I have just completed walking 93 miles over 6 days on the West Highland Way in Scotland. It was one of the most trying experiences of my life, physically and emotionally.
Here's some advice in case you're thinking of doing a hike like this:
1. Do some training. We put on our packs and did a bit of walking in the river valley but it was no where near enough.
2. Don't let the first day deceive you. The first 20 miles was lovely. Simple rolling hills, flat easy fields and beautiful forests.... we spent the next two days walking along slippery cliffs by the lake and then climbing steep hills.
3. Pack light. We did wild camping all along the trail which meant we were carrying everything on our backs. People thought we were insane. Pay for the service to have your bag transfered from town to town if you can't pack light.
4. Treat it as one big bar hop. When I had times of doubt and wanted to give up, knowing there was a town with a nice warm pub up ahead kept me going.
5. Do the hike with someone you know you work well with. I doubted every life decision I ever made on this hike because some points were so draining. If I didn't do this with Jordon, I could have never completed it.
Day 1: we started in Milngaive which is about half an hour out of Glasgow. We looked like eager little idiots who had no idea what they were getting themselves into. We had bought our dehydrated food, protein bars and were ready to go. The weather in Scotland is a joke. One minute it's raining then sun then snow... yes, we walked through snow on our first day which I have to admit we were not expecting. The sun came out quick enough though. We pushed through to Drymen, which was about 16 miles. Once we dried off there, we decided to go a bit further as we had a late start in the morning. We went another 4 miles and found a beautiful place in the woods to camp. It looked out onto Loch Lomond and was quite isolated. In that moment I was sure we had made a good choice in doing this hike.
Day 2: that moment didn't last long. When I woke up on day 2, I was wet, cold and tired. I didn't get a good sleep, I was cold all night and everything was damp in the morning. I couldn't even make instant oatmeal properly and broke our jetboil stove. Things were looking bleak. We walked about 26 miles and I was exhausted by the end. My body was extremely sore as well but we did end up catching up to the 6 day schedule instead of the 7 day which was a good thing. We ended in Inversnaid that night (in case you're looking up this hike on a map, which you should. Be impressed by how much we walked). We met a couple from Glasgow at the hostel/campground we were staying at who confirmed that we were insane carrying all our gear.
Day 3: I had a shower. It was lovely. I woke up warmer because our hostel linens that we had can actually go into your sleeping bag (why I didn't think of this on the first night, I'm not sure). Jordon thought he lost his Iron Ring though so we had a later start because we were looking for that. Day 3 was shorter mile wise. We only did about 13 miles to Crainlarich. We decided to treat ourselves to a proper meal to celebrate being done day 3 out of 6. We found another place in the woods to set up and in the middle of the night, we think we found out what the fox says. It was so annoying and neither of us could sleep through this hackling.
Day 4: another miserable morning for me. My right shoulder was killing me and I honestly wanted to hop on the train and just go straight to Fort William, but alas, I pushed on. We knew the next day was going to be a 21 mile day, so we went an extra three miles on day 4, for a total of 16 miles, to shave off some of the miles for the big day. We had an early night which was awesome because we could actually stretch out before just crashing for the night.
Day 5: I was so excited this morning. One more night in a tent then we'll be done. We had to do 10 miles before we hit the next town and we conquered it in 3 hours and 40 minutes. We were getting good at this. Day 5 was definitely my best day. We got to our last town, Kiolocleven at about 5:30. The only problem is we wanted to stay in a room but everything was booked full because of some stupid motorbike crap. Once our lovely abode was set up again, we went to a local bar who had live music. The couple from Glasgow ended up there too and bought us drinks (always the benefit of talking up older people).
Day 6: this was it. 13 more miles and we were done. The excitement I felt was unbelievable! And then dread kicked in. We walked through the worst rain and wind ever. If we had known it was going to be like that we would have caught a train. You get to these points on the hike where your only option is to turn back or push forward. There's no where to go and wait it out. Somehow we did it. I literally cried when I saw Fort William come into view. We got a hotel room, pulled out everything from our packs to dry (everything was soaked) and watched bad television for the rest of the night.
It's now the next morning after Day 6. My body feels better, we're about to have a great breakfast and then bus to Inverness. I pushed myself harder than I ever have before and completed something I thought was impossible at times. It is a great way to see the varying landscapes of Scotland (and the varying weather), just prepare properly for the West Highland Way.
- Vanessa xo
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