Hello all.
My wife will be in Scotland for 2 weeks this September.
Wondering if anyone has had any experience with hiking the West Highland Way? We were thinking of a 4 day point to point. Looking for an operator to do the bag transfer. Any help is much appreciated.
We used Contours Walking Holidays. However, Contours packages the luggage supported tour with options ranging from 5 walking days ("strenuous") to 9 walking days ("moderate"): https://www.contours.co.uk/west-highland-way
We did the 8 walking day option. The 7 walking day itinerary seemed to be the usual taken.
Book early for better overnight options. Tour operator Contour notes:
Important information Please note that accommodation along the West
Highland Way is in extremely high demand, so be sure to await
confirmation of your booking before making firm travel plans. May and
June 2022 is now fully booked.As an additional side-effect of this high demand, accommodation
providers at the Kingshouse and Bridge of Orchy overnight stops have
limited availability for their standard rooms. If these rooms are not
available transfers to nearby accommodation will be provided.
Alternatively if you are happy to pay an upgrade supplement to stay at
these two locations please advise this on your booking form. NB: We
will request payment for any upgrade supplement upfront.Kingshouse also has a two night minimum booking policy at weekends.
Therefore, when picking your holiday dates we would advise that you
avoid arriving at Kingshouse on a Friday or Saturday night, unless you
would like to book an extra night there. An upgrade supplement may
still apply for a two night stay.Finally, our West Highland Way tours no longer include a night's
accommodation at the start of the trail at Milngavie, due to
difficulties with room availability. Unlike our other tours, you will
need to arrive at the start of the trail, drop off your bags and begin
walking immediately.
Just noticed that Contours has a WHW running tour option:
https://www.contoursrun.co.uk/run-west-highland-way
4 running days:
https://www.contoursrun.co.uk/run-west-highland-way#R-WHW3X
Start Travel to Milngavie to drop off your bags and begin walking
immediately to Rowardennan(L). 26 miles (42km) / 2995 ft (913 m)
ascentDay 1 Rowardennan(L) to Crianlarich. 21 miles (33.5km) / 2799 ft (853
m) ascentDay 2 Crianlarich to Kingshouse(L). 26 miles (41.5km) / 2979 ft (908
m) ascentDay 3 Kingshouse(L) to Fort William. 23.5 miles (37.5km) / 3327 ft
(1014 m) ascentFinish Depart from Fort William after breakfast
And if you want to save a few GBP you can run it in 3 days.
We did the West Highland Way in 2015 and booked through Mickledore Travel, whom we highly recommend. We have done seven long distance walks in the UK, and each walk has used a different luggage transfer service, and doing the Coast to Coast used one for each half. They've all been fine, but I don't remember the names of any.
Contours includes lodging with quarter board (breakfast). That said, breakfast times may be limited and not consistent with an early start. Also note that dinner options may be limited.
It’s a bit of an ask to do the full thing in four days. The schedule shown for four days above strikes me as nuts and would involve some very long and tiring days. I think if you tried that, even if you were really strong hikers, it would be more ordeal as opposed to enjoyable. However if you just wanted to spend four days on the trail at a ‘regular’ pace, then it’s generally reckoned that the trail gets more rugged, impressive and scenic the further north you go. Thus if you were only going to do four days, I’d do the top half of the route from either Tyndrum or Bridge of Orchy through to Fort William.
Check out the West Highland Way National Trail website which will give you staging suggestions and distances, altitude climbed and lost and some accommodation suggestions. It’s a while since we did it but the WHW remains one of my favourite long distance walks.
I've also looked at the four day schedule and agree with Ian and Julie that it is gruelling. Not only are you covering long distances each day, there is a fair bit of climbing involved too. There are two days when you cover 26 miles. Assuming 3 miles per hour, which is a fair old pace to keep up for a full day, that is nearly 9 hours of solid walking...
We used Contours a few years ago, and took 8 days to hike the entire way. But Contours will work with you, I think, to accommodate your schedule. I believe you can do part of the WHW; in fact I have heard of many people that will do the first 4 days, or the last 4 days. Personally, I would select the last 4 days as you are in the Highlands at that time.
To enlarge on the excellent point made by wasleys above, I tend to calculate how long a walk will take by calculating at an average of 2mph. On the last major long distance trail I did, the Pennine Way, we averaged just a fraction over 2mph over the course of the whole 260-odd mile trail. This allowed us to enjoy it as opposed to just galloping through it just to tick the miles off. Although getting on a bit back then, we’d prepared thoroughly, trained hard and had plenty of long distance walking experience. These days, I think as Howling Wolf memorably had it, “I’m built for comfort, not for speed” and would plan to enjoy it rather than suffer just for the sake of it!
