MANY folks looked bemused when I told them I was planning to walk the West Highland Way at the end of October with my husband and two close friends. The nights were drawing in, temperatures would surely start to dip and conditions were likely to become harsher.
A kind man behind the counter of Glengoyne Distillery – a common stop on your first day between Milngavie and Drymen – also questioned why we had chosen this time of year to set out on a 96 mile trek to the Highlands.
The simple truth is, it was the only time in the year all of us could manage, and for a while we shrugged off outside doubts about whether we were foolish.
As the clocks went back an hour the night before we set off, we did start to wonder if we were a little on the mad side, but we swallowed our slight anxiety and faced the road ahead.
In some ways, the fears folks had about fading light did cause some issues, though if we had been able to extend our trip by a day or two these could have been overcome. I’ll get to that.
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However, before I do, there are so many reasons I feel this accidentally became a great time of year to walk the famous route. Firstly, it was extremely quiet. We passed the odd explorer on Conic Hill, and came across a handful of fellow hikers in the second half of our trip between Bridge of Orchy and Fort William, but 90% of the time we were on our own, which we found to be freeing and great for photographs.
Secondly, the bunfight you have over securing accommodation in the summer disappears. While there was the odd hotel that was shut for the off-season, we had no problems finding places to stay and there were even places we came across that still had rooms on the day. While I would still encourage planning in advance, it was a comfort to know there were places that still had availability, especially as we almost opted to stay in Rowardennan when facing a bit of a crisis with the fading light.
Thirdly, it was not remotely cold. Climate change might have something to do with this, but the temperatures were mild sitting at around 10 degrees every day and we never needed our thermals. It was a pleasant temperature to walk in as we equally didn’t get too hot, which I imagine becomes a problem in the summer if you find yourself on a big ascent with no cloud cover in the high teens and lots of tourists around. We were not troubled by rain until our last day, when the waterproofs did their job. It was good to give them a whirl after going to the trouble of packing them!
Finally, the scenery was arguably better at this time of year. A bit of low cloud aside, which meant views from Conic Hill were maybe not as glorious as they could have been, Loch Lomond was still stunning in the autumn, as we were the many forest trails we walked though, with so many different colours on show. We could see more from the sides of the loch because the leaves had fallen from the trees and later into the trip, it was glorious to see all the shades of gold, brown and lingering green on the hills. Though visibility was not amazing on Rannoch Moor and between Kinlochleven and Fort William, we were still able to capture some striking and haunting photos.
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As for midges, I was only bitten once. We hardly saw any at all.
I did say I would address some of the issues though. Doing this in the last week of October just after the clocks went back did mean the fading light was a significant challenge, especially as we only had six days to complete the walk and were not experienced long-distance hikers. When we were quite nonchalant on our second day – when we had a considerable distance to cover between Drymen and Inversnaid – we in hindsight left nowhere near early enough and ended up walking a treacherous section north of Rowardennan in the dark. Later in the trip, we had to leave in the dark when there were 20 miles-plus ahead of us to ensure we did not get stuck on the Devil’s Staircase in darkness.
My advice would be if you are doing the West Highland Way when the light is fading, give yourself at least seven days to complete it and be aware of sections that will take you longer, such as around the north of Loch Lomond where the terrain is extremely challenging.
The other matter to consider is that if you are not planning to carry your bag with you, this may be the wrong time of year to do the walk as we noticed some services who can transport your luggage do not operate past mid-October.
Overall, I didn’t have any regrets taking on the West Highland Way at an unusual time of year, and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a quieter hike with no midges.
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