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hi folks, just back today from walking the west highland way in a superb 4.5 days! ive done a few sections before , but never done it from start to finish.. weather was fantastic and i loved every minute of it,. walked it with 3 other guys i work with who are fantastic company and the banter was exellent. heres a wee review of what sections we done and where we stayed and a couple of cheeky pictures .. hope you enjoy..
the start :: milngavie to Balmaha...21 miles
from left to right Jim,hugh Davie and me!
after leaving some bags with travel lite, we moved on through the first section, nice and straight forward through murdock park and then opens out with some great views, conic hill was a nice work out at the end of the day! was harder coming back down the hill and the rain came on and made conditions underfoot tricky.That evening we stayed in the Oak Tree in at Balmha, fantastic, lovely clean rooms, food and bar was brilliant and im a fussy bugger when it comes to food, highly recomended!.
day 2 Balmaha to inverarnan 21miles
wow this was a tough day on the feet, again weather was lovely and met some nice people on the way, again nothing really tricky about the path to inversnaid. we chilled out here for 20 mins, getting stocked up on water and my new refreshment fresh orange and lemonade! while the guys grabbed some cold ones(i dont drink!)
the path after here was narrow and full of rocks and very sore underfoot and seem to drag on for quite a bit, seen a few mountain goats along here, what eased the pain was the weather , was great and views were brilliant. that night we made it into the drovers and my first experience of it, if you havent been you need to go, you can feel the history as soon as you walk in, alough we stayed in the staggers, it felt like an epic battle with the local midges , whoever cleaned the room must have left the window open and they were in the like flies to sh......well you know the rest!! food in the drovers was brilliant and enjoyed my meal in such a place, alough not a scots man or woman works there, they were all very nice.
day 3 inverarnan to bridge of orchy. 19 miles
start of the walk was steady and good on the feet, opened up and offered great views of the country side, when you cross under the railway here you then start to climb over the hill and burns off the breakfast, when you get to tyndrum a vist to the Green Wellie is always worth a visit for a top up and a visit to the loo!
the walk out of tyndrum is one of my favourites as it closely follows the railway line and A82, great path and again weather was great so some good laughs and views we marched on
part of the way under the west highland line.
the path seemed to go on forever and been on day three all of our feet were burning and was looking forward to the hotel, and davie kindly reminded us all of baths in the rooms! that kept us going i can tell you!..
well well, the bridge of orchy hotel was the booking fo the night, i was super impressed, from the front desk service to the rooms and food, a great touch was i was looking for our bag that got dropped off from travel lite, couldnt see them, lady at the desk then said we have took them up already to the rooms for you! wow.. said my feet its the wee things sometimes that make a diffrence, good nites sleep and breakfast was awesome again with great service.
day 4 Bridge of orchy to kinlochleven 21 miles
apart from the hefty climb at the start of the day, this was my favourite section by a county mile, weather was very kind and the rannoch moor was a busy section again a steady climb all the way over the hill to you then see the kingy come in to view then the ski lift, closely followed by the almighty stob derg, and we managed to see Glen coe in all its glory, no clouds, sunshine all the way, first time i stopped at the kingy and its worth while for a pit stop and loads of pictures of stob derg , a highlight was at the front next to the car park i seen some blokes standing beside what i first thought was dogs, a closer look it was deer and a young stag, i could belive how close they come down, and they defo pose for pictures it was brilliant!
we made our way forward to the devils staircase and raf jet thundered overhead right down the valley, managed to snap a picture with my phone, more luck than anything else!.. the devils staircase is a tough one, more up my street to be honest as i do climb hills, the other guys alough very fit and done the way 3 times already are more used to walks and not hill climbing, snapped this next picture, if anything it made us laugh and helped push us up the hill
rip !! lol
over the top we ran down the other side, yes! we ran, was alot easier and seemed to feel right at the time, alough when i could see kinlochleven from the hillside my feet were screamin at me!! why oh why!.. ok after a trek down by the old blackwater pipes we arrived at our stay for the evening. The Tailrace, we stayed in a 2 single beds and a bunk which was a hoot, and by the end of the night one very worried teddy!! bar was nice and food was exellent aswell. good nite here, i went round the corner to visit the Ice Factor while i was up there, but sadly missed it closing by 30mins! bummer as i was interested in seeing the icewall.. maybe next time!
day 4.5 kinlochleven to fort bill 16 miles
ok last day and we were up and buzzing, sun shining and big steady climb out of kinlochleven and into the hills, amazing how high you get so quick, the path at the top becomes pretty rocky again and a tad difficult underfoot , but with blue skys the finish was almost there we were singing and dancing, alough in a silly sort of way i felt sad as i knew the end was just about there aswell. moving on down into glen nevis,Big Ben was in his full glory, no clouds and you could see the path most of the way up the mountain, natures tv in all its glory, we seen the new upgrade where the end is going to get modified into the town centre ,which really would make sence, my opnion is its dangerous to finish along that busy road, your tired and dead on your feet and too close to the road, anyhoo we made it there eary afternoon and got a finish photo.
that nite we stayed in the Alexandria right next to Nevis sport and the train station, room were ok and pretty handy for the town centre. the good thing about this hotel was its sister up the road had a swimming pool, spa bath, sauna etc that we could use for nothing, just what the doctor ordered for 4 blokes that just nailed the way!!
overall a fantastic time that i will never forget, the guys.. Jim,Hugh and Davie are exellent blokes and had some great laughs, and special mention for Davie as he masterminded the whole trip with carefull choice of hotels and planning the days and even right down to return train tickets on the friday! i would do it again tommorrow!! hope this isnt too long, ive tried to cut it down and missed out loads, but the way deserves some respect, if your thinking of doing it, dont think.. do it its awesome!!!!!
overall it was fantastic, wo