West Highland Way
Map of the trail
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Maps courtesy of Google Maps. Route for indicative purposes only, and may have been plotted after the walk. Please send me have comments you may have on what you think of this new format. |
List of legs
| Leg | Distance (miles) | Ascent (feet) | Descent (feet) | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milngavie to Drymen | 12.2 | 1109 | 1083 | medium |
| Drymen to Balmaha | 7.2 | 1076 | 1076 | hard |
| Balmaha to Rowardennan | 7.7 | 1352 | 1319 | medium |
| Rowardennan to Inversnaid | 7.5 | 2067 | 2106 | medium |
| Inversnaid to Inverarnan | 6.8 | 1677 | 1644 | strenuous |
| Inverarnan to Crianlarich | 6.1 | 1368 | 600 | medium |
| Crianlarich to Tyndrum | 6.5 | 958 | 1004 | easy |
| Tyndrum to Bridge of Orchy | 6.5 | 643 | 866 | easy |
| Bridge of Orchy to Kings House Hotel | 12.3 | 1788 | 1545 | medium |
| Kings House Hotel to Kinlochleven | 9.1 | 1611 | 2379 | hard |
| Kinlochleven to Fort William | 15.6 | 2753 | 2762 | hard |
| 97.5 | 16402 | 16384 |
Further information (books)
The following books detail the West Highland Way.
Further information (websites)
The following websites detail the trail:- John Armistead's account of the walk - www.johndarm.clara.net
- AdventureJournal's excellent account of the walk, including a climb up Ben Nevis via the Carn Mor Dearg Arete. - www.adventurejournal.com
- John Butler's account of the trail. - www.jbutler.org.uk
- Walking Highland's useful website about the trail. - www.walkhighlands.co.uk
- Wikipedia's page about the trail. - en.wikipedia.org
Transport
Milngavie has easy access by train from the centre of Glasgow; trains run on a rough hourly schedule during the day. It is also served by bus services from around the local area.
Fort William also has a railway station that has three trains a day back to Glasgow. Some coach services also head back to the city.
There are several other railway stations either on or near the trail, especially in the middle of the trail (e.g. Crianlarich or Bridge of Orchy). Bus services are more frequent along the main roads that criss-cross the Highlands.
Traveline Scotland is an excellent resource for planning public transport journeys.
Map information
1:25,000 maps
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| Explorer 342 (Glasgow) | Explorer 348 (Campsie Fells) | Explorer 347 (Loch Lomond South) | Explorer 364 (Loch Lomond North) | ||||
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| Explorer 377 (Loch Etive & Glen Orchy, Dalmally, Tyndrum, Bridge of Orchy & Taynuilt) | Explorer 384 (Glen Coe & Glen Etive) | Explorer 392 (Ben Nevis and Fort William, The Mamores and The Grey Corries, Kinlochleven and Spean Bridge) |
1:50,000 maps
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| Landranger 64 (Glasgow, Motherwell & Airdrie) | Landranger 57 (Stirling & The Trossachs) | Landranger 56 (Loch Lomond & Inveraray) | Landranger 50 (Glen Orchy & Loch Etive) | ||||
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| Landranger 41 (Ben Nevis, Fort William & Glen Coe) |
Suggested schedules
The following schedules are advisory. They indicate various ways that the trail can be split up into walks of several lengths, with convenient end-points for each day's walk.
Naturally, you may want to alter this according to whether you are staying in B&B's, hostels, camping or are doing the walk in sections and are relying on public transport. Your own walk will probably vary from the itineraries shown below.
| Night | Leisurely | Good | Fast | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place | Distance (m) | Place | Distance (m) | Place | Distance (m) | |||||
| 0 | Milngavie | Milngavie | Milngavie | |||||||
| 1 | Drymen | 12.2 | Balmaha | 19.4 | Balmaha | 19.4 | ||||
| 2 | Rowardennan | 14.9 | Inversnaid | 15.2 | Inverarnan | 22 | ||||
| 3 | Inverarnan | 14.3 | Crianlarich | 12.9 | Bridge of Orchy | 19.1 | ||||
| 4 | Tyndrum | 12.6 | Bridge of Orchy | 13 | Kinlochleven | 21.4 | ||||
| 5 | Bridge of Orchy | 6.5 | Kinlochleven | 21.4 | Fort William | 15.6 | ||||
| 6 | Kings House Hotel | 12.3 | Fort William | 15.6 | ||||||
| 7 | Kinlochleven | 9.1 | ||||||||
| 8 | Fort William | 15.6 | ||||||||
The West Highland Way is a trail that deserves to be taken slowly; there are plenty of things of interest to be seen on the way. Many people choose to climb Ben Lomond from Rowardennan, and there are several other Munros near the trail that can be climbed. As always, pick a schedule that will allow you to enjoy yourself and get the most out of this wonderful trail.
Tourist Information
The West Highland Way is well served by tourist information offices. As it starts near Scotland's biggest city and ends at one of the largest towns on the western coast, the trailheads both have large tourist information offices. Tourist information for the trail can be obtained from the following places:
- Glasgow Tourist Information Centre (www.seeglasgow.com)
- Milngavie Visitor's Centre (15 Douglas Street, Milngavie, G62 6PA; tel: 0141 9561569)
- Balmaha National Park Centre (Balmaha, G63 0JQ ; tel: 01360 870470)
- Tyndrum Tourist Information Centre (Main Street, Tyndrum; tel: 0870 720062)
- Glen Nevis Visitor's Centre (Glen Nevis, Fort William, PH33 6PF; tel: 07557 197675)
- Fort William Tourist Information Centre (15 High Street, Fort William, PH33 6DH; tel: 0845 2255121)
When to walk
People generally consider two factors when choosing when to walk the trail. The first is the obvious one: weather. Although the trail is not especially hard, parts are remote and high. For this reason walking the trail in winter should only be considered by the experienced and well-prepared. Additionally some accommodation closes over the winter period.
The months of April, May and June tend to have the lowest rainfall, the amount slowly increasing from June to reach a maximum in December. July and August tend to be the warmest months, and January and February the coldest.
The second factor are midges. Parts of the trail are infamous for the way they suffer from midge attacks. The midge season tends to last from April to September, with the largest numbers occurring between June and August, although this varies according to the weather. Although the nuisance caused by midges can be overstated, they can easily ruin the walk for the unprepared, especially if the walker is spending the nights under canvas. For this reason many people choose to walk the trail in April, May and September to avoid the worst of the midges.
The Scottish Midge Forecast provides not only information on what parts of Scotland are currently plagued by the wee beasties, but also some good facts about them.
At the height of the season (especially during May) be prepared to book your accommodation many weeks in advance, especially if relying on B&B's or hotels. Obviously these restrictions are lessened if camping, and especially if you are willing to wild camp.