Is the West Highland Way hard? An honest guide

The West Highland Way runs from Milngavie, on the edge of Glasgow, to Fort William. Scotland's Great Trails calls it well waymarked, and its highest point is 545 metres by our terrain. It is still a week of long days in the Highlands. Here is what the numbers say, and what they leave out.

The numbers

Distance

95 mi

153 km on our line

High point

545 m

the Devil's Staircase, by our terrain

Total climb

2,902 m

by our terrain; a floor, not a ceiling

Scotland's Great Trails gives 3,155 metres of ascent. Ours is lower because our heights for Scotland come from coarser terrain data than the LIDAR we use in England, which smooths the small ups and downs: treat our figure as a floor. Spread over the planner's seven days, it is about 415 metres of climbing a day.

Four climbs stand out, each of about 300 metres: out of Kinlochleven on the last morning, the biggest; from Inverarnan up past Crianlarich; from the Kingshouse side to the top of the Devil's Staircase; and from Gartness up Conic Hill.

What makes it hard anyway

Rannoch Moor. Scotland's Great Trails calls it very exposed, and the section north of Tyndrum is, in Wikipedia's words, one of the most remote on the Way, with little in the way of settlements.

One night without a bed. In the planner's seven-day split, the fifth day ends at Ba Bridge, out on the moor, where OpenStreetMap has only campsites. The next bed on the map is at Kingshouse, 30 kilometres from Tyndrum: further than the planner's steady pace allows in a day. So seven days means carrying a tent for one night, or walking one 19-mile day, or adding a day. Where to stay on the West Highland Way goes night by night.

Winter. The Management Group says that from November to March winter conditions can be expected, and walkers must be fully prepared and properly equipped.

Midges. Usually from June until August, the Management Group says.

What makes it easier than you think

Waymarking. Scotland's Great Trails says map-and-compass skills, though always desirable, are not essential.

Trains at both ends, and in the middle. Milngavie station is 200 metres from the start, with trains every 30 minutes from Glasgow; Fort William is 700 metres from the finish, with the Caledonian Sleeper to London six nights a week. Crianlarich, Upper Tyndrum and Bridge of Orchy have stations near the path, if a day goes wrong.

Water and food. The map has 32 taps within 400 metres of the path and food every day of the seven-day split. Water and lunch on the West Highland Way has the gaps.

So who is it for?

If you can walk fifteen miles a day with a 300-metre climb in it, you can walk the West Highland Way in a week. Scotland's Great Trails gives five to eight days and recommends seven or eight. The planner shows what any number of days looks like, and for each night it says that the beds were counted from OpenStreetMap, not listed or checked: a bed on a map is not a bed booked.

Build your walkWest Highland Way in 7 days95 mi · about 14 miles a dayOpen the planner →