West Highland Way

Hi Alan

There are various free and paid campsites along the way of varying standards. You might find it useful to try and work out how many days you want to do it in and consider how many miles you think you can walk each day to then work out if you will be able to utilise the free areas or whether you would prefer to pay and have access to facilities like hot showers!

There are pack forwarding services if you don't want to carry all your kit with you - a lot of people seemed to do it that way when we were walking it. I think the downside is that you can't be as flexible if you decide you want to stop earlier.

April is probably quite a good time to do it as the midges won't be out yet although it's probably wise to still take some repellent just in case. Also, don't underestimate the west coast rain - you might be lucky but you will more than likely need some heavy duty waterproofs (jacket and trousers) at some point. I think we did it over about 5 days at the end of April/start of May a few years ago and it rained on us pretty solidly the whole time (our tent was floating one day so probably wise to make sure you have a decent tent too). Take some bin liners and plastic bags to use for keeping your clothes extra protected in your rucksack.

Hope that helps - good luck! Reply to this

There aren't a huge amount of shops along the way - but you do pass by quite a few hostels, hotels and campsites which often stock basic foodstuff items (or have a cafe at which you can eat even if you aren't staying). We carried enough to keep us going for the first couple of nights, then once you get onto the path down the side of Loch Lomond and beyond this is what we found...

The hotel at Rowardennan had particularly nice cake and understanding staff who didn't seem to mind everyone dumping their bags and boots at the door and padding about the place in their socks while they ate lunch.

Beinglas farm had a lovely bar, great food and a shop which had a decent selection of items. We actually ended up staying the night here to dry off a bit and get some washing done.

You need to leave the path at Crianlarich (although not by far) to pick up shops there.

There is a shop at the Wigwam campsite at Strathfillan (between Crianlarich and Tyndrum) and they also sold bacon rolls : )

Tyndrum you pass through which has a few shops and cafes/restaurants (the petrol station also has a water tap so you can fill up bottles).

There is a hotel and hostel at Bridge of Orchy although not sure what they are like - we free camped by the river here - it's not a huge site and was quite busy.

Inveroran has a hotel as does Glencoe - you can free camp next to the Kingshouse Hotel in Glencoe.

Kinlochleven has shops and then the next and final stop is Fort William - there is a campsite, hostel and bunkhouse in Glen Nevis which is a few miles prior to Fort William town centre.

Hope that helps. Am sure you have probably seen it already but the official West Highland Way website has some useful information and links. Reply to this