West Highland Way - day 9

Monday 12 June - day 9 - Inveronen to Kingshouse

When we awoke we were greeted by more rain. It looked as if the forecast for further rain was correct. Oh well, at least we could rug up and put on our wet weather gear (again).

The breakfast at the Inveroran Hotel was good. Once gain porridge was an option which we both took. Coffee and toast appeared almost as soon as we sat down. As scrambled eggs were an option we both elected to have them ... and they were good.

Given that it was going to be a long day today, 16km, with no where to stop until the 13km mark, we opted to take a thermos of coffee with us. This proved to be a good decision as it allowed us to have two coffee stops along the track even if the cups were small and the coffee luke warm ... a welcome pick me up.

Jen enjoying a coffee break

The initial section today took us along the road. This was a single lane section servicing the few residences beyond Inveroran. There was not much in the way of traffic to be concerned about.

Shortly after setting out we came to the first of many bridges we were to see and cross during the day. There was a flat area next to the stream and four tents were occupying the soggy looking ground. To get down to the tent area was a stile albeit a little different to other ones we have seen.

Due to the persistent rain there was quite a volume of water coming down the sides of the mountains and feeding the streams.

Once we left the single lane road we picked up a military road. The military roads have existed to centuries. By the end of the 18th century some were in poor condition and were no longer suitble to be used by traders. In the early 1800s it was decided that the military roads should be repaired and they were. The surface was made all weather by covering it with stones and rocks. This made walking much easier for us when compared with sloshy surfaces that we had encountered on some of the earlier days.

The weather was quite variable. At times we were surprised by patches of sunshine. There was no relationship between sunhine and rain as it was sometimes raining, blown by a strong wind, when we in a bright patch of light.

Until today I had only seen isolated plants of heather. Today it was much more prevalent although not as concentrated as we saw on the Yorkshire Moors when doing the coast to coast. Along the tracks there has been quite a bit of heather. The new, young plants have began to flower while the older, woodier ones are a way off yet. I doubt that we will see extensive areas of flowering heather.


Low cloud persisted throughout the day. It sometimes blew away to reveal the top of a peak here or there only to be replaced shortly after by another bank of cloud. Between the cloud and rain it was difficult to see furhter than the nearest peaks.

We made good time today due to the good, firm surface that we were walking on. We stopped for a quick drink a little after we had completed 4kms. This stop was on a bridge which allowed us to take the weight off our feet for a short time.

We stopped for the first of our coffee breaks a little after 8kms. We came across a spot with some rocks that we could sit on and took advantage of them. We had no sooner sat down when a small bird appeared obviously hoping for crumbs. Jen thought that it might be encouraged to stay if she gave it a hunk of her museli bar. The cheeky little thing just grabbed the offering and flew away. Fortunately it did not go far and I did manage to get a photo of it.

We have come across some odd people over the past nine days however the lady we saw today takes the cake. I didn't get a photo even though we saw her a number of times. She was wearing shorts/skirt. Interesting in the cold conditions. She did not appear to have a waterprrof jacket instead she was walking along with an umbrella in one hand and a walking pole in the other. Considering that high winds (with gusts up to 50mph) were forcast for the area I'm not sure how she intended to manage the rain in the predicted windy condistionsand it was windy at times.

Just after the 12km mark we stopped for our second lot of coffee. By that time we had seen Kingshouse off in the distance so knew that we were almost there. It still took a further hour to reach, though.

There is a hotel at Kingshouse however it is being refurbished and is not open. Next door to the hotel is a bunkhouse which is where we are staying for the night.This is a second bunk house experience and  the Kingshouse Bunkhouse is certinly supaerior to our earlier one. The bunk house is adjacent to a cafe which operates from 7:30am through to 11:00pm. We took advantage of the cafe offerings to warm up and dry off until we could get into the bunkhouse at 2:00pm.

The rain persisted for the rest of the day. The bunkhouse drying room was quickly filled with wet gear. We contributed our stuff, too.

A couple of observations. We have seen a heap of people walking with dogs. Some appear to be locals taking advantage of the tracks to exercise their canine friends. Others appeared to be people walking the West Highland Way with their doggy companion. Many hotels and cafes cater for the 4 legged walkers along with the 2 legged ones. Quite often there will be signs near the entrance door stating that walkers and/or dogs are welcome. At Tyndrum we saw a notice in a bar "Please leave your socks and boots on while in the bar". A bit novel.

Statistics for day 9: distance walked 15.53 km; elevation gain: 411m

Don't ask about the temperature or the amount of rain!

West Highland Way - day 8

Sunday 11 June - day 8 - Tyndrum to Bridge of Orchy then to Inveroran

We awoke to yet another wet day. Such is life.

After a pleasant breakfast we headed out into the rain. At this stage it had eased off and was light.

We ducked in the the Green Whelly to grab some supplies for the day, a couple of demi baquettes and 4 bananas, to supplement our various other bits and pieces. We had 14.5kms ahead of us and were not sure of how many opportunities we would get to stop.

Someone had a sense of humour. The sign on this fence free gate read "Please close the gate"

Today we walked on fairly good surfaces. most of the way was on old military roads which meant that they were fairly firm underfoot. It also meant that they acted like creeks and were often awash with water.

There were a number of stiles today (our theme for the day) and another sheep creep ... this time passing under the railway line.

Our second sheep creep

We also encountered a number of stone bridges some of which were noteworthy.

The rain kept on coming and going as we walked. Sometimes it was a light drizzle. At other times it was much heavier.

We came across some highland cattle. They were very unfazed by the people walking passed

A group of "walkers" we encountered. There were a number of groups out for a Sunday stroll as well as runners and people on bikes (in addition to this youngster)

Cloud kept sweeping through obscuring the tops of the mountains. Just when we would think that we would get clearer views it either began to rain or fresh cloud moved in. Still, some of the photos were OK.

We were pleased to see Bridge of Orchy appear just on 11kms from when we set out. The pub was an impressive building and was doing a good trade with the passing walkers.

After a lunch of soup and a coffee it was out into the weather again for a further 4km to complete our days walk.

Water was pouring under the Bridge of Orchy as we passed over it.

From Bridge of Orchy we had a steady climb up through a pine forest before passing across moorland where we were hit by strong gusts of wind and driving rain. When the rain cleared we did get some pleasant views.

We were pleased to see the small cluster of buildings at Inveroran even if it seemed to take ages to zigzag down the hill to the settlement.

It was great to strip off our wet outer layers and then have a warm shower.

After dinner I went out to look at the rather wet countryside in the vicinity. The stream which runs next to the hotel was a frothy, churning mass of water with waves of a foot or so.

By the time I returned to the hotel three deer had wandered into the yard. It seem that the local deer are happy to pinch any scraps from the kitchen they can find.

All up we walked 14.84kms with an elevation gain of 358m.



There is no wifi access at Inveroran and EE, my service provider, is only showing up very intermitantly hence the delay in posting day 8.

West Highland Way - day 7

Saturday 10 June - Crianlarich to Tyndrum

We awoke to yet more drizzle. Our hope that it might clear did not eventuate until after we arrived in Tyndrum. Such is life.

After breakfast I completed the blog for day 6 before we departed the hotel, just on 10 o'clock.

The first part of the walk was climbing up the 1.25km trail through the conifer forest to get back to the WHW.

1.25kms and we were back at the WHW

 Once on the track again we continued to climb through trees with the odd grassy slope. At one point we popped out onto what may be a lovely grassy spot with a table. It would be pleasant if the ground was dry and the seats, too.

What lovely black mud

Views from the lookout ... a pity that the mountains were obscured by cloud

There were yet more burns (creeks/rivers) and bridges.

and burns:

The track through the forest was generally pleasant with gentle undulations.

At one point we crossed over the A82.

We then crossed the Fillan River which was wider than most we had seen and not nearly as fast flowing. The track at this point took us up to Kirkton Farm which is on the site of St Fillan's Chapel. From teh track we should have been able to see a number of mountains however they were just ghostly images of something in the distance.

Ghostly images of mountains

Kirkton Farm

St Fillan was an Irish evangelist who, like many other missionaries, had come to Scotland to convert the Picts and the Scots to Christianity in the 7th century. He was active in the area and it is possible that he had a chapel on the site of the priory remains on Kirkton Farm.

Priory remains

A 12th century monastery on this site was made into a priory in 1318 by Robert the Bruce who was a strong believer in the cult of St Fillan.

A short distance past Kirkton Farm was another farm which offered camping, wigwams and a shop which had food and drink and a place to site. Jen and I happily took advantage of their service and enjoyed the first sit down break in our walk for quite a few days. While we were eating our lunch I looked up and saw a mouse sitting quite near my pack. It was unperturbed by nearby people. Cheeky little thing!





Shortly after leaving our spot we cross the A82 again. This time through an underpass.

The track then ran alongside the River Cononish which was surprisingly quiet, lacking the turbulance caused by boulders and drops. Even so, every now and again it did have a race and drop.

We easily found our B&B in Tyndrum and our hostess welcomed us with hot drinks and home baking.

At times after our arrival in Tyndrum we had blue sky and sunshine. Hopefully blue skies and sunshine will be our over the last few days of our walk.

Flower of the day:

Meadow buttercups

We came across a number of black lambs in a flock today:

Statistics for day 7:

Distance walked: 10.29km
Elevation gain: 317m

Note for Trevor: I have come across quite a few of the large black slugs, similar to the ones  we saw when we were doing the Coast to Coast.

Wherever we have walked we have come across a heap of birds both big and small. In some cases we have not seen the birds but have certainly heard them. They even sound cheerful in the rain. Perhaps they are telling their friends "Here is another pair of mad humans!"