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.
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