r/OutdoorScotland • u/Tight_Investment_672 • 3d ago
West highland way thru hike in 4 days
My partner and I are outdoor enthusiasts from Hertfordshire, and most weekends you'll find us wild camping somewhere. Usually in the Lakes or Wales. We don’t mind the journey when it means being out in nature, waking up under the sky.
So far, we've completed part of a thru-hike in Belgium, tackled the GR131 across Tenerife, and walked the Cumbria Way. But this time, we decided to go a little further, our first time ever in Scotland, and to walk the full West Highland Way.
We drove through the night and arrived late, seeing very little on the way up. But when we woke the next morning, we made our way to Fort William and began hitchhiking to the start. Driving through Glencoe was unreal! One of those landscapes you feel deep in your chest. We tried not to take it all in from the car, knowing we wanted to experience it properly on foot.
It took us three hitchhikes to get to the starting point and along the way, we made some lovely connections, both with drivers and fellow hikers on the trail. If anyone remembers us, hello again! So many of you have left footprints on our hearts.
The trail itself was breathtaking! Truly one of the most beautiful routes we've done. We wild camped every night and completed it in four days. It’s the busiest trail we’ve been on so far, but even with that, there were long, peaceful stretches where it felt like we had the highlands to ourselves.
We met all sorts of people doing it in their own way, and that’s what makes the WHW so special. Whether you're wild camping, using bag transfers, staying in Airbnbs, or anything in between. It’s all valid. Just get outside, however it works for you.
We were lucky to avoid midges and found wild camping spots fairly easily - though do be mindful of the restricted zones. One of our all-time favourite camps was the first night at Conic Hill, absolutely magical.
There are lots of resupply options during the first half of the trail, but after the Green Welly Stop, they're few and far between… We’d recommend stocking up well there. It was hands down the best service stop of the journey.
We filmed the whole thing, if you'd like to watch it - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=mouN7-Ugd727L-yE...]
we'd love it if you gave it a comment, like, or even a cheeky subscribe.
Right now, we’re chasing the Wainwrights in the Lake District. After two weekends of fell-bagging, we’re almost done with Book One! Only three fells left. We’re documenting that journey too and teaching ourselves to get more cinematic as we go.
We’ve had a bit of a wild ride through life, full of twists, lessons, and unexpected turns and somewhere along the way, we fell in love with the outdoors. It’s changed everything for us. We’re slowly crafting a video to tell that whole story, piece by piece. It’s taking time, but it means a lot to us and we hope, when it’s done, it’ll mean something to you too.
Thanks for reading. Hopefully, we’ll cross paths out there sometime soon
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u/TheGruesomeTwosome 3d ago
~40km per day for 4 days straight with full camping gear is fairly intensive, how long were your days of walking?
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u/Tight_Investment_672 1d ago
we got up for sunrise and camped up just before or just after sunset most days
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u/slayergrl99 1d ago
You've posted this exact same post 6 or 7 times, with your YouTube channel. This feels to me like view farming.
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u/Tight_Investment_672 1d ago
just posted in different threads, i believe people would be interested in
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u/EpexSpex 2d ago
4 days. With all your gear. Are you built like brick shithouses. Jesus.
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u/Tight_Investment_672 1d ago
hahaha, we are quite an active and motivated couple... have done a few long distance hikes prior to this one so we're quite used to it all now :)
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u/CaledoniaSun 3d ago
Well done.
I have to say though (putting my grumpy old man hat on), I hate the term “thru hike”. It’s one of those pithy Americanisms that’s usurped plenty of suitable words and terms we already have. In Scotland the West Highland Way is known as a “long distance walk”, or simply “a jaunt”.
(Takes grumpy old man hat off)