WHW day 7 - Final Day! Kinlochleven to Fort William 21/06/18

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Day 7: KINLOCHLEVEN TO FORT WILLIAM 15 miles (actual 16.47 miles)
Decided to have a cooked breakfast as it’s our last day walking and I haven’t had one all week. Got chatting to a NZ couple who are touring Europe & will end up in London as their first grandchild due to be born there in a couple of weeks. The B&B owner joined in chat & told us where to get best views of Loch Leven on way out of Kinlochleven. Said it was only another climb of approx 10 metres & a short detour, but it would be worth it for views as you don’t get the same unobstructed views from the WHW path. I thanked him but made mental note that we would not be taking any such detours unless we were 110% sure we were on correct road. No way was I risking getting lost & adding even more miles to our 15 miles walk today!
We set off about 8.30 and popped into Co-op for sandwich meal deal. Was a nice enough day, dry but slightly chilly but knowing we had a steep climb in front of us I took off my jacket in preparation for the strenuous climb ahead. Sure enough, after a few moments my tshirt was sticking to my back!! The path seemed to be a never ending muscle busting slog. Should be named Devils Staircase part II, because it was every bit as hard to do, but having said that, I daresay the fact that the climb was first thing and our muscles weren’t warmed up yet was making it seem much harder. Stopping to catch our breath would’ve been so much better if we didn’t get surrounded by clouds of the dreaded midgies the minute we stopped. It fair made us push on & not linger catching our breath for too long!
As we came out of the trees, I recognised the path the guy told us about, so we decided to go to the viewpoint. Wow so glad we did - it was a spectacular view - one of the best on the whole walk so I’m really glad we took his advice. Added bonus - a sneaky little private pee with no-one around! A real luxury because every time I needed to go & found a suitable spot - other walkers seemed to materialise from thin air - when there had been not a soul in sight seconds before!
As we rejoined the WHW we met the young German girl Julia, so passed on the viewpoint tip, which she later told us was a highlight for her too.
We carried on & although the weather was sunny & we had our jackets off, every now & then the wind was chilly & jackets & hoods went back on, especially when we stopped to eat our lunch. We probably had the shortest break ever on that last day as we just wanted to push on & get finished. We saw the couple we shared guesthouse on first night with quite a few times today. They were part of a group of 8 & we seemed to see some or all of them throughout the day. A few miles from Fort William there was a choice of either staying on the WHW official route or going on an old military road into Fort William, which apparently is an easier route. However we decided to stick to the original route even if it was harder because we wanted to do the whole official route.
As the massive & majestic Ben Nevis came into view I was in awe just seeing the largest mountain in Scotland in all its sun dappled glory, especially as there was not much cloud & we got great views of it (none of the photos I took truly captured the raw & overpowering beauty of the views). I was also excited because it meant we were nearly at Fort William & at the end of the 7 day slog, I mean walk ?......
However, as with the other days in the walk - the last few miles were relentless and endless! The wind dropped & it turned really warm, making the walk even more tiring. As we faced yet another steep climb I really felt like I was running on empty - like I’d used up all my reserves & for the first time felt I was REALLY struggling to keep going. I hadn’t much water left so was only taking little sips at a time to conserve it.
Once we were back on a downhill stretch, I felt better but my legs ached and my feet felt about 220* & twice their size. To make matters worse, Michelle had so far avoided al fresco toilet breaks and now needed to go but because we were so near the end, was waiting to go to a proper loo. Bad news for me cos her long legs were striding on in urgency leaving me trying hard to keep up with my failing energy levels.
Once we were down at roadside walking the last couple of miles, we passed the Ben Nevis visitor centre & thankfully they had toilets! It made the last mile of the walk much more relaxed & leisurely. We bumped into the German Girl Julia again & walked into Fort William with her.
On the outskirts of the town there was the official “end of the WHW” sign,, but I’d already read there was a new end of walk statue at the end of the high street so we got our photos taken by another party of walkers, then carried on to the other statue.
That extra part of the walk went on forever!
As we walked up the high street no-one gave us a 2nd glance & I wanted to shout out “hey we’ve just completed the west highland way!” I felt there should be some recognition for our efforts - a brass band playing, crowds cheering & medals being presented to us in a flurry of paparazzi cameras.... ?
Alas no, and we arrived at the seated bronze walker on the seat outside Wetherspoons with no fuss or excitement, other than our own hearts bursting with pride & a sense of great achievement. The couple from Bristol were there - they had just finished too so high 5’s all around & swapping of phones to take those all important end of walk proof photos.
We decided that a celebratory drink was in order so went where else but Ben Nevis Arms. Julia came too & we joined a French lassie sitting alone at the outside balcony table. She was on her honeymoon & her new hubby was in bar watching football as France were playing their World Cup game. They were touring about Scotland & were moving on to Skye the next day. Julia was also moving on to Skye but on the Saturday.
We had booked 2 nights in Fort William so was looking forward to being just tourists. We planned to visit Neptune’s Ladder & Glenfinnan viaduct.
When we left the pub, Michelle wanted to get taxi to our guest house but I insisted we just walk, telling her I’d stayed there before & it wasn’t far. Even when she pointed out google maps said it was a 35 min walk I poo-poo’d it saying no way it would take us that time, that was utter rubbish........35 mins & 1.5 miles later we reached the guesthouse amid much grumbling - oops! ?
Taking off our walking boots on arrival was best feeling ever, especially knowing they weren’t going back on in the morning!
A lovely hot shower revived us enough to go to nearby hotel for a meal. But we were quite glad to return to the guest house & chill in our PJ’s catching up on social media etc. I was sound asleep before 10pm leaving Michelle watching her Love Island!

All in all I really loved our trip. It was harder than I expected but conversely I managed better than I expected - I thought I’d have much more aches & pains. I’m proud of us both for doing it & for the money we raised for The Anchor Unit (estimated about £1000-1100).
I’d advise anyone thinking of doing it to invest in decent and waterproof walking boots & quality hiking socks - we did & only had 1 blister between us and given how rough the terrain was for most of the way - ankle support def required. I dread to think what kind of state our feet would’ve been in if we hadn’t invested in good boots. There’s hundreds of water courseways to walk through too and although there’s stepping stones - one slip & you would have very wet feet! A compeed stick is an essential piece of kit too - I attribute our daily use of this to the lack of blisters.
Quality waterproof/windproof jackets essential too, and breathable fast drying sports tshirts will make your walk more pleasurable as cotton tshirts stay wet & make you feel chilly & uncomfortable & believe me you WILL sweat going up devils staircase!

Would I do it again? Not sure. Might be tempted to do great glen walk next. Fort William to Inverness, 75 miles.
Watch this space..... ?

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