The original way and my way

The West Highland Way (WHW) is stretching 96 miles (154 kilometers) from the outskirts of Glasgow (Milngavie) to the foot of Ben Nevis in Fort William. It is Scotland’s most iconic long-distance hiking trail, opened in 1980.

Walkers usually walk the WHW in 5- 8 days, there are several stages, longer and shorter, accommodation is available in villages in bunkhouses, hostels, B&Bs, hotels, (wild) camping is very popular. Walkers either walk with their large backpacks or use baggage transfers.

I had a conference in Edinburgh in the second October week 2025 and since this was a good opportunity to see and experience a bit of Scotland (never been to Scotland and for years on my bucket list) I chose a trail not too far away from Edinburgh and the Highlands were a must. I had only four days and planned to do the trail in four stages, each pretty long (app. 40 km), booked accommodation in bunkhouses/hostels and even considered carrying my big backpack the entire way.

A month before my trip I had a knee injury and I couldn’t train hiking with a big backpack. Not to mention that I haven’t done any training at all. So I had to change the original plan and adjust to the new situation. This is when I started exploring the WHW and its sideways and discovered that there is so much more to see than just the original trail of the WHW. I decided to try some other hikes on the way which seemed so attractive when I looked them up and to skip certain sections of the WHW instead. The only tricky part was planning how to get from one accommodation to the other so it had to be possible by public transport. I made a new plan and was ready to go.

And then it was suddenly Storm Amy, orange alarm in this part of Scotland, heavy wind gusts with plenty of rain, just the weekend when I was planning to start my hike. It couldn’t be worse than that. But there was nothing I could do about it since these were my only four days that I had for this adventure.

I decided to do the WHW my way – the most interesting bits of it (based on my investigation) plus whatever will be possible to hike or see, depending on the weather conditions.

I was supposed to arrive in Glasgow on Sunday morning, shortly after 10, but because of all the delays caused by Storm Amy the flight was late and I landed around noon. After leaving my conference luggage at the airport storage, I took Uber to get to Milngavie – Milngavie is closer to the airport than to the centre of Glasgow, so Uber was the quickest way to get there and not too expensive.

Day 1 Milngavie – Balmaha

The driver dropped me off at the rail station in Milngavie where I was planning to catch the next bus to Killearn (not far away from Drymen, where usually the first stage of the WHW ends), a village from where I could walk 2 km to join the WHW further to Balmaha. I decided to skip the start from Milngavie because there was no way I could make it in the afternoon, over 30 km with a quite heavy backpack on my back. I walked around in Milngavie, a small town in the suburbs of Glasgow, with bars, coffee and grocery shops and the famous granite obelisk in the pedestrian zone. There were visible traces of Storm Amy all over the place.

I had a quick coffee and got on my bus towards Killearn where I got off just in front of a very nice and quite busy pub, the Old Mill. It was the perfect time for a light lunch and a small beer before hitting the road.

Off I went, first part walking along the streets of Killearn before joining the gravel path (the old military road) of the WHW. It was quite wet, a bit muddy, but it was (still)not raining.

I actually enjoyed this section, Scottish countryside with beautiful cottages, the roads were quite empty (it was Saturday). I met maybe two or three other walkers on my way.

The weather was still fine in the section through the forest before reaching the crossing where one way led over Conic Hill to Balmaha and the other along roads passing some more villages.

I decided to skip Conic Hill since I planned to hike up the Ben Lomond the next day and thought I would get enough of the sights of Loch Lomond. Another reason for this choice was that my back was quite painful, I was worried that my knee would not take the climb and the descent well with the heavy weight and finally – the weather was changing to cloudy and rain so the views would not be too attractive.

I arrived in Balmaha after 17.5 km which I hiked in a bit over 4.5 hours. My accommodation was in the very cosy Balmaha Bunkhouse ran by Ileana and her family, who gave me such a warm welcome. The Bunkhouse was excellent choice, the drying room was great for getting your clothes and shoes dry overnight, the kitchen with the common sitting space very comfortable and also the room that I shared with two other hikers. Since I was hungry, the Oak Tree Inn close by was a logic choice but it was full, so I took the Highlander burger to go and enjoyed it (some haggis was added to the burger, I liked it) in the common dining room at the Bunkhouse.

Day 2 Balmaha – Crianlarich – the Loch and Ben Lomond

I have booked baggage transfer for the remaining three days of my trip, so I packed just the basic things into a smaller trail backpack and left the big backpack for the transfer service to pick up at the Bunkhouse. That was such a relieve. It was a sunny and beautiful morning, I hit the way slightly before 8 and decided to do a slow jogging along the shore of Ben Lomond, the section of 12 km to Rowardennan. The trail is beautiful, it goes mainly through a forest close to the water, a bit undulating, perfect for a morning jogging.

The closer I got to Rowardennan, the sky was clearer and it seemed like the perfect day to climb the Ben Lomond. I chose this Munro instead of Ben Nevis at the end in Fort William, since I read that the trail to Ben Lomond was nicer (this was a good choice as the weather got worse later in Fort William). The plan was to hike up to the top on the regular trail and then descend on the other side (there is no marked trail, but I found a gpx track which I transferred to my Garmin) close to Inversnaid, from there further along the shore of Loch Lomond to the village Inverarnan where I could catch a bus to Crianlarich. The plan was just excellent and the weather so promising!

I had my swim suit in my backpack and was thinking about a dip in the quite chilly waters of the Loch, but decided to do it after the descent from Ben Lomond on the other side.

Big mistake! Seize the opportunity because who knows when and if the next one is to come.

I started the Ben Lomond trail from the car park in Roawrdennan. It was Sunday and there were also few other hikers. The views were getting better and better, over the Loch and the surrounding hills. The Ben Lomond is only 974 metres high but since the trail starts at sea level it takes some time to get to the top.

The trail is very nice, not steep, it runs through meadows and over creeks.

Getting closer to the top of Ben Lomond the weather changed. Black clouds were approaching, it started to rain and once on the top I couldn’t see anything.

Since I couldn’t see a thing on the other side of the hill and no one was descending in my planned direction and the weather forecast was not optimistic, I decided to drop my original plan (it would be such a shame if I had to call mountain rescue for help!) and descend the same way, back to Rowardennan. I had absolutely no idea how to get from there to my accommodation in Crianlarich which was pretty far away, hiking another almost 30 km was out of the question, this would be too much for my knee. I was thinking of asking someone to give me a ride to some place where I could get a bus.

The hike up and down Ben Lomond is app 12 km long with 1000 m of ascent.

Down at the Ben Lomond car park I ran into Alfie again, who was just leaving in his rented car and gave me a lift to the Duck Bay on the other side of Loch Lomond, where a bus was scheduled to leave to Crianlarich shortly before 6 in the afternoon (it was only 2 p.m., but I was happy to go for lunch at the Duck Bay to warm up and dry from the rain). The Duck Bay was quite impressive, a nice beach on the shore of Loch Lomond (but I was feeling too cold after the hike in the rain to go for a swim), a nice and warm restaurant, just the perfect place to spend the afternoon while it was pretty cold and windy outside.

After enjoying the meal I went up to the main road where the bus stand was. Just to realise that the bus was cancelled and there will be no other bus to Crianlarich. I was later told that public transport in the Highlands is very unreliable, irrespective of the Storm Amy. Well, there was nothing much I could do, it was getting dark and it began to rain. I tried to hitchhike but no one would stop (obviously they had no idea where I was going). There was only one local bus that got me to the next village, Luss. I got off and walked to the first pub/hotel and asked whether there is any possibility of getting a taxi from there to Crianlarich (it is a 40 minutes ride). Yes, there was, for 100 GBP! Since there was no other option, the hotel (so cosy) was fully occupied and my belongings were waiting for me in the hostel in Crianlarich, I called for the taxi and had a small beer while waiting in a comfortable armchair in front of the fire place. The taxi ride was quite adventurous, fallen branches and trees all over the local road, pouring rain and getting closer to the village Crianlarich I realised there was no electricity, no public lights, nothing, everything was black! We found the hostel in the darkness, the guy at the reception was waiting just for me, we were total six hikers staying at the hostel, there was no power for two days, so no light, no heating, no hot water, nothing to eat, no mobile connection. But my things were there, I went straight to my room which I was supposed to share with a couple of other people who cancelled due to the weather. I used all the duvets I could find and fell asleep almost at once.

Day 3 Crianlarich – Glen Etive – Kingshouse Hotel

I woke up at 5:30 thinking of getting out of this cold place as quickly as possible. The plan was to take the bus to Glencoe Mountain Resort which is close to my next accommodation at Kingshouse Hotel and do some hikes from there – depending on the weather conditions – since I was very much looking forward to the Glencoe area. It was still dark outside but I noticed street lights meaning electricity was back! I went to the bathroom not thinking that I didn’t have the card key to my room since it was not working yesterday as there was no power. The door shut and I couldn’t get inside anymore. So I ended up exploring the hostel, couldn’t find any coffee, trying to ring for the guy from last night with no success, chatting with other people that stayed overnight, seeing them off and waiting for the reception guy to appear. After almost 2 hours of waiting he arrived at 7:30 and let me into my room.

A great start of the day! But anyway, it was raining outside, the next bus was to leave only at 10:30 so I had plenty of time to pack my things, get some coffee and a sandwich I made the morning before in Balmaha and finally decided to walk the section to Tyndrum because waiting for the bus just got too boring. The walk was not really exciting, with forestry works on the first kilometres; the highlight were ruins of St. Fillan’s priory and an old graveyard, the sheep and the tiny loch – Lochan, the Legend of the Lost Sword. And it was raining all the time. I was dressed properly so the rain didn’t bother me that much, but still, I was happy to get finally to the village Tyndrum where I had enough time to enjoy a Scottish lunch before my bus was to leave for Glencoe.

After lunch I went outside into the rain to the bus stand and waited (I have purchased a ticket online earlier) to get to Glencoe. I received a notification that the bus is running few minutes late but after 20 minutes there was still no bus in sight. So I went back to the car park at Real Food Cafe and stopped every person that was about to leave asking whether they were heading in the direction of Glencoe. And just when I was about to give up, a guy in a camper van opened the door and said he might give me a lift to Glencoe but needed to send some messages first. Sure, no problem, I will wait and grab a coffee in meantime.

I climbed on the passenger’s seat, happy to be driven to my destination, looked around the van and noticed some “exotic” things all over the place – artificial flowers, religious symbols, books about faith and God. I was curious and felt a bit uncomfortable. But the conversation was so relaxing and interesting that I happily accepted Shiloh’s proposal to go for a swim in the Etive River on the Glen Etive Road! I couldn’t believe my ears when he told me that wild swimming is something he practises almost daily and when I said I was a fan of wild and winter swimming, Shiloh offered to show me his favourite wild swimming spot – being exactly the one I was so much hoping for to experience in Glencoe – the Etive River. Shiloh has been travelling for over 10 years in Europe and some other places, he calls it spiritual journey and has been helping people to find God and pray. He is incredibly kind, calm and I was surprised how I, being not exactly a spiritual person, found it so easy and comfortable to talk to him, a person I just met, about anything. Anyway, we drove along the Glen Etive Road, it was raining and foggy, but the road is just incredibly beautiful, in particular now in autumn with all the fantastic colours. Scotland in its fullest beauty!

We stopped at a spot where the river was not so wild and fast. I managed to change into my swim suit and got out of the van into the rain and cold. Not that it bothered me and the scenery was just perfect.

I quickly changed into dry and warm clothes (I always carry some “just in case” clothes and a warm jacket) and Shiloh drove me to the Kingshouse Hotel where I was staying. The Kingshouse Hotel and the bunkhouse is a place in the middle of nowhere, extremely popular among hikers but not only hikers – there was a wedding taking place in the hotel when we arrived, a Polish girl getting married to a Scottish guy! I was so happy and grateful for this amazing swimming adventure, the unexpected scenic drive and the acquaintance – it just made my day (which has not started well). We had coffee, exchanged contact details and Shiloh left. I picked up my backpack that was waiting for me at the hotel, hung the wet clothes to dry, went to my room in the bunkhouse (the entire 4 beds dorm just for me!), took a hot shower, washed my hair, made some more tea and sat down in the common kitchen. I had plenty of time until dinner at the hotel’s restaurant.

When you travel alone, you get to meet so many interesting people, it is so much easier engaging in conversations, making new acquaintances. So in the kitchen of the bunkhouse, over tea, I met Cheryl from Oklahoma, walking the WHW with her heavy backpack (and she is 10 years older than me and has a knee issue!) mainly wild camping and a nice couple from Canada. Cheryl had hiked a section of the Appalachian Trail and she is now visiting the UK and WHW is only her first hike on this journey. We continued our pleasant conversation about hikes, travels and adventures over dinner and exchanged contact details to stay in touch.

Day 4 Kingshouse Hotel – Fort William

The original plan for my last day was to explore some more of the Glencoe area. I was even considering doing another hike there, the beautiful Buachaille Etive Mor Trail, but the weather conditions were not supporting this idea (so I hope to return to Glencoe). Anyway, the Buachaille Etive Mor is considered to be one of the most scenic Scottish Munros and the trail takes app. 6-7.5 hours in good weather. It starts in Altnafeadth, on the road towards Glencoe and the Loch Leven, which is some 5 km away from the Kingshouse Hotel.

It was another rainy and foggy morning and after rich breakfast at the hotel I started walking along the WHW section to Altnafeadth and before turning right to the Devil’s Staircase I made a short sideway to the start of the Buachaille Etive Mor, only to get a feeling of excitement…

I followed the path of the WHW towards the Devil’s Staircase, the climb up to the highest point of the WHW at 550 m with fantastic views – I was lucky to get a sunny window of app. one hour, just enough to enjoy the views. The climb is followed by a long descent to Kinlochsleven.

After total app. 16 km, which I took slowly and enjoyed every bit of it, I arrived in Kinlochleven around noon, just the right time for tea and some cake. The bus which I took to Balluchulish on the Loch Leven arrived surprisingly on time. In the village of Ballachulish I intended to do some swimming in the Loch Leven but the grassy shore was not really inviting (and I spotted a huge otter in the lake!), so I just walked around and waited for another bus which took me all the way to Fort William where I ended my journey.

Fort William is not too exciting, no views of the Ben Nevis on a cloudy day, but the choice of pubs is quite decent. The accommodation in the Fort William Backpackers Hostel was poor compared to my other stays.

Epilogue

I had four fantastic days in the Scottish Highlands. The West Highland Way is great if you have enough time to take it slowly and do wild camping. It is also great if you have decent weather to do it the light and fast way – trail running. But I don’t regret doing it my way. I had great time, even though I obviously caught the worst possible weather window (it was sunny before Storm Amy hit and after I left). I experienced some sideways – the Ben Lomond, the Glen Etive, the Loch Leven – and hiked the best bit (at least this is my impression) – the Devil’s Straircase. What I missed will make me return and do it again – the Highland cows (I haven’t seen a single one), swimming in the beautiful Loch Lomond, doing the Buachaille Etive Mor and maybe some other Munros and driving again the Glen Etive Road and swimming in the stunning Etive River!