The latest Scottish long distance walk to be added to Walkhighlands is the East Highland Way. Devised by Kevin Langan, the East Highland Way is an unofficial route running across the Highlands from Fort William to Aviemore. Stretching for 134km, the route enables a link between the West Highland Way and the Great Glen Way with the Speyside Way.
Much of the route follows forestry and moorland tracks and paths, 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. Only a few sections are waymarked at the moment so navigation skills are definately needed, but the route has great variety of landscape, plenty of opportunities for wildlife watching and interesting places to stay.
Kevin Langan has put a huge amount of work into developing the route and has liaised with land owners and managers along the route and is now working to waymark the Way. Kevin has written an informative guidebook published by Walk with Luath, which provides a lot of background information on history, wildlife and features to visit along the route as well as route description and some mapping, although OS maps would be needed as well. In recognition of this effort Kevin has been shortlisted for this year’s TGO Awards for both the Outdoor Personality of the Year and Outdoor Book of the Year awards.
At Walkhighlands we feel this is a route that will really appeal to walkers and provides a great alternative to more established long distance trails. A number of companies are already providing baggage and accommodation packages along the route which suggests that there is a growing demand from walkers and that the route is likely to prove very popular over time. Check out the detailed description and free OS mapping for the East Highland Way on Walkhighlands and buy the guidebook here.