While researching possible long distance hikes in the UK, I read that National Geographic listed the West Highland Way (WHW) as one of the world’s ten best hikes, graded as a “moderate to difficult” trail. My daughter-in-law, Amy, had asked if we could do a trek together and this looked like a very good option to break her into the effort required by my annual hikes. The WHW is not too long, not too much elevation gain (13,395′) or descent (13,385′) and loaded with scenery. We agreed to walk this hike in early May when the path should not be too crowded and the wildflowers would be prolific. As I jumped into the planning phase many months before the hike, I discovered that accommodations might be a challenge. Rooms were not always available after a day’s walk or we could not always find places to stay directly on the trail. Fortunately, I was eventually able to locate accommodations at least within driving distance of our nightly rest stops using local transportation. The trail plan we developed included 8 days of hiking with a rest day halfway.
The trek began in Glasgow, Scotland and ended in the town of Fort William, which is about 100 miles north. When we arrived in Glasgow, Amy’s hiking poles were not delivered by the airline (the airlines require hiking poles to be checked). After waiting for an hour (unsuccessfully) for her poles to appear, we took a taxi to our B&B, which, as we later discovered, was just two blocks from the stunning Glasgow Botanical Gardens – do not miss this attraction. Since we had planned to spend the first day as tourists in Glasgow, we took the recommendations of our taxi driver (taxi drivers are almost always the best source of local information) for a restaurant and several fun and interesting places to visit.
A good portion of our first day in Scotland was spent exploring the Glasgow Botanical Gardens. The rhododendrons were in abundance and often over 15 feet tall. We also found several stunning displays of tulips. A new set of hiking poles had to be purchased, since we couldn’t depend on Amy’s hiking poles showing up. That evening at 10PM the airline finally delivered her original poles and Amy donated the new poles to the B&B. And the next morning we stepped onto the trail…
Day 4 – Inversnaid to Crianlarich
Day 5 – Crianlarich to Bridge of Orchy
Day 6 – Bridge of Orchy to Kingshouse