The West Highland Way - 10 Mistakes I Made

are you thinking about doing the way say one way perhaps you're already planning your hake hopefully this video will be of some help to you [Music] on the 9th of September runway 3-4 weeks ago I say on the West Halen way now if you've watched my videos you already know that I was unfortunately unable to complete the hake happen to call it quits three days and due to injury so what went wrong well the West hang on we should be a simple enough Destin take to complete but make enough mistakes and that simple hake can quickly turn into a nightmare here are 10 mistakes that I made that ruined my West hey Landry Adventure your pack is your life when you're doing any sort of Destin sake so having it ready to go before your journey begins as Veysel now I had planned to travel with my Osprey Kestrel and dead have all packed and ready to go the night before the hake when I was double checking my gear and I stacked the clip on the waist belt had completely snapped and instead of going to bed at the time I had planned I was frantically trying to unpack the Kestrel and stuff everything and - an alternative pack the pack of wars forced to use was a cheap pack I've owned for years not suitable for purpose to be honest not only that but it resulted in me getting insufficient sleep and sitting know a much weight of time then attended the rest Halen way is so well same posted that once you've set off you can pretty much complete the whole journey without ever having to look at a gate map or compass having said that law knowing exact distances and the difficulty of the Tyrian and the obstacles you're covering every day as crucial idea for I made this mistake that's for sure on day one I had planned to walk around 20 miles finishing accounts a cluster bomb aha I didn't think to take into account how difficult it would be to tackle chronic hell after I had already walked close to 17 miles not only that but once I had scaled it and then descended I realized I had must calculated the distance to salariki campsite I thought it was around a Mayo's trek from Bal maja but it turned out to be four and a half miles away an acceptable distance are suppose to walk if you're fresh but a very defeating distance when you're exhausted have already walked 20 odd males and just want to collapse into your ten for the night which leads me nicely and to mistake number three know your limits people if you're not an experienced hiker then the last thing you should do is overburden yourself keep your daily meals to a comfortable level and don't overload your pack with unnecessary weight be realistic stupid male ego was one of my major downfalls during my field take I decided to walk from moguy to ember Allen and first two days that's roughly 40 to 45 miles not only that but I thought I'd be able to carry our weight of 18 point 5 kilos on my back the entire way I could have easily spaced the males out more efficiently I could have and should have packed much later at the time I knew I was possibly bacon off more than I could chew but I foolishly decided to do it anyway and I paid the price for it don't be a hero I mentioned it in the last point over packing almost all hiking experts recommend a fully loaded hiking backpack should never exceed 20% of your body weight anything over that is likely to cause injury particularly over long distances I currently weigh 13 and a half stored which is roughly 85.5 killers so the absolute maximum amount of weight I should have been carrying was 17.1 kilograms my pack stupidly weighed eighteen and a half kilos so what could I have done definitely well I could have packed less stuff for a star I brought too many clothes I brought a couple of unnecessary luxury items I packed too much foods which is completely pointless on the west Halon way when you consider the amount of sharps honestiy boxes pubs and restaurants that are along the route all these things just created extra weight another option would have been to bring lightweight alternatives to the gear I needed my tent we're done at 2.7 kilos my backpack at 2 kilos my sleeping bag at 2.1 killers they are lightweight alternatives to all these things and more although these can be expensive so it all depends on your budget finally the option a large number of people use as a courier service there are a number of companies know that will transport your bags for you from location to location meaning all you have to take with you during the day as a small day bike these companies are relatively cheap roughly 40 pounds for the fill West Halon way and are ideal if you don't want to carry all your gear from point to point so the buckle breaking on my backpack couldn't be avoided but another part of my gear field while I was on the West hailing me gear I should have tested the denim for the past year I've been walking and all sorts of weather with this jacket it's a wait wait waterproof Gila rain jacket and despite cost and very little it's never let me down despite having all sorts of weather through an attic no I should have stuck with this jacket but for some reason I thought I'd spend a bit extra on a bit of brand you know more expensive shoe to mean better quality well that's not always the case relying completely on face I packed away the new branded jacket and I with met the undie one when they're in was Li it kept me fairly dry but indeed Toobin heavens opened and it was about as waterproof as a tea bag I had got soaked the moral of the story I should have tested it before I left you're doing a lot of exercise so you will need a lot of water the West Haven Way has lots of places where you can buy bottles of water and handy taps where you can refill in fact if you can a filtration system like the soy or many filter here you can pretty much replenish your water wherever you want as there are so many streams and waterfall along the way that being said please be aware of the areas where water isn't so readily available is running out of drinking water as a serious issue this happened to me on Rick Taconic Hill I passed an honesty box selling bottled water and Retin above it were the works no more fresh water until bowel maja I chose to ignore her as I still had around 500 mils of water left and foolishly figure that that would last me I was completely wrong and ended up finishing that water a long before I even met it to the base of chronic hell next time I will be making sure to talk about my water every available chance I get this one goes without saying but so many of us have done it including myself blessed those are a pain literally and painful damage feet can really ruin the enjoyment of any hake if you feel a hot spot I peed in on your foot stop immediately I can't stress this enough stop immediately and treat it when I first started to feel blessed those Foreman I decided to keep plodding on until I got to my next designated stopping point I learned the hard way that was the wrong thing to do ouch things can and will go wrong on a Destin take routes can change you can feel and entries and illness can occur it helps to plan ahead for the four FS when it became apparent to me that I was developing a knee injury I was about four miles outside of ember state I decided the best thing to do would be to walk that distance and then catch a taxi from Emerson hotel to Enver Anna had I planned ahead I would have learned that that wasn't an option and I wouldn't have then had to hate a father name point five males over rough terrain to get to my destination was an Imagineer with every single step this lesson was a painful lesson to learn practice hates are extremely beneficial preparing for a Destin sake they gave you an opportunity to break a new boots and test new gear your body gets the experience the stresses that will have to endure muscles strengthen tendons and ligaments toughen up also gives you a chance to know your physical and mental capabilities your limits now I have experience with the number of day hikes and he'll walks around Scotland but in the run-up to the West Halon way I didn't practice Hakes with a heavy pack and I definitely wasn't covering the same long distances I plan to do when I was away we all love uptake and your phone can be a literal lifeline if you get into trouble if it runs out of power you can find yourself in serious difficulty with no way of contacting the outside world for help and I had originally planned to take this with me it's the hierarchy 25,000 solar-powered charging unit and although it's wonderful for charging tech items I decided to leave it open my package its weight it does reach 600 grams after all now what I should have done was pack a small charge and block but stupidly I forgot I know so at the end of day two and the port and Riaan a pitch blackness hobbling along on my nose seriously damaged knee and made my way along the 80222 Ben glass campsite only to find the bridge over the river phallic was shut off for repairs now had my form been charged I could have ruined the campsite explained my predicament and the kid have picked me up instead I was forced to horrible painfully along for a father of two and a quarter males over an alternative route of pitch-black roads deep mud and forest together all because I forgot to pack a charge and book don't leave home without it kids so there you have it lures will attend things that seriously handled me when I attempted the rest Halen we have you had any mishaps well doing the West Halen way or any Destin take for that matter what's the one piece of advice you give to people attempt in the West hail and we for the first time I personally would love to hear so please rate in the comment section below thanks for taking the time to watch this video and if you've enjoyed it or found it useful in some way I would really appreciate it if you would subscribe to the channel [Music] you

Channel: Ewan Goes Hiking

Views: 118,116

Keywords: hiking, walking, Outdoor, Backpacking, west highland way, scotland, loch lomond, glasgow, conic hill, balmaha, glen nevis, glen coe, ben nevis, camping, mountains, milngavie, dryman, rowardennan, inversnaid, inverarnan, crainlarich, inverardran, tyndrum, bridge of orchy, glencoe, kingshouse, devils staircase, kinlochleven, fort william, west highland way walk, walking the west highland way, thru hiking, dont do this, 10 Mistakes I Made, hiking mistakes, hiking tips, tips, hiking advice, beginners

Id: OtSCSgzE33s

Length: 12min 11sec (731 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 28 2019