Stayed at the campsite behind MacDonnalds Hotel where you could even order a breakfast for the next day.

Day 8: Kinlochleven to Ft.William (~22km)
The final part and again terrible weather. Windy and constant rain with very little shelter the whole way. After ~15km we made rested under some coniferes and cooked a tea. The final way down to Ft. William is similar to the one down to Kinlochleven. Seems to go on forever, but (if the weather is better) could give you great views of Ben Nevis. Here we stayed at the Ben Nevis Youth hostel.

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