Day 1 West Highland Way: Fort William to Kinlochleven hike

Recently I walked part of the West Highland Way in Scotland on a short 1-week break from work. Since I flew to Inverness, I decided to walk the trail in reverse, which was kind of cool since I often had the experience of hiking totally alone. I combined hiking with and without a backpack; camping, wildcamping and hostel beds and short and long walking days. If you want to know more about my general experience on this trip, read this blog. In this series of blogs I'll tell you about each section of the West Highland Walk and how I experienced it, starting of with my first section: Fort William to Kinlochleven.

The Fort William to Kinlochleven hike is around 24 kilometers and takes you into the mountains after about a 5km walk next to the road (I think because part of the WHW trail was closed) from Fort William to Glen Nevis. More information about the route and routefiles, you can find here. These first 5km I walked with my backpack to the Glen Nevis Youth Hostel where I spent the night before leaving for my big 4-day adventure. The hike is easy and short, and if you have the chance to arrive at Glen Nevis in the morning, you can even make it up to Ben Nevis, which should be another beautiful hike that serves as a good warm-up for the rest of the WHW.

The next morning I left without my luggage (it was being transfered to MacDonald Hotel and Cabins in Kinlochleven) towards the WHW. To get to the trail I had to walk up a bit towards Fort William and then left, up the mountains. After walking on a basic road next to forest plantations for a while, and just before the start of the proper hiking path, there was a sign pointing towards Dun Deardail, a 2500 year old fort that was unfortunately destroyed in a fire. Since a local whom I met the day before told me about this place, I decided to have a look. Not knowing how destroyed it actually was, I didn't realise I was walking on top of the ruins until now, while writing this blog haha. It's a nice little side-tour from the WHW, but don't expect to see a fort. You can, however, see the outlines of the old fort and walk around it to imagine what it must have been like 2500 years ago. Also, don't forget to look back at Glen Nevis, and even Fort William in the distance, sometimes the view behind you can be even more amazing than in front of you!

After going back down, you'll arrive at the nice part of the WHW day-1 trail. It's a proper hiking trail, no cars around. You will pass some beautiful streams and waterfalls (great place for a break and to refill your water!), and if you're there in autumn, might see some of the cool red and white mushrooms. The walk isn't too tough and mostly even, with some short ascents and descents in between. It mostly takes you through open hillsides from here, and this is also where you'll start meeting people going in the other direction (if you leave really early though, you might have some more time by yourself!).

You'll pas another information sign on the Battle of Inverlochy. It makes for an interesting read, and I can definitely recommend reading these signs along the way, especially if you like Scottish history. After this signpost, the way will be quite exposed. Even though two rain showers passed over me, it didn't stop me from enjoying the solitude, especially with my rain gear on. Eventually the walk takes you along an old military road, passed the ruins of tigh na sleubhaich, an amazing cottage ruin in the middle of nowhere. From here it takes about another 5 km before reaching kinlochleven, which will mostly be downhill!

This last part is easy, fun and the beautiful Loch Leven comes in to view. Make sure to enjoy this downhill walk through a bit of forest before you get to your destination. I can recommend having a cider or beer at the Bothy Bar at MacDonald Hotel and Cabins. You'll have the most amazing view of Loch Leven and probably also some good company! Opposite to the hotel (on the other side of the road) is also a good place to wildcamp in the forest, and I have seen that some of the wildcampers there were allowed to get water from the hotel. If you prefer staying at a campsite, then Macdonald is a good place too.

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Day 2 West Highland Way: Kinlochleven to Kingshouse

Recently I walked part of the West Highland Way in Scotland on a short 1-week break from work. Since I flew to Inverness, I decided to walk the trail in reverse, which was kind of cool since I often had the experience of hiking totally alone. I combined hiking with and without a backpack; camping, wildcamping and hostel beds and short and long walking days. If you want to know more about my general experience on this trip, read this blog. In this series of blogs I'll tell you about each section of the West Highland Walk and how I experienced it, today talking about section 2: Kinlochleven to Kingshouse (Hotel).

After a comfortable night in my tent at MacDonald Hotel & Cabins and a true outdoor breakfast consisting of a bag of cereals mixed with some water, I was ready to pack up and start the second day of the journey. This section would be around 15 km, so easy peasy compared to my first day. This sections also features the Devil's Staircase, a part you'll probably have heard of before, but, since you're walking the trail in reverse, this means no climbing up the 'staircase', but actually climbing down :).

The day starts with a short walk through the town of Kinlochleven, a beautiful tiny Scottish village. Here you can find a supermarket in case you need some provision for the day, and even a cool indoor ICE climbing center! Also, this town makes for a nice stop to take part in several outdoor activities such as MTB, hiking, trailrunning, kayaking etc. After leaving the campsite, you'll follow the trail towards the River Leven and make your way to the left before crossing it. This river supports populations of sea trout and salmon, and because of their strict fishing rules, if you're there in the right season you might even be able to spot some! Continuing your walk, you'll eventually cross the river towards the old military road that goes up the hill. To me it wasn't the most interesting walk since it's a simple road through the forest that just goes up and up and up. You'll pass a big water reservoir with extensive warnings about not swimming in it, and before you know it you'll be out of the trees and out in the open again!

From here on, you'll be super exposed to the weather until you reach Kingshouse, so there's plenty of time to test your rain gear if you have the chance. The path is easy to follow, well marked, but stony in some places such as the Devil's Staircase. However, it is beautiful and the views are simply amazing. For a while you'll just feel like you're the only person in the world. After walking across this Moorland, you'll reach the top of the Devil's Staircase, the highest point of the WHW at 550m.

After going down the Devil's Staircase (and watching people struggling to get up), you'll be presented with a beautiful view of Glen Coe, the famous site of the MacDonalds Clan massacre in 1692 and Buachaille Etive Mor, one of the most famous mountains of the Munro Peaks. From here, the trail will be quite close to the motorway and quite flat, but the views totally make up for this. Eventually, you'll reach Kingshouse Hotel where you can either take a break in the Pub before you start the next section to Inveroran (another 16 km) or you can make this your overnight stop and either sleep in the hotel/hostel or in your tent on the other side of the bridge. For 1 pound you can take a shower in the building attached to the hostel (here you can also use the toilet and fill up your water bottle), and you can even use the drying room behind the hotel if you need to dry anything. I arrived at Kingshouse around 12.30, so if I hadn't booked the luggage service, I would have continued my walk to Inveroran since I still had plenty of time. All in all, however, staying in the pub, reading a bit and drinking cider was nice as well, and in the evening it's a great place to meet fellow hikers.

TIP! When wildcamping, make sure you don't put your food in your tent. Sometime during the night, rodents apparently gnawed through my tent and ate all my food. It wasn't really a nice surprise the next morning, to find this whole in my tent. And since I hardly had any food left, I had to combine my next to days of hiking into one, which you can read about in my next blog!

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Day 3 West Highland Way: Kingshouse to Tyndrum

Recently I walked part of the West Highland Way in Scotland on a short 1-week break from work. Since I flew to Inverness, I decided to walk the trail in reverse, which was kind of cool since I often had the experience of hiking totally alone. I combined hiking with and without a backpack; camping, wildcamping and hostel beds and short and long walking days. If you want to know more about my general experience on this trip, read this blog. In this series of blogs I'll tell you about each section of the West Highland Walk and how I experienced it, today talking about section 3: Kingshouse (Hotel) to Tyndrum.

This part was the longest part of my four-day walk, covering 31 km. While it can be split in the middle (at Bridge of Orchy, or Inveroran (good place for wildcamping), hiking both parts in one day isn't all that bad. The day started off with a nasty surprise... a HOLE in my INNER TENT :o. The night before I saw that some rodents were eating from the food I left outside of my tent, so I decided I'd put it in plastic bags inside of my tent. Well, apparently that wasn't enough and only made things worse haha. So yeah, hole in the tent, almost all of my food eaten, so no other way than to hike all the way to Tyndrum in one day (the nearest place with a supermarket).

After a quick breakfast, 1 pound shower and some warming up and tent drying in the free drying room, I shouldered my pack and made my way south. Just 500m later, the main obstacle of the day presented itself; crossing the super busy highway. Having looked about 10 times to the left and right I quickly sprinted across the road and left Buachaille Etive Mor behind me. The route now took me through the moorland up the mountain, past Blackrock cottage and glencoe ski resort. The old military road took me up the mountain and as I reached the summit of the track, the vast and impressive landscape of Rannoch Moor presented itself. This section of the West Highland Way is a wild and more isolated section, I was walking through one of the last true wild places of Europe. While the trail is relatively easy, and most importantly dry, in bad weather you can be really exposed to the elements again, so keep that in mind!

After taking a short break, and some pictures of course, I started this long part of the trail through the moorland. The path was easy to walk on and time flew by! Walking downhill all the way to Ba Bridge (halfway through the moorland) I decided it was a good time to take a break and eat some of my protein bars. Luckily these remained untouched by the little culprits! The whole walk through Rannoch Moor took me a couple of hours and definitely was one of my favorite parts during the hike. I felt the silence and wilderness, and felt engulfed by the roughness of the Scottish landscape.

The path then continued to take me downhill, towards inveroran. Here you'll find some good places to wildcamp. Passing the cute inveroran hotel, I decided to stop and have a tea there. It was quite cold, I needed to refil my bottle (which you can do for free outside the back of the hotel) and I was looking forward to sitting down. In the tiny bar there was just enough room for me to pick a table and order an English tea. Next to me was an older American couple, of which the woman was hiking the WHW for the second time (about 25 years after her first WHW hike) so we talked quite a bit about how everything changed and remained the same at the same time. It was fun to meet some new people and a nice half hour break to get ready for my next half of the day.

After Inveroran hotel, the road took me to Bridge of Orchy. I hiked uphill for a while, and almost forgot to look back at the top, which almost made me miss the sight of Loch Tulla and the Black Mount. Making my way to Bridgy of Orchy, I didn't have a lot of time and got a bit stressed about still hiking to Tyndrum I didn't take a lot of time to look around. I had a back up plan to take the train from Bridge of Orchy to Tyndrum, but when I arrive I decided to walk instead since I thought I had enough time. From Bridge of Orchy, the path followed the railway track for a while, meandering a little uphil through the glens, surrounded by the beautiful bens (mountains), eventually ending in Tyndrum.

The WHW goes straight past Brodies Mini Market, where you can buy all kinds of necessities for quite a good price! I bought some dinner and breakfast for the next day and made my way towards By the Way Hostel & Campsite (such a cool name :D). I decided I deserved a hostel bed for a night and a kitchen to cook my dinner, so for 20 pounds I had a bed in a four person dorm. I put my legs to rest, talked to some English people about brexit and hiking and went off to sleep. While I was tired and my feet hurt quite a bit, I was so excited and proud having walked 30+ km for the first time in my life! Just one more day of hiking before I'd make my way back... but first a good night's rest!

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Day 4 West Highland Way: Tyndrum to Inverarnan

Recently I walked part of the West Highland Way in Scotland on a short 1-week break from work. Since I flew to Inverness, I decided to walk the trail in reverse, which was kind of cool since I often had the experience of hiking totally alone. I combined hiking with and without a backpack; camping, wildcamping and hostel beds and short and long walking days. If you want to know more about my general experience on this trip, read this blog. In this series of blogs I'll tell you about each section of the West Highland Walk and how I experienced it, today talking about section 4: Tyndrum to Inverarnan.

After a good night's rest at the By the Way hostel and a good bread and hummus breakfast, it was time for day four, and my last day of hiking. While I initially already was at the endpoint of my journey, I had a day to spare due to the rodent incident (see my previous blog) so I decided to add an extra section and walk to Inverarnan (around 20 km). This day was also the first day of walking with my backpack with a weight of around 12 kilo's, so that was going to be a challenge.

The weather was great as I walked out of the cute town of Tyndrum. The walk immediately felt different from the previous days, and not only because of the extra weight. Walking out of Tyndrum I was surrounded by forests, something that was hardly the case when I was higher up in the highlands. Pretty soon I saw a sign that I entered the Tyndrum Community Woodland, a beautiful forest area with lots of cool plants and animals. The WHW goes straight through this area, along little streams and past The Lochan (Legend of the Sword). As Tyndrum covers up the site of an ancient battlefield, it is bound to be the site of some cool stories. As the Clan MacDougall and Robert the Bruce fought in the Battle of Dalrigh in 1306, surprisingly Robert's forces were defeated. According to the legend, Robert ordered his men to dump their weapons in the nearby loch, as to make a quick retreat. This loch is now named "The Loch of the Legend of the Lost Sword", named after Robert's legendary massive sword that was told to have been almost 2 meters in length (wow, the length of a pretty tall human being as a sword :o). Nowadays a nice little bench is placed next to the WHW as a reminder of this story, as well as a stone with a cool carving of a sword. It was pretty cool to walk here and feel the ancient atmosphere.

The walk then takes you to some farmland on the other side of the highway. This farmland belongs to Scotland's Rural College, and they do all kinds of research on more sustainable farming practices. It is interesting to walk through not only because of the animals, but also because there are a lot of signs with explanations about what they are doing. After crossing the highway again, the WHW takes you through more and more forest. Up and down some small hils, and after about 9-10 km you'll make a bit of a steeper climb up the final hill before making your way down and around the corner towards Inverarnan. I believe, at this point there's also the possibility to take a little detour towards Crianlarich for a lunch or tea break. However, since I was on a tight schedule to catch my bus back from Inverarnan I decided to continue walking. From here it is all downhill, and as you make your way through the forest you'll have the time to look around and encourage the people going the other way, up up up. After a while the trail takes you to the other side of the A82, at this point, make sure you have peed. I remember I had to pee so much, and walking along the beautiful River Falloch for another maybe 6 km or something reaaaaaallly didn't help. Nevertheless, it's a beautiful walk downhill towards Inverarnan. Make sure not to miss the famous Falls of Falloch, 'cause since you're walking the WHW in the other direction, you might miss it if you don't look back!

At the end of the 20km, I was super tired. The backpack was too much. I wouldn't recommend walking with a backpack that weighs 25% of your body weight for 20 km on the first day. Unfortunately I was met by a surprise. The tiny bridge connecting the WHW between the Being Glass Campsite and the Drover's Inn was closed due to flooding damage. O.M.G. I was so broken at this point, and so relieved I thought I had made it, and then they told me I had to walk back around 1,5 km to cross at the previous bridge. Full of frustration, I walked back, cried my heart out before reaching the pub almost an hour later, but luckily still in time for my bus. I dried my tears, was proud of myself and had a nice soda to celebrate my 24km day at the beautiful old Drover's Inn, before catching the bus back to Tyndrum.

After four days of hiking, I finished more than half, and the best half ;P, of the WHW. It was a great experience with amazing surroundings, relatively good weather, and the best people. Reflecting back on my 4-day adventure in my tiny tent back at By the Way, I felt proud, relieved and tired. The next day I would make my way back to Inverness by train and bus to spend some time there, before going back to the Netherlands on Sunday.

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My first multi-day solo hike

Two weeks ago I went on my first solo hike, to Scotland. While I initially wanted to go to Norway, the high price in the country and the rough terrain made me decide to go with Scotland instead, a country I had been to before and which would maybe be a little more friendly for my first ever multi-day and solo hike!

I thought it would be nice to get away for a while, after lots of things happening in my private life, I needed a break from it all. Get away and into nature, and some time to myself. I bought, borrowed and packed my tent, sleeping bag and pad and all the other essentials, and booked my tickets to Inverness. Two weeks later I arrived in the cold and rainy highlands, at the tiny airport with only one luggage belt. I stayed in the highland backpackers hostel for one night and made my way to Fort William the next morning. After an amazing busride past Loch Ness, Urquhart castle and countless of beautiful Scottish houses I arrived at Fort William. Luckily a Lidl supermarket was only 50 meters from the bus stop, which made a good stop for a cheap vegan lunch. A proper Scotsman loaded the conveyer belt with tons of beers and whiskey, and after noticing me stare, told me: "I wish me wife didn't like alcohol so much". We had a short conversation about the beers and whiskeys in Scotlad, of which half I couldn't understand, after which I made my way towards my next destination; Glen Nevis Youth Hostel, a 5km walk from Fort William.

The 5 km walk with my 14 kg backpack was quite a tough one, and since no one wanted to give me a ride (I tried hitchhiking) it took me about 45 minutes - 1 hour to get to the hostel. On the way I met many hikers on their last few km of the West Highland Way, energetic, relieved and tired of this 154 km walk. I was walking the WHW in reverse, and so far, was the only one walking in the other direction.

The hostel provided a great starting point for my next four days of hiking. With the beautiful view of Ben Nevis, and the surrounding walks, I could warm up a bit to my 21 km walk the next day. After a nice pint of cider, a conversation with a Belgian chemist, now construction worker, and a good nights' rest, the big vegan Scottish breakfast the next morning came as a welcome addition to my day of hiking.

Since I started having back aches before I left the Netherlands, and because I was a bit worried about carrying 14 kg of luggage during 20km walks for the first time, I decided to arrange luggage transfer service. This is really easy along the WHW, although walking it in reverse provides some challenges. Many carriers don't provide luggage transfer in reverse, and if they do, it costs quite a bit more. Eventually, AMS carried my luggage for me from Fort William to Tyndrum. Even though it's quite a cool challenge to carry your own luggage, I was happy that I didn't. This way I was much more free and able to enjoy the hikes and the landscape so much more.

The first day of hiking was around 21km (including a bit extra I did because I wanted to find a burnt down castle, which I didn't find....), and I was just in aww throughout the whole hike. I felt like a hobbit in Middle Earth. It was amazing, beautiful and sometimes really lonely. While I met many hikers going the other way, most of them I met during midday, when we were both halfway. In the morning and afternoon I was alone most of the time, which was quite a special experience. The hike was a bit tough because it was quite long and going up and down a lot, but the trail was easy and I had no difficulties finding my way. After about six hours I arrived in Kinlochleven, a beautiful small town, where I stayed at MacDonald hotel and cabins campsite, which has an extremely georgous view of Loch Leven. Opposite to the hotel is a wildcamping spot where I saw many people camp for the night as well, and filling up their water bottles at the MacDonald Hotel. I enjoyed a nice Wild Pig Cider (absolutely delicious) and cooked my freezedried food. Listening to the tawny owls in the distance, I finally fell into a long, deep sleep.

The next morning it was time for a quick breakfast, so that I could continue my journey to Kingshouse, my next overnight stop. I left relatively early, and expected that it would take me a while. The walk out of Kinlochleven was quite a long way uphill, and honestly a little bit boring. The most interesting part was my walk past a water reservoir and dam, which was not that interesting. Finally the path left the big road and took a turn for a much smaller path just for hikers. From here, it was absolutely amazing. I felt so alone, had the most amazing views and just couldn't believe I was actually here. The rolling yellow-green-brownish hills, the dark black lakes, and just open landscapes as you would never see them in the Netherlands. Eventually I started meeting people again, and realised it probably wasn't too far anymore towards Kingshouse.

Unfortunately I arrived there at 1 p.m., so I barely had anything to do for the rest of the day, except wait for my luggage and set up my tent for wildcamping on the other side of the bridge. Eventually I was surrounded by fellow hikers and we decided to have a night out in the Kingshouse Pub enjoying each others' company and the local beers and ciders. It was one of my best night, full of interesting conversations and talks about Brexit. The next morning, however, I woke up to a nasty surprise, realising there was a hole in my innertent, through which some animals had gotten to my food supply. I had to throw out all my food, and decided to walk my next two stages in one day, since I had to get to a supermarket in Tyndrum for some food supplies. This meant I had to get up early since I suddenly had a day with 30km!

It took me around 8.5 hours to walk from Kingshouse through Inveroran, Bridge of Orchy to Tyndrum. Again, it was a beautiful hike and not too strenuous. Also, having a tea break at Bridge of Orchy hotel (halfway) was nice to regain some energy for the rest of my hike. This day I walked large parts by myself, also because I arrived quite late at Tyndrym. But eventually, tired of the 30km, I found my way to a hostel and spent the rest of the night relaxing on the couch with some English men, again talking about Brexit. Since I was able to put two days of hiking into one, I had a spare day before I would make my way back to Inverness. Why not add an extra 24 km of walking? This last day I would carry my backpack, since I arranged the luggage service until Tyndrum. That would be a challenge.

Even though the last day of walking was the easiest so far in terms of elevation, and started of with me thinking ah it's easy with a backpack, after about three hours I started to become more and more tired. Even though my backpack was now down to 12 kgs, it was still quite a challenge for me to walk such a long day with a heavy backpack, new hiking boots and increasing back pain. I have to admit I shed some tears and my feed were broken when I arrived at my end point, the Drovers' Inn in Inverarnan, but it was totally worth it. The hike was very different from the days before. I walked through forests for large parts of the way, while the other days I walked through bare mountain landscapes. And having a drink at the 300-year old Drovers' Inn was also an experience in itself. Since I had a train booked the next day from Tyndrum, I took the bus back to my hostel and camped there for the night before heading back to Inverness the next day.

The trip back to Inverness was amazingly beautiful again. I can highly recommend the train rides in Scotland. You go through landscapes where you'll see no one, or nothing else. It reminded me much of the Harry Potter movies and gave me this impressive feeling of being such a minor being in this world full of natural wonders. Followed by a bus ride from Spean Bridge to Inverness, I arrived at Highland Backpackers again and was warmly welcomed by the staff and an evening with new friends from New Zealand (Hayden), Scotland (Chris), England (Donald), Australia (Thomas) Canada and the US (Paul). Saturday I spent a nice day in Inverness, hiking a bit more with Chris from the hostel and his dog on the Ness islands, and buying some food and souvenirs. Sunday morning marked the end of my trip when I left Inverness at 6.30 a.m. to arrive back in Amsterdam at 9 a.m..

It was a tough, rewarding and beautiful experience. Hiking alone for multiple days is something I always wanted to do, just to see if I could do it. While this wasn't the hardest hike, I did walk 94+ km in 4 days, so I'm proud. Whether I'd do it again? Definitely. Alone? Not sure. Even though it was cool, the evenings and mornings were sometimes a bit boring and it would have been nice to have someone there with me at those times. All in all, I can recommend this to anyone who is up for a first solo-hiking challenge, it is safe, beautiful and really gives you the experience of hiking in the wilderness, without it being too far from civilisation.