The West Highland Way: High Road vs Low Road - A Loch Lomond Adventure

West Island Way take the high path or the low path which one's better let's give you the pros and cons [Music] well good morning you find us here in River Denon and we're heading along a smoke station of the West Island Way to see if we can answer what is better the high path or the low [Music] foreign [Music] ER stats from April on this little section of the West Highland Way that splits off and you can take the high road or you could take the low road and we're gonna have a look and give you a bit of the pros and cons on both paths now the relive it's going to be a bit strange on the way back obviously it'll not be going in the right direction going the wrong way um but we're gonna walk along the low path today um and then we'll walk back up along the high path and give you a wee bit of information about both roots so join us as we head along this resection from River Denon alongside [Applause] at this point on the trail this is where you have to meet your decision you're either going down the hill on the low path or up the hill on the high path now I've done both John what was your impression of the the love path not great but we'll run out of daylight and I would run out of energy and well to love and all those things that are important so yeah maybe make sure you've got plenty of time if you're going to lower it yeah we kind of messed about a wee bit in German in the morning to get going and uh it put us here quite late in the evening so if you are planning on coming this far on your what would it be day two from driven you need to be along here quite sharpish to get the the camping spots that are closest on but we're gonna take you down the the low path uh let you see the sights down there and give you some pros and cons as we go right let's head down this low path [Music] so literally this must be one minute as you head down the hill and you've got this beautifully flat cracking little camping spot and it's just the the sign for coming off the trail is just up there um so yeah this is your your first spot to camper if you're here early enough it's a little bit away from the lock side but uh yeah if you're exhausted and you're ready for stopping maybe that could be your spot for the night so we'll just cut off the path again literally another 30 seconds down the hill and appears there's not yet there's another clear in here and another one over there so yeah just as you head off that path there's a four or five really good to be camping spots and just at the bottom of the hill there there are um there's a water source that you can use so yeah this wouldn't be a bad Wii Sport sadly for us when we walked we arrived here and these were all filled so we were snickered and I had to keep walking so yeah so that seems to be the key get here early and get one of these first five spots on the low path as you say in Scotland if you're no fast you're lost all right let's keep cracking on it okay we spots it's near the water side and again be great for camping on if you get here early enough so this is the beginning of the kind of slightly more difficult terrain that you're going to be encountering as you head along the bottom path here it's just a bit more undulating up and down path narrower every now and again you do get these spectacular reviews out onto the lock yeah so as John's saying these little spots like this where perfect it's one of these ones you could have stuck a tent on there but unfortunately there wasn't room for two tents so if you're coming with another person this is going to be something that will limit you as you head along this uh bottom route but if you're on your own ideal shove it in there you're right next to the lock side why should I leave someone behind and just go do the Top Gear thing leave a man behind yeah that's it right for crack on that's a big step [Applause] foreign so these are the Fantastic big camping spots that we kind of missed out on no matter if the last time again you're right beside the lock and plenty of species for two or three tents sadly for us we arrived way after use the jet ski in the background a we arrived way Afters it was time to be stopping and I missed out on Camp sports like that and we just had to keep going so yeah there's tons of camping down in this low path and they're all beside the lock hey it's just a matter of getting here early and bagging your spot so five Pros of heading along the low path just passed through our Denon number one on the bottom path you are gonna get some of the most cracking views out of Loch Lomond because you're down on the lock side so if you use it what you want the bottom parts for you number two if you're up for a challenge this is the path you want to take the top path is a bit more straightforward this one's a bit more technical so if you like your challenging walking take the low path number three come in the bottom path and you're more likely to see some of the wildlife the path along the side of Loch Lomond has some very large black wild goats which if we see them later on we'll film them for you so you're more likely to see them if you come on the bottom path number four at the end of a Long Day's hiking if it's warm enough if you're into your wild swimming you're going to be down at the Lock you can go in for a wild swim get yourself out get something cozy you drink there's another advantage to being down at Lower Side number five if you're heading to the Red Coach bothi and that's where you're staying um if you come on the low path you're going to be walking right past it High path you're gonna have to double back on yourself maybe not so easy to find ladies asked me to do the cons of the low path so let's start number one oh there's one it has glossies for me the challenge depending on the time of day The Challenge might not be something you're after I know I wasn't number two uh not sure but I think you might find more veggies down near the water uh not the time we came we came in April and we did that before the images came out but depending on when you're doing the Westfield and we you might get lots of edges at the water number three we're showing you the camping spots available but if you can find one great but that might be one of the things you'd run into that just camping spots are limited so you need to be quick number four uh similar to a pro again if you like wildlife you might see the big massive horned goats uh but the downside to that is when we were wild camping in the middle of the night I heard something moving outside the tent and I just assume coordinate go up to go to the toilet but then I heard them snorting and I was too terrified to look how you see the tent I think it was one of those big goats so yeah that's maybe a negative if you don't like uh being rudely awoken during the night and number five depending on the time of year that you do this as well you might find that you're competing with not hikers but people fishing or people on jet skis and stuff where you know just taking up space that maybe could have been used for hikers so yeah something aware of if you go the high path you wouldn't have that problem now west we're out here doing this kind of pros and cons video for you today it's worth keeping in mind we're out here with day packs on and if you're camping along this route you'll be carrying all your gear because there is no drop-off point between Riverdale and Embers need so you know it's easier with a deep pack on um the physical exertion is different and we are doing obviously in September at the minute and I always tend to choose April or October from a long distance hikes just because Midge is for me can ruin a trip so again we've given you 10 pros and cons but there's there's a longer list than that all right we're gonna stop for something to drink because it is rather humid at the minute so this is the spot we found our cell phone at the end of day two and now the benefits of being here are you're only about half an hour from the road coach bothy just down the hill that we've just come across the bridge there is uh a little stream which isn't running very fast at the minute but it's the summer time so yeah there's everything here you need if you're coming on the bottom path and I say we the the benefit of being here was tomorrow was going to be much much shorter so yeah if you're coming along this is probably your last little camping spot before you reach the raucoupy yeah the only caveat to that is that that path there we don't think is man-made I think that's the goats coming down and I think that's why I got came down between our tent and uh we're sniffing about my tent in the middle of the night so just be aware of that plus this is our cameras but so don't stay here oh so at this time of year the berries are just starting to ripen up quite nice so if you're lucky enough and the goats haven't eaten them all yeah have a Hugo at them did not have any exhaust fumes on them so if you're looking at a map and you're coming along the high path you might welcome down this road here um if you're heading around couch certainly you'll probably want to come down this path because it'll see if you haven't double back on yourself as you come along um once you're down you're looking for your West Island Way sign you're next to these big colorful trees and you're heading along and you'll only be another 20 minutes to Route couch so yeah there we go so if you're a high path person but you're staying at the Rock House birthday head down the track head along this way and you'll be there in about 20 minutes [Applause] so here we are we're at the road coach body now I've never been tempted to sleep or stop um if it's your thing great enjoy it embrace it um I like to be zipped in away from the bugs and the critters and from what I understand the the mice and the pine Martens quite often head in here to see if there's any food being dropped on the floor and lying about and you hear the Scrabble and about in your packs in the middle of the night so um we're gonna have a real looking and let you see what it looks like in here um it's one of the cleaner both these I understand right let's take you around and show you inside so here you go oh that smells like a wood fire in here already or something that is yeah I might do that so anyway there's somewhere to say something for these these left some camping gas so if you're struggling for gas obviously somebody's seeded the big camping gas too much it was left out there for somebody to take so yeah there's a good stuff dropping on the tender maybe I don't know I don't think so I think there's something for all about in here if we can spot it I'll let you see it if we're quiet about gigantic like spiders look at the spider flaps yeah if you're afraid of spiders I've just finished seeing it's one of the cleaner both these if you're afraid of spiders this is Maybe not the place for you there's just loads of spider egg sacs everywhere um this is a hard pass yep ah maybe come in for a coffee if it was raining but I don't think that's the year overnight no okay this is the roku's body so this is your sleeping platform this is where you want to be sleeping but again yeah you're sharing this with the the animals that live around about oh look actually if you're breed you could be up on this platform up here not sure how you get up to that but there we go you can imagine this in a cold night been quite a welcome stop super it's not for me but uh and a blizzard and a blizzard and a horrible colder weather this you know could be a lifesaver out of pinch let's leave the route caution we're gonna head along to where the path joins on and uh yeah we're gonna show you along the high route we better close this door behind us I'm gonna go so that was the Roy coach Worthy um we're not far now until we get along to where the high road and the low road joined together um so we'll take you along there and then we're gonna give you the pros and cons of head in the high route now we're going to be doing it in reverse but hopefully you'll get the gist okay all right let's beat the enemy back just as well I remember um we were talking about the um if you're not into the stain in both these things then there are spots of grass just outside the road coach worthy where if that was kind of last gasp you could camp just outside of there and then you've also got obviously for cooking and the warmth of being in next to the fire before heading out to your own bed so yeah that's an alternative if you want to push on and make rokuish your end of day two okay [Applause] there we go that's us been along the low route it has taken us with filming about 2 hours and 20 minutes now that's when the lighter backpacks so if you're doing a heavier backpack it's going to be about roughly the same time because we've stopped to do a fair bit of filming um this is where the low path meets and we're gonna head and take you back along the higher route which is it's more of a country road than it is a path so yeah this is now the not the low part this is the high part of the West Highland Way in Reverse okay [Music] so we're just seeing that this path already it feels like a walk in your local Country Park uh we've got calendar Park obviously in Falkirk and the the roads up the back are very like this gentle inclines and maybe a little bit boring but uh again if you're on a time crunch then you know maybe this is a path for you anyway let's keep walking on so the high path Pros number one it's easier it's immeasurably easier than that low path so if uh you'll need to make time or you're just a bit bummed out then maybe this is a path for you number two because it passed a little bit open you're probably less likely to pick up a tick from a person Fern or something and you might get less midges up here just because you're farther away from the water so avoiding those little Mighty features number three uh you have the weather's a bit horrible then uh maybe you want to take the high road because it's a bit more sheltered up here there's more trees so if you're camping up here you'll definitely be protected a bit more from the elements and number four a similar one a number three in uh you're kind of a bit more away from the lock so it's definitely quieter up here uh I don't think you'll have as many people coming up this route either I think most of them tend to take the lower it uh but yeah you'll get peace and quiet up here as well you've kind of away from the noise of the lock and the road on the far side of the lock so you'll get a quite a night sleep up here and number five maybe a ten years one but if you've got a phobia I've been walking up by goats during the night then uh I think they tend to be down near the lock so yeah if you want to avoid big massive Longhorn ghosts coming in your tent in the middle of the night and maybe come up this way [Applause] you do see things like magical Leafs that are just spendied in Media at some sort of Paul Daniels magic trick so we're just seeing the high path here has lots of these little grass verges where you could stick a tin or in the case of the bit just further down there multiple tents so if you're coming in a group you know this is going to give you many options for group camping where you can all be in a big route together right so here are the downside the cons of coming up on the top path number one it's boring it's really boring you're walking through trees now you have trees are your thing great it's not mine and you've got absolutely zero view the lock you're walking along local I'm inside why wouldn't you want to be next to the lock uh number two we've seen loads of camping spots in that bottom route I think because it's more popular um we've seen less camping spots in the first 10 minutes along this route than we had during the first 10 minutes of the other route so again I'm saying first ten it'll be the last 10 for this section but yeah number two would be I think there's less camping spots up here than there are down the bottom number three if you like to go for a a dip at the end of the day while still enjoy your thing you're going to have a long walk down to the lock side so if you want to do the whale swimming thing that's a con for coming on the top route go the bottom route corn number four is fresh water now my advice would be Philip at Robert Denon when you get to the inverse Nate Hotel fill up your bottles there but if you're staying overnight and you're looking for teas and coffees or water to borrow your meals at night um we haven't seen a single stream so far that's running it could be that's the time of year but again I don't remember there'd been too many streams with water that I would have been happily drinking out of so lack of fresh water on the top route is my con number four corn number five last one I come on this Trail uh and part of what I enjoy about it is meeting other people from all over the world they're reckon about 36 000 people do this Trail every year um if you enjoy meeting people and chatting to other hikers who are having a similar to experience to you along the way don't come on the high path it's a lot quieter most people I think opt to do the low route um so if you want to meet people don't come on the high route call number five now one of the things about coming on the the high path is you'll get glimpses every now and again out through the trees but one place that is a good view is down at the little view platform which is just down here which we're going to take you down and show you there's a group of people just coming up from our left here so we'll show you that quickly before they arrive okay so sadly the bench is in Better Days so back in 2022 when I did this the West Talent week for well it would have been the second time we're completing it for the first time and this was the spot that I camped on on the high path it's beautifully flat and it's literally right next to the trail so it's just up the hill from where it Forks off so if you're looking for an early place to camp and you're heading along the hike path if you're lucky enough to get in here first and you're on your own there we go okay let's head back down the hill so there we go that's the High path finish we've done it in reverse order if you like and it's taken an hour and five minutes to walk back along that way so yeah if you times like a crunch get on the high path it's easier you'll get there faster but I think you'll see from what we've said there are pros and cons some of our Pros will be your cons some of our cons will be your Pros again it depends on what you're looking for out of your trip anyway I hope this has been useful um the next trip quite possibly will be the cataran trail which John and I will be doing in October so until then go and create your own adventures and we'll see you on the next one [Music]

Channel: Red Man Walking

Views: 7,667

Keywords: hiking adventures, scenic trails, west highland way, explore scotland, hiking scotland, Scottish highlands, adventure travel, backpacking journey, long distance hiking, camping life, solo hiking, hiking preparation, hiking tips, hiking vlogs, hiking routes, hiking trips, Scotland Hikes, West Highland Way, The West Highland Way, West Highland Way Hints and tips

Id: gbq9Cm91K2A

Length: 30min 21sec (1821 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 11 2023