Scotland 2025 - Sept 18 - West Highland Way

Red squirrel!

Over breakfast at the B&B, the conversation included the red squirrels of the area. They are kind cute and quite a thrill for some - the ladies from Australia were so happy when this little guy showed up. 

We left the dry warmth of Inverardran House in Crianlarich, and stepped into the rain to begin a long long day. 

We had at least a kilometer before we even got back to the West Highland Way (WHW), adding to our long journey, before it really started. 

But on we trekked to the trail.

Photo below of Duff by a tree root - many trees along the edges of logged fields look to have been pushed over and they make a line of these giant root circles. 

This was the trail this morning. Wet and windy. 

The winds were quite fierce and the rain made for slow going, head down hiking, but we braved a few photos on the way. 

These open areas were cold and windy. Much of the land has been logged, with many small seedlings replacing the giants. (See above for a parcel of trees left standing.)

We were happy to get back into some amazing forests. Moss covered trees, mountain streams and challenging trails. 

Note the straight line of these trees - clearly planted many years ago as part of the forest management (below).

 

We were never far from a stream or waterfall today, and we passed by (and under and over) some lovely old bridges. 

We passed the ruins of St Fillan, including a very old cemetery.

The West Highland Way does not have many stops along the way, we walked for miles without seeing any structures. But we were happy that Tyndrum was on our route, just at exactly our lunchtime today .

The Good Food Cafe did not disappoint. Soup and fries, a hikers lunch to be sure! 

 

And the view from our table was the bird feeders, and the birds were also in the mood for some lunch.

Stopping for lunch after 13 kilometers is not that easy, in terms of starting again. But we had miles to go before our next hotel, and so on we hiked. 

The rain was on again, off again, as were our coats. On...

Off...

Parts of the trail we had company. The goats were using the rocks to scratch, and some were all but dancing with the boulders. 

They didn't seem fussed by us, and rarely even gave us a look to say hello. 

We both love to hike. We really enjoy the first 15 kilometers of our hikes..... but as Strava hit 24 KMS today we were very, very happy to see our hotel. 

We have really enjoyed our time on the West Highland Way. Tomorrow we will hop back on a train up to Fort William to take on some new challenges. 

From the top of Loch Lomond to the Bridge of Orchy we have covered about 40 of the 154 kilometers of the trail. 

It has been beautiful and challenging, and we are grateful for the opportunity. 

Photos of the Bridge of Orchy tomorrow I promise. I just couldn't go out in the rain again once we got here and were clean and warm and dry and shoeless.