Wow! My cabin really was like a sauna last night. I didn't need to sleep in the sleeping bag at all last night, I just slept in the sleeping bag liner and I was plenty warm enough. At least all my clothes are dry again for today. The alarm was set for 07:00 so that I had enough time to have a cup of tea, pack my bag and be ready to grab my bacon and egg roll at 08:00 as soon as the kitchen opens.
I was out of the door with a hot roll in my hands by 08:15 and on the WHW straight away eating as I go
.
The first mile or so out of Kinlochleven was a climb through the forest up to a height of about 900ft and then joining on to the old military road. Once on the road it was about 5 miles through Lairigmor again with amazing panoramas around every corner. This was another wild stretch of the WHW passing by a couple of ruined farm houses and even an old rusty car. I couldn't even work out what it used to be, can you?
Looking around Lairigmor, this should be somewhere to come back to as there are 11 munro's in this valley that could quite easily be bagged in a couple of days? Anyone fancy it?
The valley seemed to go on forever with no easy low level way out, but the further I walked in to it, it was apparent that there was a break in the mountains and the valley did a sharp right hand turn.
Around this corner the path entered the forest area, which had now been harvested and there wasn't much left
. I was wondering if this was the area that they were clearing when Pippa did the walk 6 years ago, if it was, I was hoping they might have replanted it by now ;-)
Just as I approached another open area of the walk it started to snow, and quite heavy. I was glad that I was ahead of everyone and that I would be soon under the cover of the forest and not out in the moorland that I had just walked through. There is a benefit of being out up front.
I had decided that i would walk all the way without a lunch break today and then get finished as quickly as I could and then grab something nice to eat in Fort William rather than eating left overs from my rucksack, LOL
I had a couple of false alarms with Ben Nevis, but I knew as soon as I saw it (or should i say her?) that it was the right one! It would have been a perfect day today to climb Ben Nevis, but instead it's a perfect day to finish the WHW!!!!
The end of the WHW has now moved, before it used to be as you came to the first roundabout in town, which now stands a sign saying you have now reached the old official end of the West Highland Way
. Now they have moved it to the end of the high street in Fort William, so I guess I have a little way to go yet.
I finally get the new finish line at 14:00 at the end of the high street and quietly celebrate to myself, grab a passing stranger and ask him to take a photo of me next to the end sign and also next to the weary traveller statue.
1st one to finish out of our group! LOL
To reward myself I walked down to the nearest pub that was cooking food and ordered a big chicken and bacon baguette, chips and a Strongbow. I sat by the window, hoping to see some of the other group. I didn't see any one until 16:00 when I saw Clive & Rosie pass the window, a left my things in the bar and met up with them crossing the finish line. I took their photo for them and then they said the others had stopped and gone in to a bar at the start of town and weren't bothered about crossing the line
. Why not?
I went back to grab my bags and moved down to meet up with the others and have a celebratory drink together. I asked why they weren't crossing the finish line. The 2 Belgian guys said it was because they only started in Drymen and missed the start, Richard said it was because he had a train to catch and it was out of his way, and the Belgian girls didn't say why?
Each to their own, I suppose.
By 17:00 everyone had gone their separate ways, and I had arranged to meet up with Clive, Rosie and Mike this evening for a farewell drink. Although they did invite me out with them to the seafood restaurant on by the lochside, I declined and headed out alone.
I had been given a recommendation from Tim, that I should head down to the Grog & Gruel for a wild boar burger. So that's what I did. I was going to eat in the bar area but it was too busy and there weren't any free tables so I headed upstairs to the restaurant and ate up there
.
The boar burger was very nice and I am glad I popped over here. It was a huge burger with loads of chips, after all the food I've had today, I won't need to eat for ages! Clive, Rosie & Mike came over after their dinner and joined me in the pub for one last drink. We swapped email addresses and promised to share some photos.
And that was it? Would I do it again, NO! The weather was so good (eventually) that I think if I did it again, it would not be as good and would ruin the memories. If someone was to ask me if I think they should do it, I would definitely recommend it to them, but they should do the whole thing and in at least 7 days, not 6 that I did it in. The first 2 days were too much really.
What next? Hmmmm!
Day 6 - Kinlochleven to Fort William (16 miles)
Saturday, November 03, 2012
Fort William, Scotland, United Kingdom
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2025-02-06