West Highland Way
United Kingdom · Europe
About West Highland Way
The West Highland Way is a 96 mi (154 km) long-distance path from Milngavie near Glasgow to Fort William in the Scottish Highlands. The WHW is one of four officially-designated "Long-Distance Routes" in Scotland, so local authorities support its maintenance.
West Highland Way travel guide
Understand
The route was planned in the 1970s and opened in 1980 as Scotland's first designated Long Distance Path. It is at low to medium altitude, with the highest point at 550 m (1,800 ft), way-marked and with the trail well beaten, downright eroded in places. Much of it is on cattle-drovers' trails and disused Georgian military and stagecoach routes. Some sections are suitable for mountain bikes or horse riding, some definitely not. It demands no mountaineering or rock-climbing skills. The section north of Inversnaid springs a nasty surprise upon anyone who takes a cursory glance at the map and expects a level stroll along the bonnie banks of Loch Lomond: those banks are a steep jumble of boulders. Rannoch Moor is the most exposed section, where lives have been lost. The main challenge is the day-after-day grind of 10-15 mile sections, when you're already weary from yesterday, the weather forecast is poor and your hiking companion is mutinous - what's not to like? The West Highland Way proved popular and several other trails have been designated, but the most surprising was the 2010 badging of WHW as an international extension of the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine in the US. True, that trail was already extended through the Maritime Provinces to Newfoundland, and the arc of mountains continues into Europe. But the planning meeting maybe overlooked the opening up of the Atlantic between, and it feels like a branding or marketing ploy. Don't expect to see moose on the WHW as a result.
Getting there
Standard advice is to walk from south to north, using the more gentle terrain in the south as a warm-up to the harder going further north, plus you have the sun and wind behind you. Milngavie is easily reached by train or bus from Glasgow, and Fort William is a longer but regular journey from there.
Go next
The West Highland Line is a scenic railway from Glasgow running close to WHW in its central section between Ardlui, Crianlarich and Bridge of Orchy. The south section is away west via Helensburgh to avoid the "Arrochar Alps", the north sweeps east across Rannoch Moor to avoid the steep descent of Glencoe. From Fort William it continues to Glenfinnan and Mallaig, with a steam-hauled heritage train in summer. Ben Nevis, the UK's highest mountain, rises near Fort William. Great Glen Way continues the northward slog, a 73 mile walking and cycling route from Fort William to Inverness. The Speyside Way is a walking and cycling route from Newtonmore down the valley through Aviemore and Grantown to the Moray coast near Elgin. There isn't a link trail from Fort William, pick your own route.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia, travel guide fromWikivoyage (CC BY-SA)。Photography via Wikimedia Commons.