Day 21: Fort William to Kinlochleven
? 22km
?167m
Today we started the West Highland Way going southbound. Established in 1980, it starts in Milgavie, north west of Glasgow, and finishes in Fort William and is 96 miles long. It is a well established route and very popular, but we would be walking against the crowds.
We woke early and snuck in a last shower before heading out the campsite. Despite knowing we will be going through towns fairly frequently from now on we both still got stupidly carried away in Morrisons the day before and my backpack was worryingly heavy.
We joined the route out the site and followed it’s gradual ascent up through the forests and along the forestry roads. The cloud was very low and soon we were in it, with the light rain upon us, jackets were on but we were a bit late with the waterproof trousers. About 09:00 we came across our first walkers coming towards us who asked us how much longer they had to go until the end. After this there was then a steady stream of people some happy and excited it was the last day, some smiling through gritted teeth and a couple who were obviously not having a great time. The rain got a bit heavier before easing off for the rest of the day. The views through the valley were lovely and we made good pace despite significant ascent as there was zero navigation to be done.
We had both picked up new shoes from Fort William so we’re nervous but in the end pleased how they were doing for us after 23KM.
We stopped just before town to eat our lunch, some left over pizza from the day before, and then decended into the town passing some late starters and mountain bikers on our way down.
We arrived about 14:30 to the wooden hut we had booked. Basically a shed with bunk beds in, that you put your own sleeping bag on but it was the power sockets that you really pay for. We showered because we could, and it was quiet, then headed to The Bothy Bar to update the blog and read about what was to come ahead on the route.
We had the best burger yet for dinner and another sticky toffee pudding. Time to start a sticky toffee leader board, another column in Tom’s spreadsheet added. ?
Day 22: Kinlochleven to Inveroran
? 32km
?902m
Leaving our pod it was dry, but the mist was looming. We left Kinlochleven via a big service road parallel with some hydro power pipes. About 10 vehicles, a mixture of trucks and land rovers, passed us on the way up to start their day but we never saw where they ended up as we then came off the road onto a much nicer trail. By this point it had started to rain quite heavily and was blowing into our right side. We were basically in the cloud, but walking along a decent path towards devil’s staircase.
We put an extra layer on just before popping over the top where a group of 4 ladies were celebrating reaching the top from the other side.
The rain had eased off a bit and we descended devil’s staircase carefully as we met a few people coming up. They were from all over and all abilities including a lady carrying a bike.
We then reached the main road and the path traversed nicely along it so we didn’t have to contend with any traffic, it was narrow here however and we had to wait for several people to pass by. As with the day before there was such a variety of enjoyment on the faces that came towards us. We followed the road for quite a way and stopped at the super plush Kingshouse, for a tea and hot chocolate.
Then we set off out into the drizzle and it didn’t stop, I was fully waterproofed up Tom had opted for shorts and waterproof top because it was not actually that cold temperature wise.
We walked almost up to Glen Coe ski resort and then followed a very boring cobbly road that ran through Rannock Moor, we were head on into the wind so the rain felt worse than it probably was but it was safe to say we were pretty soggy, and after several km’s I finally figured out that the funny taste was the smidge being washed off my face by the rain. We passed several soggy faces on the way through, including a lovely lady in her late sixties who joked about how boring it would be to hike in the sunshine and when we told her what we were up to she said ‘oh you are one of those’, she was absolutely delightful.
We approached the Inveroran Hotel, and set the tent up in the dedicated ‘wild camping’ spot before continuing with our bags to the bar. We were drenched and glad for a chance to dry out which kept the barman busy mopping up our puddles. We sat with a cuppa for me and a pint for Tom before pre ordering beef and Guinness pie for supper, which was amazing!!
Day 23: Inveroran to Strathfillan
? 21km
?438m
We were rudely woken in the night by some car horn honking and more rain but generally had a good night’s sleep in our ‘wild camping’ spot.
Next door a young group of 4 had set an early 05:45 alarm and were up negotiating thier morning logistics soon after. We snoozed our 06:00 alarm since it was raining, and started to get ready just before 07:00. Wrapping up in waterproofs expecting the worst, we packed up our tent and were first out of camp and pleased to find it was actually windy and dry.
We made our way back passed the hotel that we had dinner at and climbed a steady up and over to avoid the road, reaching Bridge of Orchy where there was nothing much but a big hotel and the railway station. We went under the railway and then continued on a wide gravel track along the tracks, passing those who had started the day early as well. The path was very similar most of the way and we just avoided ascending into the cloud and therefore even though the wind was in our faces we stayed dry.
After about 14km of very similar path with unfortunately little view, because of the low cloud, we arrived at Tydrumn. We couldn’t resist a cup of tea and hot chocolate at the Green Wellie Stop, an American style service station with toilets and gift shop. We have visited one before on a previous trip to Loch Ness and thought they were hilariously great.
We then looked at our next few days and the food we had available, booked Sunday Roast in Dryman and decided to have lunch down the road and save our waffle and jam lunches for our big day along Loch Lomond on Saturday. So we made the 500m journey down the road to The Real Food Cafe for a burger, after which we headed out again arrived at our camp spot within the hour and got the tent up minutes before the first rain of the day came down.
When I took my shoes off I fustratingly found a blister on each heel, lower down than where I was getting pain before and wondered if the new shoes had a different pinch point. Looks like the Compeed will be on for the next few days and hope it won’t make the harder ground to come more painful than it already will be. Tonight is our first DIY evening meal and we have a combination of Pot Noodle with Broccoli, then Tea Loaf and custard for pudding.
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