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The West Highland Way


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Guest TPAFKATS

It's the wee places I like too - parked up in Bearsden Cross recently, and walked two minutes away to see the Roman Bath House ruins. Fabulous - and very well presented with excellent signage and graphics showing how it would have looked in Roman times. I stood thinking 'what the hell were these guys doing so far from Rome, in those days with, erm, no direct flights... You know what I mean. How tough, how mentally and physically tough were these people? There it is, right in front of you in urban Bearsden. The shops and cafes, restaurants etc around that square area opposite Bearsden town hall are excellent too. A gem of a place for a wee half-day out.

There must be hundreds of 'smaller' places that we like visiting. Someone should start a thread for tips and suggestions for good wee places to visit.

Slazenger sports socks and adidas trainers with your toga?

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Slazenger sports socks and adidas trainers with your toga?

It's the wee places I like too - parked up in Bearsden Cross recently, and walked two minutes away to see the Roman Bath House ruins. Fabulous - and very well presented with excellent signage and graphics showing how it would have looked in Roman times. I stood thinking 'what the hell were these guys doing so far from Rome, in those days with, erm, no direct flights... You know what I mean. How tough, how mentally and physically tough were these people? There it is, right in front of you in urban Bearsden. The shops and cafes, restaurants etc around that square area opposite Bearsden town hall are excellent too. A gem of a place for a wee half-day out.

There must be hundreds of 'smaller' places that we like visiting. Someone should start a thread for tips and suggestions for good wee places to visit.

Good idea, on you go and start one. The above would make an excellent opening post.

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I just love visiting the Wallace monument in Stirling.

Someone had the vision to build such an amazing monument. It took 8 years to build - but the fact it is still standing never ceases to amaze me.

The same goes for the Forth Bridge - whenever I'm over that way I tend to do a detour, stop and just take the time to take it all in and think of the effort that it took to complete.

Living in Elderslie I also visit the local monument - wish our council would do something more to atract more visitors, but I guess they cannot see past doing up the Paisley attractions.

On the subject of walking - some day I'd love to walk the West Highland Way & also Hadrian's Wall which is another interesting part of our nations history.

I knew David Ross who walked 450miles to London as part of the http://www.walkforwallace.com David sadly died a few years ago. An inspirational man and he wrote a good few books on Scotland - he was also a biker. I enjoyed his books. Great guy - sadly taken from us too soon.

I guess having lived in a foreign country for 20years I have come to appreciate more of what this country has to offer.

Wallace monument at Stirling (not THAT old! ) and elderslie (I strolled through it last week) both down to Victorian and empire confidence and the excess of wealth that generated. As is the Forth Rail Bridge. Great spots. By choice, I go to all on tours I lead... To inflict the glories on Furriners. And Hadrian's Wall. Has anyBuddie mentioned how f**kin brilliant Scotland is? And so is Hadrian's wa'...

With garzo, on here, and another good Buddie,St Reatham, I did the culminating leg of the walk for Wallace. Sobering.

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There must be hundreds of 'smaller' places that we like visiting. Someone should start a thread for tips and suggestions for good wee places to visit.

I'd bet there's a business opportunity in there, offering trips to such places led by enthusiastic auld gits with nothing better to do with their time! :)

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I did it last August and it was fantastic. We used a bag carrying service and stayed in hotels/b&bs. The split was:

Day 1 Milngavie to Balmaha 20 miles

Day 2 Balmaha to Inverarnan 20 miles

Day 3 Inverarnan to Inveroran 21 miles

Day 4 Inveroran to Kinlochleven 19 miles

Day 5 Kinlochleven to Fort William 16 miles

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See all yon fancy footwear, special socks, plasters, etc.......

Just how the hell did our ancestors ever manage without them.....feck me Charles Edward Stuart's army made it all the way down to Derby and here we are complaining about a 90mile walk.

They didnae sit in offices most days pissing about on the Internet...

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See all yon fancy footwear, special socks, plasters, etc.......

Just how the hell did our ancestors ever manage without them.....feck me Charles Edward Stuart's army made it all the way down to Derby and here we are complaining about a 90mile walk.

If they had Compeed, they'd have reached London. :)

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See all yon fancy footwear, special socks, plasters, etc.......

Just how the hell did our ancestors ever manage without them.....feck me Charles Edward Stuart's army made it all the way down to Derby and here we are complaining about a 90mile walk.

The youngest of our party (by a good 10 years on the second youngest and a few more on me) had to give up halfway because he didn't break in his boots. Turned out he'd broken a toe!

That's the thing people never mention, the stress on your toes caused by the downhill bits - I lost 5 toenails altogether. Always promised I'd mention it if anyone asked, can't offer any solution but forewarned is forearmed.

Edited by salmonbuddie
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See all yon fancy footwear, special socks, plasters, etc.......

Just how the hell did our ancestors ever manage without them.....feck me Charles Edward Stuart's army made it all the way down to Derby and here we are complaining about a 90mile walk.

I believe , that the highlanders would zig-zag there way down a hill/mountain and could so quickly. .

I would imagine that not all of them had shoes , although , they did confiscate the shoes of the people of Dumfries , on-route. .

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If you're taking your time doing the WHW, I'd recommend doing some Munro's on the way even if it means spending an extra night in some places. There are some cracking hills along the route that are well worth a visit for the views and if you were really adventurous you could follow the rough route of the WHW over something like 20 Munros.

A few years ago I spent a night at Inveroran hotel just a few miles from Bridge of Orchy, had a few beers, a good night's sleep and a good breakfast. Picked up my rucksack and with a hoard of others headed along part of the WHW until we came to a fork in the path and I was the only to turn left. A few people stopped and were unsure whether to follow me or follow the crowd, I then had a cracking walk up and over Stoba a'Choire Odhair and Stob Gabhar and didn't see another person until I was walking back towards the hotel.

Regarding footwear, if the weather's good enough I like to take a pair of hiking sandals with me, hiking boots are heavy and if I get the chance lower down I like to get the boots off put on the sandals and have a paddle in a river to cool my feet then walk back along the road in the sandals. Don't expect Doc Marten's or Cat boots to be good enough after a few miles you will feel every stone you step on through the soles of the boots, you'd be better off getting a good pair of hiking trainers than wear either of these. The best option is to go to Ellis Brigham at Xscape, Cotswold Outdoor in Silverburn or Tiso in Glasgow and talk to the staff. Tiso's is really good as they have a path inside the store that you can try the boots on before buying them. Don't just buy boots because they are a well known name, I got a pair of lightweight Crispi boots a few years ago and they have now virtually replaced my leather boots for hill walking. I only wear the leather ones when conditions are good (or bad) enough to need crampons.

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I did it last August and it was fantastic. We used a bag carrying service and stayed in hotels/b&bs. The split was:

Day 1 Milngavie to Balmaha 20 miles

Day 2 Balmaha to Inverarnan 20 miles

Day 3 Inverarnan to Inveroran 21 miles

Day 4 Inveroran to Kinlochleven 19 miles

Day 5 Kinlochleven to Fort William 16 miles

This is the way to do it. Potential to swap Inveroran for Bridge of Orchy. Not much in it.

Anyone who does the WHW in more than 5 days is one of the following:-

1) A lazy bassturt

2) A girl

3) the blouse belonging to a big girl

I've done it 3 times over 5 days and the only mistake I've made was the first time, when me and my mate slightly underestimated walking 27 miles from Milngavie to Rowardennan in the pishing rain. Don't think I've ever been quite so knackered in my puff as I was that night. We were rewarded though with the following 4 days being absolutely glorious sunshine.

As others have said, as long as you are even half fit, wear the proper footwear and look after your feet, then it's a walk in the park (albeit a very beautiful park). The only section that can be tough (more mentally than physically) is the section between Inversnaid and Inverarnan. It's only about 6 or 7 miles, but because it is really slow going, it seems to last forever and can be a bit soul destroying.

Highly recommended. In fact think I might do it again soon.

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We did it (two of us, both in late 40's) in five days in 2012. One of our mates drove a support vehicle with all the gear and we camped every night. We just carried day-packs for lunches and waterproofs. We had tried it the year before carrying the gear but only got as far as Balmaha before heading home, chastened, knackered, on the bus. You need to be special forces fit for that malrkey. Worst part of the trip was having to do my only uncivilised (al fresco) dump at Inveroran, under a bridge with the midges biting every, yes, every, exposed bit of flesh, willie, scrote, sphincter, etc, etc. Mind, having survived that, I might be special forces-capable under interrogation.

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