The West Highland Way, Seven Days in May

this is nogai this train terminates here please ensure that you take your luggage and personal belongings with you when leaving the train I've just arrived at malgai to do the West Island way it's a couple of years since I took this on wasn't very successful um had to get rescued after taking a little bit of sunstroke so this time I'm doing it in seven days I'm using campsites and hopefully that strategy will work so here I am for seven days in May on the West Island Way here I go it's customary to touch the Obelisk at the start of the 96 mile walk from malgai to Fort William and who am I to break with tradition as I set off it's looking all too familiar because actually it was just one year since I took on this walk and failed miserably and that's why I'm feeling more determined than ever to make it to the end as I pass the poster on the trail I'm looking forward to the seven days ahead [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] I've decided to take a slightly different approach this time to doing the West Highland Way the last time the plan was just to stop when I got tired and just wild camp on the spot however it didn't quite work out for me um I did get that bit of sunstroke and had to get Trish to come out and pick me up this time I definitely want to do it I don't want to make the same mistake again so I've decided this time I'm going to do over seven days and I'm going to stay at campsites so these campsites I've pre-booked them all so the benefit of that is that I know I've definitely got somewhere to pet shop tonight and I'll be able to have a shower which is absolutely wonderful hello you've got a stick and the thought of having a shower after a Long Day's walk really appeals to me actually and I'll probably be somewhere to have something to eat at most of these places too the downside of course is that you're taking the risk on the weather it's all booked so if it's torrential rain then you've just gotta go you just go and you get wet uh and that's not much fun so I'm really hoping that I get the good weather and so far I've been really lucky but I'm only half an hour in oh good boy and normally I've got some treats but I don't have any today because I'm out doing this walk [Music] the walk through mug duck Woods leads to Craig Allen long I can't help feeling that the trail is Breaking Me In gently [Music] thank you [Music] I've arrived at the Beech Tree Restaurant and Cafe Bar the entrance is on the main road and as I enter the soup toasty and Cake deal for a tenor catches my eye so that's what I have but I don't hang about as I'm Keen to move on further on there's this honesty box I have a quick look but I'm not tempted as it's not long since my lunch a bit more walking and I arrive at gartness there's a few more miles of road walking before I arrive at Drummond camping that's me at German campsite arrived here about three o'clock and just got pitched up straight away it's quite a busy little place lots of single man tents here and yeah really really quite busy I'm actually in the barn at the moment having something for my dinner it's about five o'clock so I'm having this pasta Bolognese you just basically pour some boiling water into the bag give it a good old stir and then pretty much tuck into it so I'm gonna have this and then I'm gonna have coffee cereal bar I think that'll be me for tonight it's morning and I've just left German campsite now I'm feeling decided a little later this morning and the reason for that is I've decided to use a baggage transfer service to take my big rucksack the rest of the way and they'll drop it off at each of the campsites that I'm going to and the reason I did decide that was the park was weighing in at about 14 15 kilograms and I think I'll just enjoy the walk a lot more uh at first I thought well it's a little bit of a cheat but then I was having breakfast this morning and then our four guys sitting there and you know that's we're all doing it every single one of us have decided to go for the baggage transfer service it makes a lot of sense I'll enjoy the walking off a lot more anyway today I've got 12 miles I'm heading to car show campsite on the banks of Loch Lomond via conical [Music] I'm coming up to conic Health which is two and a half miles in length and 350 meters in height doesn't sound a lot but after walking all this way I know it's going to be tough steps up are steep they take me to the point where you can choose to go up to the summit I decide to go for it and start the ascent to the top the higher I get the trail gets narrower and narrower and at some points it's only as wide as a single boot foreign I didn't manage to get to the top the last time I went over conic Hill so I'm looking forward to reaching the summit the view from the top doesn't disappoint there are several humps on this hill and the end one promises to give the best views so I start making my way down towards it the best views of Loch Lomond are from here the trail on the way down is extremely steep this section of the trail is closed and there's a diversion in place while they relay some of the trail the last time that I did this path it was absolutely treacherous it was really really big drops really quite dangerous in points yet to be very very careful now they've put this fantastic path in not quite finished yet obviously but can imagine the work that's been put in to get it to this stage the last part of the descent is through the welcome shade of a woodland which takes me to balmaha and lunch at the Oak Tree Inn for a bowl of Cullen skank that's a Scottish soup made with smoked haddock after lunch I head through the Tom Weir Memorial Garden Tom was a famous Scottish Explorer writer and TV presenter then a quick look over the bay before pressing on to Casual campsite that's me I'm all pitched up as you can see in the background and I'm just having a lot of coffee to keep me going because it's only four o'clock not quite time for me to cook up yet it was quite a tough one today and particularly going over the top iconic hell but if I think that was tough tomorrow no that's going to be a challenge I've got 20 miles today and everyone says this is the toughest stretch along Loch Lomond so tomorrow it's the morning of day three today and it's Cashel campsite to Ben glass Farm campsite right the way along Loch Lomond it's going to be a 20 Miler for me so it's going to be I think the toughest day that I'm going to have on this walk certainly in terms of mileage but also I believe it is meant to be pretty tough stretch as well along Loch Lomond so it's quite an early start because I'm going to need as many hours as I can get it's a very pleasant and easy going start to the walk on day three through Woodland and shorefront taking me to the youth hostel at rohardenin this is also where you can start a walk up Ben Lomond which is a fantastic walk but I'm not going to do it it's a too much of an Excursion for me when I'm on the west highland way however I did do it last year with my daughter Gemma we wanted to do something before she headed off to Australia so that's what we did we picked a great day for it and off we went up Ben Lomond it's a lovely path all the way up there's lots of Scenic spots to stop and admire the views and we remember we had lunch at the top and just spent some time together right going there did it high five and coming down the other side you come down the tarmigan ridge you can come down the same way that you went up but we decided to go down the tarmigan ridge which was a little bit more tricky some Jagged rocks but worth it definitely worth it taking that route for us it was all about making some memories before Gemma headed off uh talking of which I'd really better head off I've not got all day to do this and I've got all the way to Ben glass to go ah this is the war memorial let's have a look there's a little fork in the trail here and it's a decision point which way to go either you go the really difficult route which is down that way along the banks of the lock or you take this way the top Road which isn't quite as difficult uh still challenging all the same either way it takes you to inverse nade and that's my next stop the trees are a lot thicker here a lot denser and it's a bit dark and I haven't seen anyone for a long time actually just me collecting my thoughts oh me and a beetle there was a beetle and I'm hoping the inverse nade is going to be coming up soon because I'm really tired it's a lot further than I thought it was going to be I'm still floating away it's about 20 past 12. hopefully I'll get in time for lunch wow now here's something to see that I can just get over this little burn a huge sea of Scottish bluebells wow look at that they're absolutely at their best in my engine ered at last there's the falls and there's the hotel over there huge place hopefully they can fit me in well that was inverse needs and I've had my lunch and jolly nice it was too I had a KitKat a pack of crisps and a lemon drizzle cake are you jealous all washed down with a painted cider they stopped serving at half past too what time do I walk through the door 240 actually 239 I don't know anyway next stop is band glass I think I've got about seven or eight miles to go and this is going to be really tough I know it is it's very very Rocky so I'm thinking about I'm gonna have to use two hands right so with these things and just be very very careful so I will take some shots on the way and when I get to Ben glass I'll sit down and I'll tell you all about it and this is Ben glass campsite and we will place it as but I didn't sleep there last night I slept here yes you guessed it it's actually the next morning wow walking along Loch Lomond yesterday it was quite something else tell you about that in a second but have a look at this little Hut now I booked this up way way in advance a few months ago because I knew it was going to be such a tough walk that I quite fancied a little treat so here I am in this little Hut my head was great last night I'm not tidied up yet you only excuse the mess oh look at that um and I slept like a log in there it was absolutely brilliant so it was so yesterday I had quite a day of walking I was up at 7 30 in the morning and I didn't actually get into here then glass until five past eight in the evening so that was really quite a lot of walking for me the trail was very Rocky and the further that you got into it you realized this is not going to change this is going to be like this all the way and it was large rocks that you're actually walking on quite sore on your feet after a while there were some very large impressive Rock faces that you had to walk past and I really enjoyed those bits and then the trail took me down to the very edge of Loch Lomond and you just had to be careful that you didn't get your feet wet or slip into the log and there was lots of ups and downs on that path and sometimes you'd come to bets where the path would just seem to Fall Away in front of you and you'd look down and think how am I going to get down there you just have to look and select the stones that you're going to stand on and just be very very careful as you went down there was Bridges and there was ladders to go up one ladder in particular very Steep and I thought about filming myself going up there I thought no no thankfully a couple of guys came down so I filmed them just to let you see how steep it is you are we both are there as long as my battery holds out I take it easy on that I was born in the vertical uh good for you good for you cheers and some bits were really quite a squeeze to get through right that's me leaving Ben glass I had a fantastic stay here really really good highly recommend Ben glass Farm campsite well I stayed in last night I treated myself to Burger and chips in the bar there was great live music going on I didn't stay there for that long though I just had something to eat and then I went to my bed crashed out and dropped my bag off at the baggage pickup point I'll tell you the best 65 pounds that I have ever spent ever so much better to be just carrying this little bag and today the path is taking me quite gently onto this stretch of the West Highland Way and I'm going to be doing 13 miles today from Ben glass all the way to tindrome [Music] thank you [Music] I'm now past halfway on the West Island Way which was just back there at the cutoff for Crane Lara I stopped there to have a spot of lunch it was actually an extension of breakfast because at breakfast time I'd ordered two breakfast rolls with square sliced sausage and I could only manage one of them so decided to pop the other one into my bag and have it for my lunch and okay it was cold but still good you've got to come to Scotland to get square sliced sausage I'm gonna do it here the next part of the trail takes me through woodlands and I just love these bits being among the trees with just the sound of the birds chirping away to keep me company thank you the trail follows a stream that takes me below an Old Railway Bridge with some impressive arches then a wooden bridge over the river Finland and the tindrome community Woodland is the start of a short walk into tundrum I've arrived in tendrum and I'm at my campsite for tonight it's the by the way campsite and youth hostel and guess what I'm treating myself to another cabin tonight yeah I am well the thing is Trish and I had originally booked this up as a campervan stop Trisha was going to meet me here and I was going to have a night in the camper van obviously can't do that now we've sold the camper van so decided to swap it for a little cabin why not you wanna have a look come on then here it is camping cabin number three there we are double beds two twin beds single occupancy and that's me and I'm actually looking quite organized for a change so I am so that'll do me for tonight I'm sure tomorrow it's from here tindrome I'm going all the way up to Glencoe so the drama of all these Mountain starts tomorrow looking forward to it day five and it's Tin Drum to glencore today now this walk is 20 miles I actually made a mistake when I was talking about the Loch Lomond walk I was saying oh this is a 20 miler if it wasn't a 20 mile it was a mere 17 and a half miles a mere 17 and a half miles today definitely is 20 miles and it's going to take me over ranakamur the largest expanse of nothingness in the UK other than a mirror of course and apparently it's quite hard going on your feet so all that's to come plus it's been chucking it down all night so I've got the full set of waterproofs on today it's never Pleasant walking in waterproofs I it's great who you meet when you're doing this walk in the West Island Way I just made a couple of lost Mexicans I think they must have taken a wrong turn this is Luis and Eduardo hello yeah they've come here all the way from Mexico and we've been walking for a little bit of a while you're enjoying the walk so far guys I love lovely place nice to meet we love Brown you love the wee Brown van we like that band we like being here and you're enjoying Scotland so far we love it we love it that's good well maybe I'll catch you guys again on the trail a little bit later all right enjoy your walk enjoy your walk yeah it's fantastic you know the different people that you actually meet when you're out on this trail from all over the world that's the first couple of guys I've met from Mexico I have to say so I'm a little bit late in starting I headed off at eight o'clock because I decided to uh pop in for something to eat at The Real Food Cafe is there any other type of food pretend food maybe but anyway it was good I had a bacon roll and a cup of coffee and I thought that'll set me up for the day so the walk starts off from tyndrum just past the green Welly stop but I didn't go in there it's a bit of a tourist trap to be honest and yeah about 20 miles to go all the way up to Glencoe so far it's very very muggy no rain on us yet and I'm hoping it stays that way this is quite a steep Rocky bet so I need to be careful and the walk is going to take me underneath the railway plenty of Headroom at least well I decided to take off my waterproof jacket because it can get a little bit sweaty in there so if it's not raining it's best to take it off it's in my bag at the top ready to just grab at a moment's notice if the rain comes back on although it's very very Misty at the moment there's no sign of it yeah I'm doing this work on my own but a lot of people like to do it in grips for the companionship and encouragement that you might need from time to time I'm just coming in now to the bridge of orky [Applause] you have to cross a busy road here wish that was me getting away the bridge of orchid Hotel a lot of people stop here for a break but it's a bit too early for me so I'm going to go on a bet for another few miles I'm sure there's another hotel where I can stop there's a small hill here with a cairn and I'm gonna claim the top stone for a short time at least before taking in the views overlocktulla then it's onward over ranakhmur to the Inver Aaron Hotel brought some sandwiches and I've just bought this and this in the Wii shop there here in verandan because the bar's not open yet it doesn't open until two o'clock and as it happens it has actually turned out really humid now so I stopped a while back and I managed to get my waterproof trousers off so I found somewhere to sit down just on a log and got these off and hopefully now there'll be a little bit of more room in my bag now I've eaten this lunch and I'll be able to get this jacket off and get it into the bag and that'll be for the second half of this walk because I'm about halfway now so I'll have this and then I'll be getting back on the trail but not before I get smudged up I find that smidge is the best thing to fend off the wee beasties it's turned out to be very humid today and it feels good to be walking without a jacket on this is the old cattle Drovers Road to Glencoe and the date much has changed since the old cattle Drovers would bring their cattle down from the north down to the markets in the south the road certainly looks like it's not changed last night's puddles are starting to be topped up but I decide to plod on without putting on my waterproofs it's actually quite good having a few cool drips raining down having been so humid when the wind picks up I decide to put the waterproofs on after all because it looks like heavier rain is coming my way but it doesn't and shortly after the waterproofs are coming off again this would be a great little wild camping spot they're pretty few and far between once you get onto ranakamur really not many places like this but this is ideal but no for me I'm going on to the campsite at Glencoe I have a drink of water before I go my feet are reluctant to get on that trail again because I have another few hours of this before I arrive at Glencoe here I am I'm at Glencoe and I'm in a little hobbit Hut I could hardly stand when I arrived so I managed to get one thankfully there was a cancellation so I've had something to eat I'm going to hit the showers very shortly too and that'll do me nicely for tonight and I'm having an early night it's 7 A.M next morning and there's clear views over Glencoe I head up to the restaurant which is more like a canteen actually for breakfast it's closed and doesn't open until 8 A.M so plan B hot fitted down the road half a mile to King's House hotel for breakfast the trail goes past there anyway inside I have a breakfast draw which has just about everything on it before checking the map of the Walk ahead well that was very nice enjoyed that and I've only got eight and a half miles today from here at King's house to kinlochleeven it does however take in the infamous Devil's staircase it's a flat and easy walk from King's house it feels like the trail is giving me a bit of a break before I need to take on the devil's staircase from here there are superb views of booklet of more the iconic Mountain that guards the entrance to Glenco two posts Mark the start of the devil's staircase and straight away I can tell it's going to be a steep walk but I'm still feeling fresh and glad to be doing this stretch in the morning betrayal twists and turns up the slope in a zigzag fashion and there's rocks and chunky gravel underfoot and I'm glad to have my walking poles with me foreign staircase will take me to the highest point on the West Highland Way at 259 meters I've reached the top and once again stake my claim as the top Stone on the cairn then I start the long descent to kinlochleeven the first part of the descent is by far the best with glorious views over the memoir's range of mountains Trail becomes a wide gravel road for the Industrial Vehicles associated with the dam and the six huge water pipes that run all the way down the hill to the hydroelectric plant at kinloch Levin it may not look all that attractive but it's an environmentally friendly way of producing electricity and that's the main thing as I come into kinlochle even I pass these colorful camping huts and for a moment I'm tempted but no I walk into the village which is a popular tourist destination and then I head over the river leaving to where I'll be sleeping tonight but before I get there I spot a right Little Gnome from gnome how long did it take you to amass this lot it must have been yeah I love it this will do me the McDonald's will tell it looks very nice indeed but I'm camping in the hotel grounds for tonight I've arrived early so I picked the best pitch and when I'm all pitched up I think the Weber intent looks inviting and cozy I should sleep well that's me leaving kinloch leaving on day seven of the West Highland Way so it's kind of look leaving all the way to Fort William now when I get there I'm going to meet up with Trish and Kira and we're going to be staying in a little Hut at Glen Nevis campsite so that should be fun looking forward to this day's 15 miles to Fort William um a bit later starting than I wanted to be it's about 20 past nine um but I wanted to have some breakfast so I had some breakfast which was nice A little bit stingy perhaps just one of everything but I felt like I needed a bit of breakfast there the good night's sleep the veggies were really bad this morning they were trying to get in my tent something terrible so I had to basically put on my clothes and everything on pack up inside the tent and then just quickly grab the tent put it into the bag before the Magic's got me right enough blathering I need to get on with this walk [Music] [Applause] [Music] I come to a little Woodland clearing and it's a good spot for lunch and it's another extension of breakfast from the hotel toasted marmalade sandwiches Paddington Bear would be proud of me I'm sure [Music] I've caught up again with Louise and Eduardo from Mexico and we walked together for a while oh foreign [Music] where the views are dominated by the mighty Ben Nevis or at least they would be on a clear day today its head is in the clouds but an impressive sight all the same [Music] I should shortly be coming into Fort William that was hard work the gravel well I say gravel the rocks that they'd put down were very sore on my feet honestly felt like they were tearing my feet to shreds the soles of my feet but this is definitely a little bit more like it and it should be in Fort William very shortly we've arrived at the original end of the West Highland Way they moved it to the center of the town in 2010 but then at last congratulations remind me the sore feet all right I know exactly how he feels we made it you must lower down your knee foreign [Laughter] have their photos at the man with a sore feet and there we are The Three Amigos [Music] trash picked me up from the end of that walk and very relieved I was too we've been for something to eat and now we're going to stay in a little pod at Glen Nevis and here it is quite funky looking thing don't you think Hmm funky little pod I like the shape I like the wood what I didn't like was the price 135 pounds for one night in a cabin and what is effectively a shed so let's see what is 135 pounds get you and Glenn Nevis oh actually it looks rather nice go on then give us the tour I'll put the lights on so we can see you still think I know how to do that there we go there we go look at that hey come on all right well there's the heating underfloor heating very nice oh look at this well I'm kind of starting to see why it's 135 pounds I still think it's a bit steep but and today boys and girls we're going through the round window but yeah 135 pounds thing is it's a very very popular place and lots of Walkers obviously terminate the walk here and this is where they come so they're busy they're busy they're busy and people are paying it oh we're paying it so I'm not getting away with it right Kira yeah same to wrap it up you're going to say goodbye to everybody well I guess it's up to me to do that I hope you've enjoyed watching my adventure on the west highland way we're gonna do again ask me in another couple of weeks [Music]

Channel: Wee Broon Van

Views: 8,219

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Id: stUnN9QCuLE

Length: 39min 11sec (2351 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 09 2023