West Highland Way | GET INFORMED
Are you thrilled by the idea of spending one week walking through the dramatic landscapes of the Scottish Highlands, experiencing crazy weather conditions, enjoying local food and making special friendships along the way?
If your answer is a YES, the West Highland Way might be the adventure you are looking for. Pick up pen and paper and start realizing this dream of yours!
At first, it can be difficult to gather all the information to plan a long hike.
This post will guide you through the most common questions that usually fill up my brain when I start dreaming about hiking a new trail.
… I know, it can be a bit overwhelming, but if we managed to organize this thru hike, so can you. One step at a time, one question at a time… happy trail planning!
What is the West Highland Way?
The West Highland Way (WHW) is a 150 km long trail which spans between Milngavie and Fort William, across the dramatic landscapes of the Scottish Highlands. The trail crosses several villages which offer a good selection of accommodations, food and public transports. Hikers usually take between 6 and 9 days to complete this trekking.
What kind of experience does it offer?
The West Highland Way leads hikers through the dramatic landscapes of the Scottish Highlands, allowing them to gaze at those vaste green lands. It provides the opportunity to experience the “true“ Scotland, with its crazy weather conditions, typical food, pubs, and even whisky distilleries. Although the trail is never really far away from civilization, its proximity to roads and villages rarely disturbs the sense of isolation provided by the Highlands.
The trail is becoming increasingly popular over the years, allowing hikers to bond and form special friendships along the way, by sharing this adventure and all the good moments and the struggles that come with it.
I hiked this trail in 2018 with my boyfriend Yannick. It was our very first long distance hike together, a special experience that allowed us to share our passion for hiking while visiting a new country. For us, the West Highland Way was like a Pandora Vase: once hiked, our dreams were suddenly filled with millions of future trekking ideas… since then, we are constantly chasing new trail adventures.
That being said, it is important to note that a thru hike will always provide a different and unique experience to every hiker. In short, Hike Your Own Hike!
Where can I find useful information?
From my personal experience, I know that the planning phase of a long-distance hike can easily become tricky and overwhealming, especially if you don’t know which information source you should trust more. Here you can find the pages that we used to organize our trip on the West Highland Way.
The website: this website helped us figuring out the stages of the WHW. It also gives an overview of the accommodation options along the way, although we have to admit we mainly used Google Maps for checking out the accommodations along the way!
The book: this book is helpful for the planning of the stages, but we have to admit that we did not read it before hitting the trail, as we were still quite inexperienced in planning a trekking from A to Z.
The facebook group: this facebook group is a great place to ask questions and find useful insights, directly from people who already hiked the trail or that are in the same planning phase as you.
The Trail Chat: feel free to ask me anything about the trail, I am always happy to help and support you during the planning phase of your thru hike!
Which difficulties will I face?
The trail itself is neither easy nor extremely difficult. It could definitely become tougher in bad weather conditions and with a heavy pack on your back. I would not recommend it for first-time thruhikers, but I think that anyone with some hiking experience, enough planning and a moderate fitness level will be able to thru hike the West Highland Way.
The most important points to consider for hiking the WHW are elencated here below:
HEAVY BACKPACK
Your backpack could become quite heavy if you don’t plan your equipment list well, and a lighter backpack is the key for you to enjoy a long distance hike! You can find a list of everything we brought with us in the post EQUIPMENT. However, if you struggle carrying heavy loads and would rather prefer walking with a day-pack only, pack-carrying services are also present along the way.
WEATHER
The weather is an issue that you must not underestimate on the WHW. You must be prepared for anything: sunny and warm days, wind, rain and storms. Sometimes, weather forecasts prove to be pointless and you might experience all these weather conditions within the same day… but hey, it’s Scotland, right?!
We hiked the trail beginning of September, and I can assure you, all the different weather conditions slowly drained our energy, and bad weather in the Highlands is not to be underestimated!
MIDGES
In Scotland, midges can easily transform your hiking adventure into a nightmare. Midges are annoying tiny biting insects that fly in big numbers and love to bite and taste human flesh… distusting. They are mostly present during the warmer months, from end of May until end of August. To improve your experience with these annoying beasts, we highly recommend to wear long pants and sleeves, alongside with a head net. Don’t forget to also pack a spray against midges, which can be purchased in sports shops before starting your hike.
As we hiked in September, we were lucky enough to encounter midges one evening only, at a campsite on the shore of a lake… we used the spray and they were not extremely annoying.
When is the best time to hike it?
The West Highland Way can usually be hiked between April and October.
In May, June, September and October, you might have higher chances to find better and more stable weather conditions. However, since the weather in Scotland is so unstable, just remember that you always have to be prepared for the worse forecast possible when tackling the WHW! Additionally, I would avoid hiking during the first week of May, when motorcycle trials are happening along the last sections of the trail.
July and August are the warmest, most busy and touristic months on trail… beware of the midges, if you are planning to hike during these peak summer months!
We hiked the West Highland Way beginning of September and had both sunny and stormy days, but at least the midges were not extremely annoying… however, we don’t know for sure if this was due to colder temperatures or just luck.
How do I reach the trail?
If you have read the above information about the West Highland Way and decided that you want to embark on this adventure, it is time to start thinking about how to actually reach the trail.
I would advise to fly to Scotland and land at Glasgow Airport or Edinburgh Airport. From both Glasgow and Edinburgh, rail services operate directly to Milngavie, the official start of the West Highland Way… check Google Maps or Rome2Rio, hop on your train, and get to the trail! At the end of your adventure in Fort William, we advise to do the same for travelling back to the airport.
In the post OUR TRIP you can find our travel schedule, which might give you some inspiration.
What should I pack?
For hiking (and enjoying) the West Highland Way, we strongly advise to minimize your pack weight as much as possible. You will find a detailed list of all the equipment and food we took along with us in the posts EQUIPMENT and FOOD.
Here I will just try to answer the most frequently asked questions during the planning phase of this thru hike.
Where can I buy fuel for my camping stove?
If you are planning to camp along the way and to cook your own meals, you can purchase fuel at sports shops in Glasgow or Edinburgh.
After landing at Glasgow, we took some time to visit the city and bought one gas canister (230 g) for both of us, as we were planning to cook our own meals just a few times while on trail.
How much food should I carry?
Along and at the end of every stage on the West Highland Way, there is the opportunity to enjoy local meals at a restaurant or pub. Moreover, resupply options are available at following places:
Milngavie (start): many options
Drymen (end of stage no. 1): SPAR
Balmaha (mid stage no. 2): The Oak Tree Inn
Inverarnan (end of stage no. 3): Beinglas Campsite
Crianlarich (mid stage no. 4): Londis Village Shop
Tyndrum (end of stage no. 4): Brodies Mini Market or The Green Welly Stop
Kinlochleven (end of stage no. 6): Co-op
Fort William (end): many options
If you are camping and planning to cook your own meals only, I would therefore recommend to carry food for a maximum of 1-2 days and resupply on the way. If you are planning to eat out at restaurants along the way, I would advise to only carry snacks and maybe some bread, cheese and cold cuts in case you will not find a dining option over lunch.
If you are curious about our food strategy on the WHW, head to the post FOOD.
How much water should I carry?
We filled up our water bottles at the end of every stage, sometimes even halfway through a stage at bars or restaurants, and always started hiking in the morning with maximum 2L each in our backpacks. If you want to collect and drink water from a river or lake, it is recommended to filter it.
Where can I leave my normal clothes?
If you plan to carry your own backpack on the WHW, you will definitely not need fancy clothes for this adventure. Therefore, make sure to only pack clothes that you REALLY need during the hike to minimize your pack’s weight. The full list of the clothes I packed can be found in the post EQUIPMENT.
However, if you struggle carrying heavy loads and would rather prefer walking with a day-pack only, pack-carrying services are also present along the way. This would allow you to pack “normal“ clothes to wear in the evening, without carrying their weight while hiking.
How much money will I spend?
For the entire trip, we both approximately spent 1’000 CHF each, including flights.
Although we alternated camping and B&Bs, almost every evening we could not resist the temptation of tasting local food at a restaurant. Moreover, after the trekking, we also spent one additional day as tourists and went on a little road trip.
The budget for this trip could therefore vary depending on your accommodation choice, wheter you choose to sleep in your tent and cook your own meals, or to enjoy the luxury of hostels and restaurants. I think that, with a good planning and without additional touristic expenses, the budget for this trip could be easily reduced to 700 CHF.
Long story short, don’t get discouraged and plan your own adventure!
CASH OR CARD?
We mostly payed by credit card the accommodations and meals on the WHW. However, it is always useful to bring cash (GBP) as well, since it is better not to rely on all the accommodation providers to always accept credit cards. ATMs are present along the way in Milngavie, Drymen, Crianlarich, Tyndrum, Kinlochleven and Fort William.