I’ve been thinking recently about my West Highland Way adventure and what drove me to complete the 58km hike from Bridge of Orchy to Fort William. I think the fact I’d never been to Scotland before had a lot to do with it. The thought played on my mind for quite a while.
It was a bit ridiculous really. I like to travel and try to see as much as I can. So the thought of one of our neighbouring countries sitting there waiting to be visited kept nagging away at the back of my mind. It began to annoy me so much that I finally decided to do something about it. I started looking into what Scotland had to offer and came across something that definitely piqued my interest: the West Highland Way.
At that stage of my life, I wasn’t exactly an experienced hiker. In fact, apart from climbing Kilimanjaro with my friends Dave and Síne, I hadn’t really done a huge amount of hiking at all.
Dave and I really enjoyed our Kilimanjaro trip and were keen to do something similar again. Perhaps just not on quite the same scale this time!
The two of us were up for another adventure. The West Highland Way seemed like it could be exactly what we were looking for. An opportunity to explore somewhere new, enjoy some spectacular scenery and take on another walking challenge. And maybe even get a few pints in along the way.
Decision made. Now we needed to get organised!
Planning the West Highland Way
The West Highland Way is a long-distance walking trail in Scotland, stretching 154 kilometres from Milngavie, just outside Glasgow, to Fort William in the Scottish Highlands.
Completing the entire West Highland Way generally takes around six to eight days, depending on fitness levels. Dave and I hadn’t done a huge amount of hiking apart from Kilimanjaro. However, we had recently completed the Dublin Mountains Way together as part of a charity event. That was a walk of over 40 kilometres. So we felt confident we could manage the long distances.
From my research, I had read that the earlier sections of the trail, closer to Glasgow, weren’t quite as picturesque as the later stages through the Scottish Highlands.
The photographs of the mountains around Glencoe and the remote landscapes of Rannoch Moor certainly caught my attention. We decided to walk the northern part of the West Highland Way.
We came across a company called Macs Adventure, which offered a self-guided walking holiday covering the final three stages of the West Highland Way, from Bridge of Orchy to Fort William. The package included four nights’ accommodation, three days of walking and luggage transfers between our accommodation each day. It sounded perfect!
Our West Highland Way Itinerary
We travelled to Scotland towards the end of September. Our itinerary was as follows:
| Day | Route | Distance |
| Arrival | Glasgow to Bridge of Orchy | Train |
| Day 1 | Bridge of Orchy to Kingshouse | 20 km |
| Day 2 | Kingshouse to Kinlochleven | 14 km |
| Day 3 | Kinlochleven to Fort William | 24 km |
| Departure | Travel home from Fort William | — |
| Total walking | 58 km |
This allowed us to experience some of the most dramatic scenery along the West Highland Way without committing to the entire 154-kilometre trail.
Getting to Bridge of Orchy
Dave and I flew from Dublin to Glasgow before catching a train north to Bridge of Orchy, where our walking adventure would begin.
One of the first things that struck me about Scotland was the language. I’d never really encountered Scottish Gaelic before and was surprised by just how similar some of the words were to Irish. Seeing the Gaelic place names and signage was quite interesting, with the language feeling surprisingly familiar.
The train journey from Glasgow to Bridge of Orchy was also an experience in itself. Once we left the city behind, the scenery became increasingly impressive. We passed through beautiful countryside, with mountains and hills rising around us as we made our way further into the Scottish Highlands. It was a great introduction to the landscapes we would be exploring over the next few days.
We arrived in Bridge of Orchy in the early evening. I remember being surprised by just how remote the train station seemed. It almost felt like we’d been dropped off in the middle of nowhere!
Our accommodation for the evening was the Bridge of Orchy Hotel. The hotel was an interesting mixture of old and new. The pub and restaurant were housed in an older building, while our accommodation was in modern, pod-like buildings situated alongside it. We had no walking to do until the following morning, so we headed into the pub for a couple of pints and some food. We played a game of monopoly to amuse ourselves. It was one of those types of holidays!
After all the travelling, it was nice to relax and look forward to getting started on the West Highland Way the following morning.
Day 1 – Bridge of Orchy to Kingshouse (20 km)
After all the travelling the previous day, it felt good to finally get going on the West Highland Way. Our first day would take us from Bridge of Orchy to Kingshouse, a distance of approximately 20 kilometres.
This section takes walkers out towards Rannoch Moor, one of the remote Highland landscapes that had attracted me to the West Highland Way in the first place.
The trail felt unexpectedly quiet. We didn’t encounter too many other walkers. Perhaps things just quiet down in September. We took the opportunity to stop and have a chat with any of the people we met along the way.
There was something enjoyable about that. Everyone was out enjoying the same experience. It was interesting to hear where people had come from and how they were finding the West Highland Way.
Everyone just seemed in good form. Perhaps the relatively decent weather had something to do with that. We had a couple of light showers throughout the day, but nothing that caused us too much trouble.
One thing I had been slightly apprehensive about before travelling to Scotland was the infamous Highland midges. I spent many days in my youth being eaten alive by midges while we tried to foot turf. I knew fully well how these little insects could make life miserable for walkers. Thankfully, we didn’t encounter any.
My main memory of the first day was the enjoyment of finally being out walking in the Scottish Highlands after all the planning and travelling. It felt good to have the adventure properly underway.
An Interesting Welcome at Our Guesthouse
Our accommodation for the evening was in Ballachulish rather than Kingshouse. Kingshouse is a popular overnight stop for people walking this section of the West Highland Way. Unfortunately, the hotel was undergoing refurbishment works during our visit, so alternative accommodation had been arranged for us.
Our transfer was collecting us from Glencoe Mountain Resort, where we also took the opportunity to enjoy a trip on the chairlift. It was another chance to take in the impressive Highland scenery before heading to our accommodation for the evening.
The transfer to Strathassynt Guest House in Ballachulish took approximately 20 minutes. The guesthouse in Ballachulish itself was a fairly ordinary B&B, however we did get a bit of a strange reception on arrival!
We were welcomed by the owner, Neil, who immediately launched into a fairly stern lecture about what was and wasn’t acceptable behaviour in his guesthouse. In particular, he seemed very concerned about guests having too much to drink.
I got the distinct impression that he’d had some bad experiences previously. The lecture went on for a good 5 minutes. Having made his point very clear, Neil then proceeded to offer us a whiskey each! It was a slightly confusing message, but we weren’t going to turn down the hospitality.
We headed out for some dinner afterwards in the nearby Isles of Glencoe Hotel.
Having finished our walking relatively early, it was still only early evening by the time we’d eaten. There wasn’t exactly an abundance of things to do in Ballachulish on a Monday evening in late September. So we proceeded to ignore Neil’s advice and went to the Laroch pub just across the road from his guesthouse.
An Unexpected Reunion in the Scottish Highlands
Unsurprisingly the pub was very quiet. In fact, apart from Dave and myself, there were only two other customers in the place. As luck would have it, they were Irish too. The two lads were working on a construction site nearby.
We got chatting and naturally enough, the conversation soon turned to where everyone was from and whether we knew any of the same people. As we continued chatting, we eventually discovered that the foreman on their site was a neighbour of mine from back home in Westmeath. Not only that, but we’d gone to school together. Our families actually knew each other quite well.
The lads thought this was great altogether and decided to give Brendan a ring. They told him to come down to the pub because there was someone there he should meet. You can imagine his surprise when he walked through the door and found me sitting there!
Of all the places in the world to bump into someone from home, a quiet pub in the Scottish Highlands wasn’t one I would have expected. Naturally, we stayed for a few more pints after that.
Nothing too wild, mind you. The guys all had work the following morning, while Dave and I had another day of walking ahead of us. Besides, we were still slightly concerned that Neil might refuse to let us back into the guesthouse if we fell in the door of the guesthouse after too many pints.
Thankfully, we made it back without any drama. Neil even sent us off with a packed lunch for ourselves the next day.
Day 2 – Kingshouse to Kinlochleven (14 km)
The following morning, we got our transfer back to Kingshouse to continue our walk along the West Highland Way.
As it happened, the Kingshouse Hotel refurbishment was the construction project where my friend Brendan was working.
The West Highland Way passed directly alongside the site, so as we walked past, we shouted in over the fence to see if Brendan was around. He came over to say hello, and we had a quick chat before continuing on our way.
It was certainly an unexpected bonus to our Scottish adventure. I hadn’t anticipated bumping into an old schoolfriend on my travels between Bridge of Orchy and Fort William, never mind getting to visit him at work the following morning!
Walking Through Glencoe
My favourite image of our walk between Bridge of Orchy and Fort William came in this section of hiking through Glencoe. There’s something quite fascinating about a small little isolated white cottage sitting beneath the enormous mountains around Glencoe.
The contrast between the small white building and the imposing mountains behind it was quite striking. It felt like exactly the sort of scenery I’d been hoping to encounter when planning our trip to Scotland. In fact, the landscape around Glencoe in general is quite spectacular.
Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t quite as favourable as it had been the previous day. We experienced a number of showers throughout the walk. Nothing particularly severe, but not especially pleasant either. There was also quite a bit of mist hanging around the mountains, which unfortunately took away from some of the views.
Strangely enough though, the mist somehow felt appropriate. There was something about seeing the Scottish Highlands disappearing into the low cloud that added to the atmosphere of the place.
Climbing the Devil’s Staircase
The main challenge of our second day of walking from Bridge of Orchy to Fort William was the Devil’s Staircase. Probably the best-known climb on the West Highland Way.
Despite the intimidating name, we managed the Devil’s Staircase comfortably enough. We took our time and made steady progress on what is essentially a steep zigzagging path. The trail climbs from near the eastern end of Glen Coe towards the highest point on the West Highland Way.
I remember looking at the climb and thinking that we could be in for a fairly tough day. The trail was certainly steep in places, and we had to work our way steadily uphill.
However, once we’d made it through the main climbing section, the walking became easier than I had anticipated. There was still some undulating terrain and a long descent towards Kinlochleven, but the hardest of the climbing was behind us.
In the end, the day wasn’t nearly as difficult as I’d initially feared. Despite the showers and limited visibility, I really enjoyed this section of the West Highland Way. The enormous mountains and remote Highland landscape were hugely impressive, even if the weather wasn’t entirely on our side.
Arriving in Kinlochleven
The weather became progressively wetter as the day went on, so we were happy enough to reach Kinlochleven shortly after 2pm.
We had made good progress, particularly considering the steep climb earlier in the day. We decided to reward ourselves with a visit to one of the local shops to pick up a few snacks. I took this opportunity to pick up a bottle of Irn-Bru. I’d never actually tried Scotland’s famous soft drink before, so it seemed like an appropriate time to give it a go.
When in Scotland, after all! I didn’t really know what to expect. To me, it tasted like a cream soda. It tasted fine but not something I’d go out of my way to get again.
We were staying in Tigh-na-Cheo Guest House that evening, giving us plenty of time to relax after our relatively short day of walking.
Trying Some Scottish Food
That evening, I continued in a similar vein of making an effort to try some of the local food. For dinner, I went for haggis, neeps and tatties.
For anyone unfamiliar with it, haggis is a traditional Scottish dish, usually served with mashed turnip (neeps) and potatoes (tatties). I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but I really enjoyed it. It tasted really lovely!
Another thing I noticed about Scotland was that everywhere we went for food seemed to have sticky toffee pudding on the dessert menu. For a huge fan of sticky toffee pudding like me, this proved a very welcome discovery. I probably ended up eating more desserts than I should have over the course of our stay in Scotland. I reasoned we were doing a huge amount of walking though so I didn’t feel too guilty about all the rich food.
All in all, it had been another enjoyable day on our West Highland Way walk between Bridge of Orchy and Fort William. We’d experienced some impressive mountain scenery, tackled the Devil’s Staircase and sampled a few Scottish specialities along the way.
We now had just one final day of walking ahead of us. Unfortunately, the Scottish weather had other ideas about how enjoyable that final day was going to be.
Day 3 – Kinlochleven to Fort William (24 km)
Our final day on the 58km route between Bridge of Orchy and Fort William was also going to be our longest, with 24 kilometres to cover between Kinlochleven and Fort William. On paper, it looked like another spectacular day of walking through the Scottish Highlands.
The route begins with a steep climb out of Kinlochleven, offering impressive views back towards Loch Leven. From there, the trail follows an old military road through Lairigmor, a remote mountain pass surrounded by the peaks of the Scottish Highlands.
This section of the West Highland Way also passes the ruins of old Highland settlements, before continuing through forestry and eventually descending into Glen Nevis.
One of the highlights should also have been the views towards Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Britain, which dominates the landscape around Fort William.
Unfortunately, we didn’t get to fully appreciate much of this scenery. The Scottish weather decided to give us a proper send-off! It rained from the moment we set off and didn’t stop for the entire day. We were soaked through from early in the morning.
With the rain pouring down and visibility limited, we missed out on much of the spectacular scenery that this section is known for. With such a long distance ahead of us, there wasn’t much we could do other than put our heads down and keep walking.
On the previous two days, we’d been able to appreciate the scenery, stop for photographs and chat to other walkers along the way. There wasn’t much of that happening on our final day walking from Bridge of Orchy to Fort William!
Moving Quickly!
Dave and I were making fairly quick progress. We were both keen to get the walking finished and escape the rain as soon as possible. As we made our way towards Fort William, we passed several other small groups of walkers. They looked every bit as miserable as we felt.
There was no stopping for chats this time. Just a quick hello before continuing on our way. Everyone seemed to be enduring rather than enjoying the experience. I actually felt quite sorry for some of the other hikers we passed. They were moving considerably slower than us, which meant they were likely facing even longer out in the miserable conditions.
For us, keeping up a good pace seemed like the best way to deal with the weather. The sooner we reached Fort William, the sooner we could get out of the rain!
Walking Through the Rain
One of the more challenging aspects of the walk was the amount of water coming down from the mountainsides.
The heavy rain was pouring down the slopes above us, creating large channels of water that flowed directly across the trail. There was no way around some of these, so we simply had to walk through them. This meant our feet got soaked as well! I’ve written reviews about fantastic hiking boots like my Meindl Perus but even these wouldn’t have been able to keep my feet dry on this day.
All we could do was keep going. We just needed to reach Fort William.
Arriving in Fort William
Eventually, at around 3pm, we arrived in Fort William. After three days and approximately 58 kilometres of walking, we’d completed our section of the West Highland Way!
Despite the miserable conditions on our final day, we both felt a great sense of achievement. We’d travelled to Scotland looking for another adventure, and we’d certainly got one.
We’d experienced some spectacular Highland scenery, met some interesting people along the way and successfully completed the walking challenge we’d set ourselves.
We were staying in Myrtle Bank Guest House for our final evening. It was a nice place to finish the trip, and after spending most of the day absolutely soaked, it was a relief to get cleaned up, warmed up and into some dry clothes.
With no more walking to worry about, we headed out to celebrate in Fort William. Over the past few days, we’d been making an effort to sample some of the local Scottish food and drink. We decided to continue that tradition on our final evening. This time, however, we moved on from the Irn-Bru and haggis to Scottish whiskey!
Turns out it’s not as nice as Irish Whiskey so we didn’t actually have too much of it.
Despite the poor whiskey, we spent a very enjoyable evening celebrating our achievement. It felt like a fitting tribute to our Bridge of Orchy to Fort William adventure. What a great way to bring our West Highland Way trail to a close. It really had been a fantastic few days in Scotland.
The final day’s weather certainly hadn’t been ideal. However, it definitely added to the challenge and that overall sense of achievement.
Accommodation and Luggage Transfers on the West Highland Way
One of the things that made our West Highland Way adventure particularly straightforward was having our accommodation and luggage transfers organised in advance.
This meant we could concentrate on walking without having to worry about carrying all our belongings on our backs. Each morning, we could leave our main bags behind and head off with just the essentials needed for the day’s walk. Our luggage would then be transferred to our next accommodation.
For a trip covering almost 60 kilometres over three days, this was a very convenient arrangement.
We booked our trip through Macs Adventure, opting for their self-guided West Highland Escape package. This included accommodation and luggage transfers, with all the arrangements taken care of for us.
However, companies such as Travel-Lite and AMS Scotland offer independent luggage transfer services along the West Highland Way. This means you can organise your own accommodation while arranging for your bags to be transported between stops.
We stayed in four different places during our trip. For anyone planning to follow the same three-day route from Bridge of Orchy to Fort William, the following accommodation options are worth considering:
- Bridge of Orchy – Bridge of Orchy Hotel: This is where we spent our first night. The hotel combines a traditional Highland inn with more modern accommodation in separate buildings.
- Kingshouse – Kingshouse Hotel: Ideally positioned along the West Highland Way, with impressive views of the surrounding mountains.
- Kinlochleven – Tigh-na-Cheo Guest House: This was our accommodation after completing the Devil’s Staircase section. It’s situated a short walk from the village centre.
- Fort William – Myrtle Bank Guest House: Our final accommodation after completing the walk. A lovely guesthouse within walking distance of Fort William town centre.
Is the West Highland Way Difficult?
Based on my experience of walking the final three stages, I would describe this section of the West Highland Way as a moderate walking challenge for someone with a reasonable level of fitness.
There are some steep sections, particularly the Devil’s Staircase between Kingshouse and Kinlochleven. Coupled with the long distances involved, you definitely need a good level of fitness.
We found that you also need to take the weather into consideration. Our final day demonstrated just how unpleasant a long-distance walk can become. You need to be comfortable and confident to walk in these conditions.
Good waterproof clothing, suitable hiking boots and some experience of longer walks would certainly be advisable. It’s also important to remember that conditions in the Scottish Highlands can change quickly, so anyone planning the route should prepare for poor weather regardless of the time of year.
Is the West Highland Way Worth Doing?
Absolutely!
The Scottish Highlands are a spectacular part of the world, and the West Highland Way offers a fantastic opportunity to explore them on foot. Even though we only completed the final three stages, I felt that we experienced some of the best scenery Scotland has to offer.
However, the thing I remember most fondly about the trip is the combination of the overall experience – the camaraderie of fellow walkers, chatting to the friendly locals, travelling somewhere new with a friend, spending several days walking through beautiful countryside…
And, of course, randomly bumping into an old schoolfriend from Westmeath in a pub in the Scottish Highlands! Those are the sorts of things that stay with you long after you’ve forgotten the individual details of a walking route.
Looking back, I’m really glad we decided to travel to Scotland and take on the West Highland Way.
