The West Highland Way - part one

Day  Fort William - rest day, shopping.
Day  Fort William to Kinlochleven, 27.5 kms
Day  Kinlochleven to Inveraron, 30.6 kms
Day  Inveraron to Tyndrum, 15 kms

What a way!  The people, the places, the views, and even the weather.  This is a spectacular long distance path, which seems to take people somewhere between 6 - 8 days, though there are of course the intrepid few who do it in 4 days, and those who take even longer.  It has taken me 7 days, though I will tell you the story in two bites.

WiFi on this route is often not available, or alternatively so slow that I have given up on it before I have looked at my emails!  This is why you haven't heard from me.

Ben Nevis is rarely seen without its cloud hat, but last week when I left Fort William it was not only hatless, but bathed in sunshine!  I was kicking myself that I had taken note of the weather forecast and decided there would have been no point in ascending the mountain and gone ahead and booked accommodation ahead for the night.

I reluctantly passed the turn off to the "Ben", and continued on up beautiful Glen Nevis.  Cars followed along the river, but the walking path quickly started to climb up through the forest.  Here I took a diversion to a 2,000 yr old vitrified fort - Dun Deardail.  I couldn't see much of the fort as it was pretty much grass covered, but I got a wonderful view up the glen, and across to Ben Nevis.  Well worth the detour.

The path turned right and went uphill just after the Glen Nevis visitor centre, where the Ben Nevis ascent begins (or the tourist one at any rate).

Ben Nevis on the right, with the town of Fort William in the gap on the right.

Part of the view from Dun Deardail, and the path leading up to it.

Looking further up the Glen, away from Ben Nevis.

The path was at times narrow and the way was slow becauae I kept stopping to look back and admire the view!

On reaching the top of this part of the path I followed the way down with high mountains on either side.  There are still a lot of people walking this way, though I think I have been the only one going my way.  People stopped and chatted with me and so it took even longer to reach my destination, with darkness not too far away when I reached Kinlochleven.  

As well as the music of the small streams, waterfalls, and bigger rivers as they tumbled down the mountains and alongside the path, as the gloaming closed in, my ears were filled with the roaring of the stags up on the slopes.  I couldn't see them, but they were very vocal, as they were over the next few days.

Grasses, heather, and bracken covered the hill sides.

Unfortunately the iconic Kingshouse Hotel was fully booked and so I had to go on, almost doubling the distance for the day.  It was probably the hardest day.  

Kinlochleven was an aluminium town, which needed a lot of electricity.  On pay day workers building the Blackwater dam used to pop across the mountain for a wee dram and then find their way back.  The problem was that many did not make it back again, because not only did they have to deal with often atrocious weather, but the only way across the mountain was over a saddle they called the Devil's Staircase.  A combination of intoxication and weather meant many met their demise.  

 Looking back towards Kinlochleven, on the way to the Devil's Staircase.

 Looking towards the Devil's Staircase, but there is more to go when I get there!

Why am I telling you this you ask?  Because this (not the intoxication bit) was what I faced on the second day, going against the flow and the harder way.  This took me a lot longer, making me in turn later for the whole day, and added to by the number of really interesting people I stopped and chatted to.  At the top of the Devil's Staircase I met two "mad Englishmen" - their description, not mine.  We shared a few laughs together before heading off in opposite directions.

The two fun "mad Englishmen" on top of the Devil's Staircase.

Wild deer at Kingshouse Hotel

One of the most beautiful sights I have seen on this way is Rannoch Moor, the next part of my day after the Devil's Staircase.  This area reminded me of a giant sponge, the sphagnum moss absorbs and holds so much water.  There was no fear of me taking a wrong path, or wandering off onto the moor - one step and I would have been up to my knees, or higher, in bog!  I was amazed that I had the good fortune to cross this bronzed (the dry bracken), cold, bleak, and desolate place without one breath of wind.  This is a real rarity because it is so high and exposed the winds whistle around most days there.

The extraordinarily beautiful, but bleak Rannochbleak,

 Rannoch Moor at sunset.

It was dark by the time I came down off the moor, and as I walked along the road to the hotel I could see moving shadows on the distance.  As I got closer I could see that they shadows were deer, one of them with the antlers of a big stag.

Over dinner that night, in the bar, I met a game keeper and his deer stalker friend.  I had a great night chatting to them, learning, among other things, how important deer stalking is for the environment.  If the deer and goat population aren't managed there would be a massive environmental problem (I guess in the same way deer created havoc in the Alps in NZ).  Interestingly, another thing I learnt was that Rannoch Moor rises by 3 cms every year - something to do with compression and the ice age!

With two really tough days behind me, I decided to have a couple of shorter, easier days.  This third day was so easy that I even had time for a leisurely coffee and cake at the historic Bridge of Orchy hotel before heading off to the little village of Tyndrum.

WiFi has run out and so more next time.