Legs and Borders

First and unexpectedly very pleasant day on Cape Wrath Trail, I was psyching myself up for a tough ride (which will come soon enough, I know it) but today was a pleasant hike along Loch Lochy and I even managed to find a decently priced hostel to top it all up. In the morning I went to Morrisons to resupply for the next three days as according to my research there was no shops until mile 65 of CWT. I had a breakfast at McDonalds where I also repackaged my food and I went to the starting point of CWT which was also a starting point of Glens Way and numerous other trails as Fort William was famously a gateway to the Highlands. The trail ran along the canal, I've seen a steam train being prepped for a ride which looked really cool, massive clouds of steam was spitting up in the air. Path was easy if ever so slightly too even which made my feet ache quite quickly. Landscape along the loch was getting more and more remote and wild, other than few timber cutting trucks and bicycles, ther...

Early start, I was trying to reach Ben Nevis as quickly as possible and see if the conditions will be good enough to climb it. Twelve miles leading to the peak were fairly easy, I've stumbled upon an injured lamb along the trail but I couldn't help it in any significant way, so I only positioned it in more comfortable way (it was lying on it's head) and hoped someone else will be able to help it. I've reached Ben Nevis Information Centre at 10am, had a snack here and started a 3 hour difficult climb up the mountain, there was a lot of other people doing it, which was encouraging. Path was steep and uneven, long and unrelenting. At around 1pm I finally reached the snow covered top, I've taken few pictures and after few minutes started the descent which took me two hours. I arrived back at the information centre just after 3pm. From here I headed towards Fort William to officially finish the West Highland Way section of the trail, and around 4pm I arrived at the end m...

Best views on the entire trail so far, if the day wasn't so cloudy it would be even better. The section up to Bridge of Orchy was running along an old cobblestone road and the hotel there was a great stop for a morning cup of coffee. From here trail was going up and meandering between various hills, you could truly feel that you are in the Highlands now. I've had my lunch at Kingshouse Hotel and carried on through the valley with a magnificent Stob Dearg peak to the left, it would be perfect if not a busy road running right through the middle of the valley. I've reached the Devil's Staircase leading to the highest point on the trail at about 2pm, after switchbacking for half an hour and reaching the top the view opened up to reveal a vast landscape of mountains with a path winding right through it, it might have been my favourite view so far. From here it took about three hours to reach Kinlochleven, I was planning to stop and camp beforehand but there wasn't any op...

The rain stopped in the morning and I could wrap everything up, midges made my departure that much faster, they were so tiny that they were almost impossible to notice until it was too late, I was gathering quite a collection of red dots on my legs and arms. Trail was running along the Loch Lomond in a very up and down fashion, for the first part of the day but once the lake was over it steadily progressed up the hills. I've completely missed the Drovers Pub, several people has recommended me to go there, it was located at Inverarnan. Instead, I had very nice sausage and mash at a restaurant in Beinglas just around the corner without realising the Drivers Pub was nearby. The weather was holding up quite well, at about 3pm I've reached the middle marker of the West Highland Way at Crianlarich Crossroads, and soon after there was a farm with first highland cows on the trail! There was plenty of swifts doing their aerial acrobatics and the atmosphere was serene over here. At about...

Today I've said goodby to the canal and the good weather it seems, my first night on West Highland Way is on Loch Lomond. Last ten miles leading to the starting point of WHW in Milngavie, were mostly alongside golf courses and pastures. I've resupplied at a local Marks & Spencers and started the hike alongside many other people, it was a very busy trail. I didn't realize that you can only camp in designated spots on Loch Lomond and so I went to look for an accomodation but unfortunately everything has been booked, I finally found a spot at one of the campsites, it was raining heavily at that point and midges has made their first appearance. Campsite was very noisy, there was all sort of sounds coming from the lake and the road nearby and I would probably have not much sleep tonight, I only hoped that the rain would stop tomorrow.