Day 10
We did it! We completed hiking the West Highland Way! Today we traveled from Kinlochleven to Fort William, about 15 miles. This was actually our longest day of hiking the whole trip. We were a bit worried so we got up and got going a bit early. Turns out we maybe didn’t have to. We made good time and arrived at the end by about 4 pm. Though, which end remains the question. More on that in a bit.
Once again we had absolutely gorgeous weather. Sunny, warm, clear blue skies with hardly a cloud in them. I know, if I say clear skies, there shouldn’t be any clouds, I’m trying to be poetic here. It was just beautiful. Perfect day, again, for hiking. We talked to a number of people this week who said we had the best weather for walking the Way this entire season. Most of the time it’s been rainy, but not for us. We got real lucky. Today was perfect.
Started out with a pretty stiff hike up into the hills for a couple of miles. That was slow going, but slow and steady was our mantra. After that, we hit a crest and walked westward along it for quite a while. Beautiful views of Kinlochleven down into the valley behind us and then hills and valleys ahead.
After a while the way swung north and we began our descent into Fort William. Well, the descent went on for a number of miles, it was a nice overall walk through some pretty countryside. We even saw an old ruined farm house. Not sure how old it was or when it was last occupied. Eventually hit some forests and got to a board that was the half way point. It showed the whole way and where we were, way up at the top. It was cool to see how far we had come. Kept walking, and eventually hit the town.
Here is where things got slightly confusing. The way used to end right there at the start of town. There’s a sign and everything and we got pics there. Then, several years ago city leaders moved the “official” end down a mile or more into the center of this really cute old downtown business district with all sorts of shops and stuff. I can see why they did that. There they built a statue of a guy sitting on a bench with one of his boots off and they dubbed it the new official end. So we go pics there too. So either way, we walked the whole way!
We both are really glad we did this. In some ways it’s actually pretty reassuring that we CAN do something like this. 8 consecutive days of hiking for a total of 96 miles is not nothing. We’re pretty happy with ourselves. Time to start thinking of our next grand adventure. Grand Canyon rim to rim? Maybe. But first two full days of traveling home. Spending all day tomorrow (Thursday) training from Fort William to Glasgow, then switch trains and continue on to London. Spend the night again then catch a non-stop flight home to Phoenix. That will be all day Friday. I don’t think I’ll write about those travels, hopefully they’re really boring and give us a chance to just rest for a couple of days.
Thanks all for reading. Take care.
JIm