Walking The West Highland Way in Scotland. An exciting adventure!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ต.ค. 2024
- Hi lovely people! This is my account of walking the West Highland Way in October 2023. I had a great time! The West Highland Way is a 96 mile (154km) walking route which starts in Milngavie, just outside Glasgow and finishes in Fort William. It is a walk along ancient military roads and drovers roads, (routes for droving livestock) where crofters walked their cattle from the West Highlands to markets near Glasgow. It was Scotland’s first officially designated long distance walking route, and it opened in 1980.
Most people walk the route within 5 to 8 days, but the record on foot is 13 hours 41 minutes and 8 seconds! (That would be running it of course - or sounds more like they were flying!)
It’s really easily accessible from the start and finish by public transport and it’s really well signposted. I don’t think I had to look at a map once the whole time. But I did take a route map with me just in case, of course.
The scenery and terrain is stunning and varied. You walk from the Scottish lowlands through rolling farmland to the Highlands along the rocky shores of Loch Lomond, through woodland, vast moorland, scenic mountain passes and you emerge at the foot of Ben Nevis.
With a bit of walking practise, anyone can do this walk in my opinion, it is a challenge, but not ridiculously so. If you are thinking of doing it, then you definitely should. I thoroughly enjoyed the West Highland Way as my first long distance ‘through hike’ and now I’ve definitely got the bug and can’t wait to walk more long distance trails.
Thanks for sharing the video.
Aw! nay probs
Nice work. My son and I walked the WHW last September in 7 days. Mostly broke it up as you did with the exception of Day 3 Rowardennan to Inversnaid. day 4 Inversnaid to Crainlarich. Day 5 Crainlarich to Inveroran. We made Day 3 our shorter day because we knew the NE side of Loch Lomand would be tough. Love to hike it again.
Lovely! Sounds like you and your son had a fab time. That sounds like a plan to walk it again, it would be great to see in the Spring, Autumn and Winter wouldn't it? Perhaps not the height of Summer though, as I hear the midges are crazy in the Summer on the WHW!
Absolutely amazing. I recommend you visit the himalayan mountains k2 and Nangaparbat view point from one place moses peak. Add this sound in your bucket list.
Thank you for the recommendations! I will defo take those on board & add them to the list! 😊
@@Abby_walks thanks cheers 😋
Absolutely stunning footage! What an amazing adventure. Loved the cute stowaway 😂
Cheers Ange 🤗 x
Doing the WHW in May this year, can't wait. Loved seeing your adventure 😁
Thanks Tom! Have a great time, you will love it 🤗
Great Video, well done on completing the hike 👍. Looks like your fan of Braveheart 😅. Did you organise the accommodation yourself or stayed in the ‘Support Vehicle’?
Hi @ Ranbirsingh7666! Cheers, yeah me Dad's side of the family is Scottish 🏴 👍 I stayed in the support vehicle / converted transit campervan (well, a Transit with a ɓed in the back!). You can wild camp in Scotland which means you can camp pretty much anywhere legally, although there are certain restrictions regarding camping 🏕 around Loch Lomond at certain times of year, although we were visiting outside these restricted times end of Sept/ beginning of Oct so we could camp in the van on the banks of Loch Lomond legally. We also stayed in campsites mainly, as our van doesn't have a shower! And in Ben Doran hotel one night in order to have a bath 👍Hope that helps. Are you thinking of walking the WHW or have you walked it already?
@@Abby_walks thank you very much for your reply. Well you can beat the Scottish 🏴 landscape 😁.
Yes - I’ve watched virtually every video regarding WHW on TH-cam. Definitely it’s on my bucket list.
Don’t fancy the camping side for 5/6 days .
So it will be accommodation , just contemplating on weather to get one of this organised trips that are available, so your accommodation is all arranged and bags are dropped off point to point. So all you take is lighter / easier day pack.
@ranbirsingh7666 👋 Using the baggage transfer service sounds like a great idea. That's effectively what I did - Jim carried my stuff for me in the van from place to place so I didn't have to carry it. As this was my first "through hike" I didn't want to carry a tent and my gear, my goal was just to complete it, so I thought carrying a day pack would give me the best chance. It was the right decision for me 👍 Also, using a company to organise your accomodation for you sounds good, it's a bit more expensive but it would take the hassle out of it. Alternatively, you could look on the baggage transfer + book the accommodation for you websites so look at their itinerary they are often on their front page, of what location you would stay each night, then just Google bed and breakfasts/ hotels / Airbnb in those locations yourself, it would be cheaper but more time consuming of course, so go with what suits you 👍
@@Abby_walks thank you for you help again.
Yes , it will take the hassle out of booking each accommodation individually. 👍
There are feral goats around Inversnaid so it wasn't an escapee.
Did you do this this year I live near Glasgow the weather been horrible raining most of the time I have always wanted to try this
Hiya, you should defo go for it. I'm a complete newbie, and if I can do it you can do it! With a bit of practise walking before hand you'll be all set. I just tried to prepare by doing linger walks at the weekends & getting out for a walk either before work or after or both. I did it end of Sept / beginning of Oct last year 2023, there was tonnes of flooding, I was lucky to finish it in time, we just managed to get away from the area before they started shutting the roads! If there's tonnes of heavy rain forecast there at the mo, maybe wait until the forecast improves. Although as long as the rain forecast isn't heavy and there aren't any flood warnings then you should be good to go!
How bad were the midges at that time of year?
I didn't see one midgie! Autumn is a good time to go in my opinion
Wondering how many ignorant motorhomes anf the middle class living outta vans you encountered??