Scots Wha Hae! Part 6 - Walking the Way: Kinlochleven to Fort William

Did you read Part 5?

WE MADE IT!

We slept well on Tuesday night in Kinlochleven at the Allt na Leven Guest House, although I was awoken earlier than necessary when I heard folks start wandering around in pursuit of breakfast.  Doing our normal "tea in the room" start to the morning, we eventually got dressed and meandered out of our room and into the common dining area.  Since they're on the smaller side for guest houses, Allt na Leven asked us to fill out a request form the night before on what we'd like to eat for breakfast (hence the clipboard), and once we were seated, our selections appeared in front of us, along with toast, coffee, tea, and a beautiful bowl of fresh fruit.  Chris had porridge, then eggs with smoked salmon, while I enjoyed pancakes with bacon; everything was incredible, and I picked this as the best breakfast we had during our time hiking the West Highland Way.

The dining room at Allt na Leven

Their cute table setup

Fortified for the day, we finished packing up and said goodbye to our hosts; the night we stayed was their last of the season, and they were clearly excited to head to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico in a few days, to enjoy the sun and never ending buffets (particularly the latter, according to their teenage daughter).  We thanked them for their exceptional hospitality and for letting me love on their black lab, Snoopy, for a few minutes before we left.

From the center of town, we headed back across the River Leven, waved good morning to the Wee Midgie Honesty Box, and hopped back on the Way.  This was to be our longest hike of our three day itinerary; although the distance is generally said to be about 15 miles from Kinlochleven to Fort William, we ended up doing around 16 and a half, from the door of Allt na Leven to the door of Myrtle Bank Guest House, where we'd once again be spending the night.  Our total time by my watch was just over 7 hours, including breaks and shopping when we made it to Fort William.

Chris, in front of the old smelter in Kinlochleven

Although we were thankful we wouldn't have to go back up the fire road we'd trundled down the day before, we knew we'd still have a decent climb ahead of us as we made our way out of town.  Since more rain was in the forecast (although not as much as Day 1) and it was chilly, we started wearing our fleece layers plus rain gear, but after starting up the hill, I took a break to rework things, stuffing my yellow jacket in my pack.

Ready to go, but wearing too many layers

Looking back down on Kinlochleven

Damp weather = more lovely 'shroomies!

The narrow path we'd been climbing intersected with a much wider one, and it gently undulated through the glens, past several tall hills.  At one point, we were passed on the trail by an SUV, and eventually, we found it again; a utility crew was on hand to repair damage from Storm Amy.

Hard at work!

See the little red ATV?  It's coming our way!

If you look in the background of this shot, you can see the red ATV again -

the work crew was using it to get from the trail to the site

I read lots of information about walking the Way, and one of the best pieces of advice I found was to turn around sometimes.

You're only hiking in one direction, so you miss some amazing views if you don't look back every now and then.

After a few miles in, we came to Tigh-na-sleubhaich, a set of ruined farmhouses.  Folks will camp here, but at their own peril, as the remaining walls or roof could give in at any moment.  We used it as a mid-morning break spot, and we split one of the huge sandwiches the folks at Allt na Leven prepared for our trail lunch for the day.

The ruined farmhouse

Not only did Allt na Leven make us the best breakfast, they also made us the best trail lunches!

These sandwiches were incredible - there was some sort of brown mustard/onion jam on them,

and everything was incredibly fresh.

Best breakfast, best trail lunch, spacious rooms, friendly, funny hosts, AND a dog to pet!  Stay with them!

A little further on, we came across our first flock of sheep on the Way; although we'd seen deer and plenty of birds so far, it wasn't until our last day that we meandered across sheep (we never saw any Highland Cows - "Coos" - bummer!).  When we were vising the Clydeside Distillery back in Glasgow, the bartender mentioned that whisky barrels outnumbered people in Scotland by a 4:1 ratio; I didn't even have a chance to finish asking, "and what about sheep?" before he responded, "nope - still more - that's 5:1."  Honestly, it's probably surprising it took us this long to find sheep, although perhaps the previous severe weather had something to do with that.

This guy kept a close eye on us as we passed by

A bit further down the road, we passed through a beautiful glade where several hikers were taking refuge from the light rain and enjoying a rest.  Since we'd just had a break, we pressed on.

Still pretty wet!

The halfway point of today's hike at Inverlochy.

We pondered taking the shorter route to Fort William as Chris' foot was starting to hurt,

but we stuck it out to the end!

We were happy to donate some pounds to the ongoing maintenance of the Way

Our trusty Trailblazer guide said there was a "perfect picnic spot" next to a waterfall coming up, and we planned to stop there to finish our lunch.  Once again, our guidebook was not wrong!  This spot was lovely, shaded by a few large trees (which kept off the light rain), and level enough for Chris to break out the foldable stool he'd been carrying in his pack since we left home.

The brook leading into the waterfall

I had the same stool in my pack, but I chose to sit on a rock instead -

the rock was easier, but the stool would have been more comfortable

From here, the track narrowed a bit, and it went up what the guidebook described as an "unwelcome steep by short climb."

Sheep?  No, STEEP.  We found another small flock here.

Chris' Dad likes to say that "sheep are born looking for a place to die" -

meaning, they often get into trouble and have to be rescued - and this one didn't seem to be an exception to that rule.

The trail twisted and turned a bit more, finally breaking out onto a large fire road, much more moderately sloped downward than the one into Kinlochleven, thank all that's holy.  We started slowing winding back down to sea level and into Fort William.

There are great views here of Ben Nevis, Scotland's tallest mountain.

Allegedly.

A family we kept leapfrogging on this stretch of the Way

Ben Nevis (or the base of it) on the right and Fort William straight ahead

Our time on the fire road ended as we walked past a car park and from there, we did another few miles on the sidewalk of a busy paved road until we got into town.  I'd read several accounts of the somewhat humdrum ending of the Way, and those folks weren't wrong.  There are other routes to the final marker, but by the time we made it there, we were wet and tired and the sidewalk seemed like the best option, even if it wasn't the most scenic.  We stopped at the original end of the Way, shown in the picture at the top of this post, and did some shopping at the Ben Nevis Highland Centre; continuing on for another mile, we found our buddy from Sunday night once more - we promised we'd be back!

Hooray!  All done!

We finished our walk by heading down the High Street area, past St. Andrew's Church, until we once again arrived at Myrtle Bank Guest House.  The team member working the breakfast Monday morning recognized us, and she quickly helped us find our luggage and our room.  The room was huge, and we made good use of every fan, towel warmer, and radiator within it to start drying our gear - although our day started clear, it had turned rather wet in the last hour or two.

St. Andrew's

It's clearly low season on the high street

Another massive, comfortable room!

Time to deploy the soaking bucket...

That towel warmer is earning its keep

...and the compression socks...and a handy wall!

Refreshed after our showers and changes of clothes and footwear, we headed out into our second evening in Fort William.  Our first pick for dinner, the Silly Goose at the Lime Tree Inn, was booked, so we kept wandering and ended up at the Grog and Gruel, a local pub and restaurant.  We tucked ourselves into a corner booth and ordered steak pie (Chris) and a venison burger (me); staying warm and cozy, we tried a few of the options on draft, including local ales and cask offerings.

Fort William is where the Jacobite Steam Train departs and takes guests on a Harry Potter themed railway adventure,

hence the kiddo in the Gryffindor scarf in the back of this shot

Ready for dessert and a nightcap, we wandered across the street to the Ben Nevis and sat in their bar area; we split some sort of chocolate sweet as well as two different Scotch pours.

We did NOT try this, although I was really curious about it

Before too long, we were strolling back to Myrtle Bank, ready for a good night's sleep after concluding our Highland hiking adventure!

Later!

Amy