walkhighlands

The East Highland Way


Devised by Kevin Langan, the East Highland Way is an unofficial long distance walk running across the Highlands from Fort William to Aviemore. Stretching for 134km, the route enables a link between the West Highland Way and Great Glen Way with the Speyside Way. Only very short sections of the route are waymarked, though the going is not too difficult for much of the way, with a couple of tougher, more challenging sections.

Much of the route follows forestry tracks, but there is a variety of woodland along the way and enough open sections to give some superb views across the Central Highlands, as the route passes in the shadow of great mountains from Ben Nevis at the start, to the Creag Meagaidh group and finally the mighty Cairngorms.

Stage descriptions Length Time Done
Fort William to Spean Bridge 19km 4½-5½ hours
Spean Bridge to Inverlair 16.5km 5½-6½ hours
Inverlair to Feagour 35km 7½-8½ hours
Feagour to Laggan 8.5km 2½-3 hours
Laggan to Newtonmore 15.5km 5-6 hours
Newtonmore to Kincraig 23.75km 6½-7 hours
Kincraig to Aviemore 16.5km 4-5 hours

THE CHALLENGE

Much of the route follows tracks, with sections also on tarmac, and footpaths. There are two pathless sections with burn crossings. The hardest section is from Laggan to Newtonmore, passing through remote Glen Banchor with three river crossings which become impassable in spate conditions. There is an alternative route for such conditions using minor roads and a cycle path.

ROUTE PHOTO GALLERY

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BAGGAGE TRANSFERS AND WALKING PACKAGES

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ACCOMMODATION AND SERVICES ALONG THE WAY

The East Highland Way offers a wide choice of accommodation along most of the route, apart from the central section. From Inverlair to Pattack there are no facilities, most walkers will arrange with their bed and breakfast from the previous or following night to drop them off / pick them up at an appropriate point to break the journey, so that they can complete the route without the need to carry a tent. Those planning to wild camp and willing to carry a stove should find plenty of suitable sites; there are official campsites outside Fort William, Newtonmore and Aviemore.

Fort William has offers a wide choice of both bed and breakfast accommodation, hotels, and hostels.

Spean Bridge has a good local shop, and again a choice of bed and breakfast accommodation and hotels. There is the Aite Cruinnichidh Hostel at Achluachrach near Roybridge.

Whilst there are no facilities on the trail at Inverlair, there is a hostel by Tulloch railway station, which is 3.5km off route. The next stage as described is very long, and could be broken at Moy if a pick up / drop off was arranged by the accommodation provider used on the previous or following night.

There is no accommodation or other facilities at Feagour; a pick up would need to be arranged by a B&B or hotel at Laggan.

Laggan is a small village with bed and breakfast and hotels - and a shop.

Newtonmore and Kingussie are both small towns with a range of shops, bed and breakfast and hotels and hostels.

Kincraig is a smaller village but does also offer both a hotel and B&B accommodation; there is also overnight accommodation available on the route at Loch Insh watersports.

Finally Aviemore is a popular mountain resort with an excellent range of shops, cafes, restaurants, and again offers hotel and B&Bs and hostels.

BOOKS AND MAPS

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PUBLIC TRANSPORT

Both the start and finish of the way - at Fort William and Aviemore respectively - have excellent transport links, with both long distance bus services and rail links to the central belt of Scotland and beyond.

There are also rail and bus services to Spean Bridge, and a rail services to Tulloch station. The central section of the route has no public transport until Newtonmore, although Laggan can be reached from there by taxi.

Kingussie and Newtonmore have both rail and bus links, whilst Kincraig is served by bus. However, despite the bus and rail services at each end of the route, none of these services directly link - getting a train from Spean Bridge to Newtonmore, for example, would involve a journey via Glasgow.

Timetables for all the routes can be found on Traveline Scotland.

Users' walk reports for the East Highland Way

There are 349 Walkhighlanders who have completed the East Highland Way. To record if you have completed the route, you must register and be logged in. Our users have contributed 12 public walk reports for the route. These are ordered below with the most popular ones first.

Title AuthorDate walked Likes
The EAST Highland Way - Carrot Soup for the Soul  walk aboot 18/07/2011  17
The East Highland Way - backpacking over 5 days  andrewl7642 12/08/2013  14
East Highland Way - be well prepared  Wedmore man 02/05/2022  9
Very Quite East Highland Way  mylesmcs 11/03/2018  6
Rannoch to East Highland Way  westgate 29/05/2018  5
East Highland Way Part 1  icemandan 02/06/2012  5
A Highland walk - some of the EHW  irishwasa 03/09/2013  4
Winter EHW (4 days) by CZ eyes  Konik 11/02/2018  3
Rollar coaster of East Highland way  Rollingwalker 26/07/2017  3
East Higland Way on Horseback/Walking starting Aviemore  Metal Free 03/06/2016  3
EHW end-to-end in 5 days (God Knows How)  Buggiba 17/03/2013  3
Video: East Highland Way - June 2023  SPJohnston 06/06/2023  2

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Walking can be dangerous and all walkers must take personal responsibility for their own safety. You should always carry a backup means of navigation and not rely on a single phone, app or map. Walkhighlands strives to provide accurate information but cannot accept responsibility for changes, errors or omissions.