Day Four: The West Highland Way
saturday May 18th
Day 4: just before the Bridge Of Orchy - kinlochleven
21 miles / 33.8 km
I had been spoiled by blue, dry skies since the day I arrived in Scotland. But It had finally come to an end. It was raining when I woke, the first time I would have to pack up camp in the wet. So I had a little lie in hoping the rain would let up. The rain persisted fiercely, so donning my favorite antique Patagonia rain jacket and a bright blue plastic poncho in a sad attempt to stay dry I packed up and headed back onto the trail. I was soaked through in no time and four hours later was getting pretty cold.
I was in the mighty Glencoe now, the hills were much taller and quite dramatic in the grey low clouds. I tried to appreciate the beautiful because it was very beautiful, but the cold and wet were making me ever so slightly miserable. I was really looking forward to Kingshouse, the next stop along the trail. I hoped for a little village where I might escape the train in a pub with some warm chips (fries) and a beer. Maybe I would just hang out the rest of the day in a dry of inside, maybe I would even get a room for the night to dry out.
Turns out Kingshouse is just that: a fancy hotel. Dripping wet I walked into the hotel lobby to ask where the campsite was, it was posh and I felt very out of place, sticking out somewhere between a drowned rat and a sore thumb. Disappointed, I decided to keep walking but not before I dug out my mittens and finally, after four hours of walking in the cold rain pulled out my rain pants. Both helped me to fell significantly warmer and thus happier, duh.
One of the most iconic images from this hike (above) is this sweet little house nestled in the middle of Glencoe. Soon after this sweet site, the trail heads over “The Devil’s Staircase”, a lovely climb of switch backs that takes you to the highest point on The West Highland Way at 550 meters (haha, not very high at all). Never the less I appreciated the climb up, it was a refreshing change of pace with lovely views of the surrounding hills.
It finally stopped raining & with that my mood continued to improve. Feeling much better I took these portraits / selfies (below) to remember the most challenging day of this hike.
As I closed in on the last couple miles of today, I thought to myself…
It is quite unusual that I was so bothered by rain. I like the wet and the cold, but to be wet and cold is not enjoyable. Norwegians have a phrase that goes something like this “there is no bad weather only bad clothing” and I couldn’t agree more. This classic rain was not Scotland’s fault, it was my fault for not investing in proper rain gear before hiking in Scotland. I also realized that my mood was not this trail’s fault, but that for the first time in a very long time I felt lonely.
After “The Devil’s Staircase” the trail heads downhill to the town of Kinlochleven. After already covering 20 miles, walking the last 3 down hill was really sore, my knees were hurting even with the support of poles. I tried to distract myself from the discomfort by taking in the beautiful hills in every direction, a lake in the distance and the sweet, lush smell the rain had left behind.
I don’t have any photographs of Kinlochleven, but it is a beautiful village. Bizarrely it is also home to an ice climbing gym host to a simulation ice climbing wall, how cool? I really should have spent the day there to give it a try.
Not sure about wild camping outside a village, I treated myself to a campsite a The Blackwater Hostel. It was close to 10 euros for a place which felt like a lot, but they did have two warming huts where I was able to dry everything, including my tent. Even more exciting than warming huts were the people. It was lovely to be around other people, I love people.
