WHW walk 09

It seems odd to be posting about walking the West Highland Way when all my friends have been running it but it's been quite an experience to walk it with my wife over four days instead of the hoped for sub 22 hours. And you know what? I think walking it is harder!

Running it is so uncomplicated. There's just you, 95 miles of path and a destination and you just keep putting one foot in front of the other until it's over. Walking it involves innumerable decisions and compromises, particularly if you're travelling with someone with a different level of fitness. The slower pace makes the bits that just drag when you're running seem like an absolute lifetime. Compared to when you're walking, Rannoch Moor or the Larig Mor pass in the blink of an eye when you're running!

Okay, a slight exaggeration but you get my drift. How many runners would like to "enjoy" the scenery between Milngave and Drymen for 4 hours?

Anyway, enough of that. What was it like walking it?

Well firstly, it was WET!!

Following all that good weather that we'd had, even though it was forecast, I couldn't quite believe the rain that met us on the Wednesday morning in Milngavie when we got up.



I foolishly thought that the forecast was pessimistic and only put on my showerproof trousers. 5 miles later, soaked to the skin and with my gortex shoes full of water that had run down my legs, I was bitterly regretting my decision. Meanwhile, Muriel who was wearing proper waterproof trousers was much more comfortable.

It wasn't until we were well along the forest path from Drymen that the rain eased off and we were actually able to see Conic hill. By the time we reached the top we were at least rewarded with fine views over Loch Lomond.



After a very welcome stop at the Oak Tree in in Balmaha, we soldiered on to Sallochy, about 3 miles short of Rowardennan to our B&B. That was 24 miles & 9 hours (inc stops).

Day two was a toughie. This time we had to reach Tyndrum, 28 miles over & through some of the toughest bits of the WHW. Inversnaid seemed to take an age to arrive where we stopped for coffee & cakes before heading on to Beinglas farm for "lunch" at 4 pm.



All of the other walkers who had started at Rowardennan stopped here but our luggage was waiting for us in Tyndrum so despite the hour, we had to carry on for the next 12 miles, the rain coming and going, sometimes torrential, sometimes just showers but never far away.

Eventually, after having started at 8:20 am we arrived having battled the elements (and latterly strong headwinds, more rain & flooding) at Tyndrum at 9:20 pm with just enough time to put on some dryer clothes and order some food at the bar. No sooner scoffed that it was off to bed to collapse!

Day 3 was (for me at least) an "easy" day as we were just doing about 19 miles to Kingshouse. I found the walking easy (if dull) but Muriel found this stretch hard. It wasn't helped by the continuing rain that meant that most of the hills were obscured most of the time so there was little to look at.

We arrived relatively early at Kingshouse (around 5 pm). After a quick soak in the bath I was dispatched to the bar so that Muriel could have a *proper* soak and was forced to drink 3 pints of some rather good real ale whilst I waited for her. I rather lost count after that. ;-) The Kingshouse hotel is an odd sort of place, massively undercapitalising on its potential in so many ways but good in others. We rather enjoyed it (but maybe that's the beer talking).



For our 4th and last day, a friend joined us to walk to Fort William. Again, we started out in steady rain (our waterproofs hadn't been removed once in the whole journey up to this point). It was great to climb the Devil's Staircase on "fresh" legs (i.e. as opposed to ones that have run 73 miles already) and joy of joy, the rain stopped on the way up and after a waiting a suitable period in order not to tempt the fates, we were able to remove out jackets & waterproof trousers! Hallelujah!



That area is also good for insectivorous plants. Here are a couple I photographed. Haven't had time to look them up yet.




At Kinlochleven I had a chat with one of the race organisers to get an update on the race and we met some of the Adventure Show cameramen (who didn't seem to want to film me). The climb out of Kinlochleven, normally such a chore during the race was easy but the walk across the Larig Mor was even more tedious that normal. It just goes on forever!

About 2 miles before Lundavra, we were caught by the leading runners, a Dutch supervet who was leading the race at this point!



That said, he had blood streaming down from both knees and was clearly in a bit of distress. All we could do was offer him a hanky to bind his worst knee but I think we would have been better off telling him not to be such a wuss and booting him up the backside! ;D

As it was, he lost a lot of time getting patched up at Lundavra and lost his position.

The next two runners, Scott Bradley and Richie Cunningham (both Carnegie) passed us about 11 minutes after Jan (the Dutchman).



They were simply amazing. They were running together up and down all the hills and I do mean running. They looked like they'd just popped out for a short run together and looked unbelievably fresh. I wasn't suprised to hear that Scott managed to overhaul Jan. Richie, who came in third was only a couple of minutes behind but over the moon at having taken over 2 hours off his PB! That's was 2 hours off a very good time already.

A couple more runners went by before we reached Fort William down that endless forest road.



Eventually however, we did reach the end and like the runners, we we so glad to reach it.



Highlights? Hard to say but seeing a couple of Jays, one of which caught a smooth snake right in front of us and left its wriggling tail behind was rather special.

I swore then that I'd never walk it again but a day later, who knows.

Lessons learnt.
Good waterproof trousers can save your life. Our Berhaus ones that can be zipped down from the top as well as up from the bottom were great. The top half of them is lined which makes a big difference to comfort as well.

Even if your jacket is Goretex, unless it's lined, you need something long sleeved otherwise you will get cold and damp.

Walking poles are great. Once you get into the swing of them they really do help on long climbs and level walking. Not so good when the ground is really rocky and uneven but they helped a lot.

Don't carry all your kit. There are perfectly good companies who will do that for you and will deliver you bag to as many places you intend stopping along the way. We used Travel Lite and had no problem with the service. Normally about £35 for one bag (although you can make that a large one) but they only charged us £30 as we had so few stops.

Lastly, if you want to enjoy walking the west highland way, DON'T DO IT IN 4 DAYS! It's certainly doable and better planning might have reduced the length of the mega 2nd day but it's still a lot of walking every day.

A day on and I'm thinking I might possibly do it again but over 5, 6 or even 7 days. Certainly no more than 8 hours walking a day.

I did miss running the race this year but it was great for once to see the leading runners and we went to the prizegiving after the race as well. I'm more tempted than ever to have a go at running it unsupported though. It may just stay a dream but who knows? ;D