Mountains, Lakes and Fish´n´Chips
Hiking the West Highland Way in Scotland
The Scottish highlands do have a place on many travelers bucket-list - be it hikers, mountain bikers or motorcyclists. They are well known for their mystic landscapes, ever-changing weather and sometimes dramatic history. We chose to hike the West Highland Way as our introduction to this part of the world.
This trail covers 154km from Glasgow to Fort William and passes through some of the most spectacular parts of the Highlands as for example Glencoe and ends at the foot of Ben Nevis - the hightest mountain on the British isles. We did the hike in seven days and walked up to the summit of Ben Nevis (1.345m above sea level) on the day after.
The trail can be divided into parts: The first from Glasgow to Loch Lomond which brings you from the farms of the lowlands into woods and via the summit of Conic Hill to the shore of the lake. The second part follows the shore of the lake and is the most difficult as you have to climb over large rocks and through muddy bogs the whole way. The third part covers the “proper” Highlands with Glencoe and Devils Staircase. This part does have more elevation change but it is less tricky than the second in my opinion.
The trail does connect small towns and village so that we decided to use hotels and hostels for accommodation. You are allowed to camp most of the time but we hiked in April 2017 and did have to deal with a bit of rain and cold weather (including snow). Not the cheapest way to travel but comfy and it keeps the back weight down.
For me the highlight of the trip was the third part of the trail and the subsequent hike up Ben Nevis. The landscape is full “Braveheart” and the low hanging clouds in the mornings give it a mystic quality. Besides that digging into huge portions of Fish and Chips was also pretty great.
PS: We did spend a few days in Glasgow after the hike and got our geek on.
janainaart
yousharknotpass
dededos
blakekathryn
vaporwave
romaincrisis
2087
