Great Glen Way or West Highland Way?

No takers, huh? Lake District. Not sure what loop, there's probably several ways to build one. A couple of hikes five years ago and a time-killer last month. Monotonous. Great Glen. Only walked little chunks, but driven the road a bunch of times, plus a round-trip boat run from Inverness to Ft William and back. Last drive was either October or November. Can't think of a reason I'd want to walk the whole thing. If there's something similar along the north side of Loch Tay, that'd be a winner since its up high. The West Highland is a winner any time. It changes constantly as you go along. Done it twice, once in each direction. You may be over-estimating the time it takes. Once was six days which was almost okay. Once was seven, but spent one of those holed up on account of rain. It could probably be done in five, but I never could make the sleeping stops work out right. Pam'll probably blow me away on the eastern end of the Great Glen, but I'm sticking to my guns.

Thanks for moving it up and stating your case. Sounds like a clear vote for the West Highland Way. I fixed the title so maybe that will help. I'll await Pam's resonse and then probably that will be all I'll get. Basically I need to get it down to 7 days of walking, and maybe we can do that by simply starting the WHW in Drymen. I'm just not sure if we want to commit to multiple days of 14+ miles. The last time I walked 14 in a day was from the North Rim to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Maybe that is not a valid comparison. . . And maybe we could build up our mileage by next May.

We've only done the West Highland Way, but it was a delight. Beautiful scenery, lovely places to stay along the way, and the really long day was softened by the prospect of "the end" Would love to do it again.

Oh Ed, the west is great! It just rains there. :) A lot! Pam

Ok, we can deal with rain. We are from Seattle, 'nuff said. Seariously, if the the West Highland wayis way the best for scenery, terrain and experience then that is what we will do. I walked the whole John Muir Trail in the Sierras some years ago (like 40) and love the feeling that comes from the accomplishment. But now we are much older and need to consider limitations. I have looked at itineraries for the WHW way over 8 days, with several 14 mile days which should be OK, and one longer one. If we could start in Drymen that would bring it to 7 days. Ed, if you could suggest a scenic and not boring 3 -day walk in the Lake District, ot a different area for walking on our way between London and Glasgow for the WHW, I would love to hear it. Even better if it involves coastal scenery. the walk I ws considering goes from somewhere south of Keswick,into Keswick, over three days. Would love to hear of alternatives.

Can't give you a comparison having only done the WHW. that said, the West Highlands is a wonderful experience. We did the 8 walking days version taking two days to walk from Tyndrum to Kingshouse and glad to have had two short 10 mile days. We beat the rain on the walk to Kingshouse and watched the walkers from Tyndrum coming in looking like something the cat dragged in. In terms of short Lake District loops, we followed up our WHW walk with a 3 day walk from Windermere to Grasmere to Coniston then back to Windermere. Its an enjoyable walk but the towns are big compared to the WHW or Coast to Coast villages. A good contrast to the WHW. The Peter Rabbit author's estate is near Consist on but we were walking in a downpour and didn't do much looking up until we got to the ferry.

You've got my whole brain dump for hiking in all the places you've brought up. Get back to me if you want to know about stones in Scotland, hiking in Wales, or hiking in the Pyrenees. Otherwise, buzz off. Speaking of which, coastal walking is great along the south side of the Menai or from Cardigan to Fishguard. And what cat got Motor-Mouth-Pam's tongue. She's the one with all the good scoop.