Fort William

Thankfully the rain had stopped during the night allowing us to take down the tent which was relatively dry by Scottish weather standards.

The path took us through the village where it climbed through the woodlands surrounding Kinlochleven. Dad found it a bit tiring but we couldn’t stop long to catch our breaths as the air piranhas soon got our sent.

Eventually we got above the tree line and looking back we waved bye to Kinlochleven. The path continued to rise until around 300m where it followed a valley.

There were more people on the walk today, some familiar faces who had set off at the same time as us. As there is nothing between Kinlochleven and Fort William. It is inevitable we would meet here, some I was surprised to see who went ahead off us after day 3.

We came across a group of gentlemen who were walking the WHW for motor neurone disease and they were wearing their t-shirts for it; I wish Prostate Cancer UK had pulled their finger out and got ours delivered.

We pressed on and came across one of the iconic images for the WHW. The ruined farmhouse that sits alone in the valley. I decided to take a photo from a different angle.

The path continued following the valley for a few more miles as it bends round Meall a Chaorainn passing Lochan Lunn Da-Bhra.

We had been walking for 7 miles now, roughly halfway for today. It was time for lunch; we found a small mound to sit behind out of the wind to eat.

From here the path took us through a managed forest, where they have cut down a large number of trees; it was like walking through a tree graveyard. There was a plaque commemorating it in honour of the fallen in WW1. It seemed odd to me or maybe fitting, the jury is still out on this one.

Eventually we got to where the new saplings had been planted and the familiar pine forests soon covered the landscape.

It wasn’t long before we caught sight of Ben Nevis although it had the peak in the clouds. We walked in it’s shadow for a few miles before the start of the descent into Fort William.

With 4 miles to go we finally saw the outskirts of Fort William. It was at this point the rain started, luckily it was nothing like yesterday. Two mountain bikers cheered us on as they hurtled passed us.

The route takes you to the road for the last 2 miles into town. This was heavy going on our feet walking on the pavement. At 15th bleep from my Garmin watch to indicate 15 miles we arrived at the old finish point to the WHW.

However the true finish line is at the sore feet statue in town; a little further to go. We walked down the high street attracting a few looks from the townfolk, probably thinking ‘what fools these pair of drown rats are’, but we felt like heroes as we did the West Highland Strut to the finish line.

We are now going to take a rest day and will pick up the blog again once we start the Great Glen Way.

Thank you to all the amazing people who have sponsored us. The total we have raised so far is £1,295! We definitely feel like we earnt it!