Terry Marsh - The West Highland Way: Milngavie to Fort William Scottish Long Distance Route

About the Author

Lancashire-born writer and photographer, Dr Terry Marsh specialises in the outdoors and travel. He has been writing guidebooks since the mid-1980s, and is the author or revision author/editor of over 100 titles including the Cicerone guides to the Isle of Skye, the Isle of Mull, the Coast to Coast Walk (first published in 1993), the Shropshire Way, Great Mountain Days in the Pennines, the Severn Way, and more.

He first visited Scotland in 1968, and has been returning regularly ever since to walk and write about/photograph the magnificent landscapes.

Academically, he is an historical geographer holding a Master of Arts degree with Distinction in Lake District Studies and a PhD in Historical Geography. He is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (FRGS) and a Life Member of the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild (www.owpg.org.uk).

Geocaching in the UK

Great Mountain Days in Snowdonia

Great Mountain Days in the Pennines

The Coast to Coast Walk

The Dales Way

The Isle of Mull

The Isle of Skye

The Severn Way

Walking in the Forest of Bowland and Pendle

Walking on the Isle of Man

Walking on the West Pennine Moors

THE WEST HIGHLAND WAY

by Terry Marsh

JUNIPER HOUSE, MURLEY MOSS,
OXENHOLME ROAD, KENDAL, CUMBRIA LA9 7RL
www.cicerone.co.uk

Terry Marsh 2016

Fourth edition 2016 Reprinted 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 (with updates)

ISBN 9781783623891

Third edition 2011

ISBN 1852845562

ISBN 9781852845568

Printed in China on responsibly sourced paper on behalf of Latitude Press Ltd

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

1:100K route mapping by Lovell Johns www.lovelljohns.com.

Crown copyright 2016 OS PU100012932. NASA relief data courtesy of ESRI

The 1:25K map booklet contains Ordnance Survey data Crown copyright 2016 OS PU100012932.

All photographs are by the author unless otherwise stated.

Acknowledgments

The process of writing a book such as this is inordinately more complex (I hope) than the act of following the walk. But it is a task made considerably easier by an increasingly rare breed of individual who actually doesnt mind helping people along in my case by the simple expedient of providing companionship along the way. Id like to thank Ron and Tom for their company, always appreciated, between Crianlarich and Fort William during the first run; and my son Martin who accompanied me during the whole of the second visit. And when I came to revisit the Way twice in 2010, I was accompanied by my brother-in-law, Jon, who was excellent company and always ready to partake of whatever malt whiskies were on offer.

Updates to this Guide

While every effort is made by our authors to ensure the accuracy of guidebooks as they go to print, changes can occur during the lifetime of an edition. Any updates that we know of for this guide will be on the Cicerone website (www.cicerone.co.uk/857/updates), so please check before planning your trip. We also advise that you check information about such things as transport, accommodation and shops locally. Even rights of way can be altered over time.

We are always grateful for information about any discrepancies between a guidebook and the facts on the ground, sent by email to updates@cicerone.co.uk or by post to Cicerone, Juniper House, Murley Moss, Oxenholme Road, Kendal LA97RL.

Register your book: To sign up to receive free updates, special offers and GPX files where available, register your book at www.cicerone.co.uk.

Front cover: Black Rock Cottage, Glencoe (Stage 5)

The River Fillan in a gentle frame of mind

ROUTE SUMMARY TABLE: SOUTH TO NORTH

ROUTE SUMMARY TABLE: NORTH TO SOUTH

PREFACE

Millarochy Bay, Loch Lomond (Stage 2)

When Walt Unsworth (the then owner of Cicerone Press) rang me to ask whether I could shelve the eternally ongoing encyclopaedia of the countryside I was working on for him and go off to do a guidebook to the West Highland Way, I confess I delayed my response by a good two nanoseconds, not wanting to appear too eager. But, I thought, if I dont do it, Walt will only get someone else to sort it out, so why not? It isnt every day you get a publisher throwing work your way usually you have to grovel a bit first!

The truth is, I had driven up and down the Loch Lomond, Rannoch and Glen Coe roads to Fort William for what seemed like an eternity, listening to the strains of Mike Oldfield and Rick Wakeman, and frequently glancing enviously across at serious-faced West Highland Wayfarers trudging through the rain in Glen Coe, or cowering beneath heavy packs north of Tyndrum, and I felt that I wanted to share the same evidently transcendental experience. So when the chance came to do it and earn money at the same time, I leapt at it after that two nanoseconds delay, of course.

With untypical aplomb I rummaged about in search of my backpacking sack, the Trangias and numerous non-essential accessories I always take when backpacking, and then set about the tea bag and biscuit logistics, planning to complete the trek at the end of October 1995, scoot back to base and type it up speedily for publication in the spring of 1996. Sadly, I overlooked the fact that during the time I was there the whole country reverts from daft time to GMT, which left me with an inordinately long walk from Bridge of Orchy to Kinlochleven to do in one day, with the last hours in darkness. Not a problem in normal circumstances, but I was supposed to be working, and I couldnt write about what I couldnt see. So, at the Little Chef in Tyndrum, while consulting a Cajun chicken and chips, Plan B was devised namely, go home and finish the walk in the spring. As a result, the poor souls at Crianlarich youth hostel who thought they had seen the last of me had to put up with me again, but they were quite brave about it.