Kinlocheven to Fort William - 14.5 miles
Wake up to early to the patter of rain on the roof of our pod, luckily it soon passes over and we set off on our last day once again in the sunshine…we've actually been pretty lucky with the weather, it could've been a lot worse and it was fine for all the bits where it really mattered! After a slight confusion with the guide book we end up doing a complete loop around town before emerging about a 100 yards from where we set off…apart from this it has been pretty much impossible to get lost on this walk, i've never seen a long distance path with quite so many signposts!
We stop off at the co-op for supplies and set off on the trail about half past nine, it's a steep climb out of Kinlocheven on a winding trail through the forest and then onto a military road alongside the mountains with beautiful views over Loch Leven.
With lots of people setting off from Kinlocheven it's by far the busiest day so far on the walk and everyone we pass is in high spirits, excited to be so close to Fort William and to the finish.
We walk along a path through the valley to the Lairigmor pass encountering every type of weather imaginable, sunshine, rain, hailstones..you name it!
We stop off for sandwiches and enjoy watching all the other walkers coming past and randomly a husky dog club out for a days training.
From here the path heads through forest plantations where we get our first view of Ben Nevis, which we climbed several years ago on a holiday up to Scotland… it looks absolutely huge, I can't quite believe we've been to the top!
The final section is through forests and finally onto a road heading down into Glen Nevis, i'm getting quite weary by this point and it's a bit of a slog along the road into the centre of Fort William. We finally reach the old finish of the walk at the edge of town just after half past 3 and stop for photos before making our way to the new finish which is about another mile further on at the far end of town, passing through the main high street it really is a matter of 'exit through the gift shop'!
We drag ourselves to the bench where there is a statue of a weary walker and also a really cool map of the route on the pavement alongside it. We take our photos and have a moment to reflect on this amazing little adventure that has just come to an end.
As much as we were pleased to have finished we were also a bit sad that it was all over, it had been one of the loveliest long distance paths we have done both in terms of the people we met and the amazing scenery along the way, hopefully one day we'll come back and walk it all over again!
No comments:
Post a Comment