UKC

I am off to walk the West Highland Way next month and was hoping for an update from a poster named waterfall (Adam), who was planning to do it over Easter, but their thread has now been archived.  Now I have started this one, is there anything worth sharing from your experiences that might help me and anyone else having a search - very useful information already on the old thread.

I also have further few questions.

The background is that we are two unfit middle aged blokes who don't really like slumming it any more, will not be doing too far each day, will more often than not want a bed and most of all would like a pub for a beer and a meal.  After the first week, my mate leaves me to finish off on my own and I'd like to go up a mountain or two whilst up that way.

The intended schedule is to drive up to Beinglas and leave the car in that area, getting the train or coach back into Glasgow.  Then the next day, train to Milngavie, walk to Drymen and have a hotel there for two nights.  Walk to Rowardennan, then hitch back to Drymen.  I am hoping to then persuade some nice person staying at the hotel who is walking up Ben Lomond to give us a lift back to Rowardennan in the morning.  Walk as far as Beinglas, where we have a camping hut booked for two nights.  The following day is walk to Bridge of Orchy and get the train back to Ardlui and return to Beinglas.  My friend then has to go home, leaving me to drive to the Glen Coe ski area, to leave the car and then get the coach back to Bridge of Orchy to walk that leg.  Knowing that I will then be knackered, I am having a rest day and heading down to Oban for two nights in a hotel and hope to spend some time on a deserted beach on the far side of Kerrera.  I have a work video meeting to do the next morning, then it is driving to Kinlochleven to set up my tent for two nights camping, getting the local bus to Glen Coe, then the coach to the Glen Coe ski area, before walking back to Kinlochleven.  I then fancy a day in the Mamores.  Last WHW day will start with taking the car to Fort William and getting the local bus back to Kinlochleven before doing the last leg of the trail.  I have a guest house room for another two nights as I want to finish off by nipping up Ben Nevis with my new found super fitness, hopefully around the Carn Mor Dearg Arete, then drop back down the tourist track.

Questions:

a) Is there a decent likelihood of being able to hitch back from Rowardennan to Drymen?

b) Are the coaches and local buses reliable?

c) Based on previous years, by 19th May, will there any need for me to have my crampons/axe for the rise up from CMD Arete up to the summit plateau or is it more likely to be big soft footsteps in a well trodden staircase?  From memory, I think I have only been up the Ben in winter (Number 2 gully & Tower Ridge), so crampons and axes were a no brainer.

d) Adam, were there the anticipated honesty boxes for flapjacks, etc, and what was the going rate?   Any you particularly recommend?

e) Adam, were the stream drinking points fine or did you spend 4 days vomiting?

Thanks for any advice and answers.  Yes I do know that it is a bit of a leisurely stroll type schedule rather than a hard core romp, but those days are over.  On Sunday afternoon's training walk I met a retired lady rowing the length of the Leeds Liverpool canal with her two dogs and felt a bit inadequate by comparison, but she was very encouraging, having grown up in Fort William and now living where I grew up.

Plenty of people to pick from if you're not too late in the day, but most will be tourists who may not be used to the hitching tradition. Strike up a chat in the car park or the hotel bar with someone who looks like a likely option?

Yes (unless the A82 is closed by an accident, as happens from time to time, in which case you are boned)

a) Should be fine, but unless you secure a lift the night before, probably best bet would be to get out onto the Balmaha road sharp after breakfast, with a cardboard sign.

b) generally yes, subject to road closures / accidents.

c) axe/crampons would be a good idea now and definitely for the next few days. A couple of weeks after that, who knows, but gut feeling is more likely will be needed than not. 

d) from recent experience (last August) can't remember coming across any honesty boxes for food, other than the various shops, cafes and pubs en route which presumably you're aware of. It doesn't sound like you're on a very tight budget, but has to be said that many of the places directly on the route seem to set their prices with a captive audience in mind. Worth noting that even in the middle of summer, not everything is open dawn to dusk, so a good idea to always have some food in your bag in reserve.

e) there are fairly regular sources of fresh water along the way, not experienced any after effects myself, as long as you take obvious precautions eg go uphill from the path and take care around obvious wild camping spots, should be fine.

It all sounds very complicated. I suggest a war room style planning session with a map on a large table and model cars/people/trains being pushed around on it with those long sticks.

Yes, call me old fashioned, but I thought the whole idea of things like the West Highland Way was to start at one end and walk to the other rather than employ siege tactics.

I'd agree with the complicated. It only takes one element to go belly up and the whole adventure goes awry. Accommodation is at a premium and comfy lodgings may not be so thick on the ground.

(a) also depending on when next month you do it, bear in mind that you may be standing around with your thumb out being swarmed by midges. Rowardennan is one of the worst spots in the area, in my experience…

I cycled the WHW over 2 days last Spring with minimal preparation. We drive to Dumbarton and left a car then cycled to the start and made it to Tyndrum the first night. Then we stayed in a pre booked hostel and cycled to Fort William then got a train back to Dumbarton and hit back in the car. Pretty simple! I took a hardtail mountain bike and carried only water and some basic mechanical supplies. I hired a sleeping bag at the hostel. 
 

If you are planning on drinking from streams just carry a water filter. Loads of places to stop and fuel up en route. 
 

I would say the first half is pretty rubbish. It is however well worth doing once you get past Tyndrum. If I was your friend I would be thinking of doing only the second half not the first. 

We more-or-less did that when we were planning a walk from Achnashellach down to Glen Shiel. I think I've still got the simplified maps that I produced on squared-paper with the main peaks, ridges, valleys, rivers, paths and bothies marked.

Thanks Jonny

Thanks DH

Thanks Dave, I do love a good map and why not make it interactive.

I think the complication comes in from having each bit of accommodation for two nights at a time and then moving the car between the two.  As there isn't loads of beds at a reasonable price, that was the sacrifice.  We'll see if it is worth it.

I like the idea of laying siege to the eventual target of Ben Nevis and then claim it for the Braying Geoffreys.

Basically, I am too lazy and out of condition to want to carry everything and just go in one direction.  The rest day seemed a good idea and a suitable point in the schedule to hop off to the seaside for R&R.  I do however predict that it will the day where it pisses it down.  Still, I'd be getting wet in the sea anyway.

Cheers Mr Lanky, I have the accommodation already booked, but you're right there isn't as much of it around at a reasonable price as there could be.  If one element goes belly up, the adventure just changes and becomes something different.

Setting off after the football season finishes (I need to see my team get promoted), but unfortunately, it has been delayed by a couple of days due to some fancy event in that there London.

I still have my net hat, so that was going to get packed anyway.  I was hoping that May would be better than later in the summer.

Thanks Grist.

Unfortunately, my friend can not spare the full two weeks, he is being made redundant and needs to find a new job, so it is get away when you can.  But you are undoubtedly right.

Thanks to all who have taken the trouble to share their thoughts and to Adam who asked the earlier questions for his trip, that was helpful for me too.

You're welcome. I personally don't like planning trips too much (short attention span). I like your idea of a quiet beach on Kerrera. I got the boat last year and walked a circuit round the north end. The west coast has great views out to Mull and it was nice to sit on the northern tip watching the ferries coming in and out of Oban. The new road back down the east coast is a horrible bulldozed Scar though. I must go back and walk the southern end.

By the way, have you looked into doing baggage transfer? There are companies that will basically shift your luggage along from one night's accommodation to the next so you can just do the actual walking with just a day bag. A quick google suggests that you can get this done over the full route for about 70 quid per person, which seems like it might be worth it for the amount of faff that you'll save...

A sherpa?

Baggage transfers could be useful

https://travel-lite-uk.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIgfGn183I_gIVC7DVCh0cTQd5EAAYA...

https://amsscotland.co.uk/

Why all the tooing and froing? There is loads of accommodation along the route, why not just use it?

Back in the 1980s IIRC, in the early days of the WHW when accommodation and services were a lot thinner on the ground than now, Chris Brasher told the story of meeting a man who was 'walking' the Way on his own with the aid of his car, caravan, and bike.  Rather like the ancient puzzle of how to ferry a fox, a goose and a bag of grain safely across the river, this gentlemen went to and fro traversing the road system along the Way corridor by car and bike at least three times so that he could walk the Way once in manageable daily sections.  He told Chris it was easier that Way.

Each to their own ...

I've always thought the WHW was a rather odd and unappealing route with quite a lot of it following valleys with a road alongside. It certainly has its good bits, but it's almost just a walker's version of the A82. Maybe the idea was to link towns and facilitate shuttling shenanigans, but, if I were planning a week's backpacking in Scotland I'd choose a route that took me away from infrastructure (and the WHW crowds!).

Still, at least it hasn't had its name changed to the West Highland Trail, as these sort of things get called nowadays.

" Valleys",  Robert? You ' ll be saying " Spey Valley" and " Nevis Range" next !

I don't actually think "valley" is incorrect as a geographical term. Whereas "Spey Valley" is, I agree inappropriate, and "Nevis Range" an invented commercial abomination.

I've never been tempted either, but I don't think that either of us is really part of the intended audience. I can see why it's popular with people who don't really do much in the way of multi-day walking (or even people who don't do much walking at all) - it's relatively flat and non-committing, there are lots of accommodation options and it's relatively unlikely to get snowed up for a lot of the year but at the same time it has a reasonably satisfying goal ("walk from the edge of Glasgow to the foot of Ben Nevis") and some nice scenery to look at along the way.

One of the first bits of advice I read was to consider booking more than one night at the same place - it might be cheaper.  I haven't found that, but then, it was all been booked online rather than in person and haggling.  I also haven't found loads of accommodation at a reasonable price.  This could be because I was booking around three months in advance and perhaps six months in advance might have brought up more.

I wasn't going to take the car - part of the reason for the to-ing and fro-ing, but when I couldn't get into the Kings House bunkhouse, I thought that would be a good opportunity for a rest day and go to the coast - I live and have grown up in the centre of the country and like the chance to go to the coast when I can and what finer coast than the west coast of Scotland.  I am sure that there will be a pod of dolphins waiting for me when I head to Kerrera.

Perhaps I should have considered the baggage transfer.