west highland way

[Single Speed George]

Hi,
thinking of doing the west hildand way maby out and back over a weekend in the next month or so has anyone got any experience of it and any thoughts on what its like. woud probably just take a bivi bag/ tarp and stop for food at places like kings house tyndrum etc so just take cereal bars cold food etc and no cooker so ye any thoughts or experiences of the route ?

[Zippy]

Bumpy in places (not technical bumpy, but it hurts your back bumpy if you ain't got the muscles). Also, the hike a bike bit is a bast4rd. Bivvy at king's house hotel is good, you'll find plenty of others round there, and you can use the walkers bar for food, beer and wifi - but no mobile signal Riding the whole thing in a day requires some considerable effort/fitness - I found it difficult in 1.5 days being I would say "semi-fit" at the time.

Here's some GPS logs from when I did it back in 2012.

Day 1: https://connect.garmin.com/activity/186462108
Day 2: https://connect.garmin.com/activity/186462072

[NewRetroTom]

As Zippy says it's very hard work in places and may well take a lot more time than you bargain for.

I set off at 6am to do a southbound attempt with two friends a few years ago. Made it to the centre of Glasgow at 1.30 the next morning. We skipped out Chronic Hill given how late it was getting.

There and back in two days is a really serious undertaking! Good luck!

[Single Speed George]

ye thanks for the info, whether i manage a full there and back or just a there and back as far as i can get i dunno but worth a try but ye will see,

[Ray Young]

View from Conic hill over Loch Lomond is great but I had to push up the last bit and there are some steps on the way down that I had to walk. Bike hike section at the top of Loch Lomond is hard on a loaded bike but if your going ultra light then probably not so bad. Good luck

[Single Speed George]

whats the nature of the "hike a bike section of lock lomond" ?

[Ray Young]

whats the nature of the "hike a bike section of lock lomond" ?

Inversnaid to just past Doune bothy (about 5 k) was all a push for me. Regular waterbars that are too wide to wheelie over and too deep to roll through mean it's easier to just keep pushing rather than constantly mounting/dismounting. Also two small sections that are scrambles plus an eight foot high ladder to scale. I was new to bike packing at the time and had a lot of weight on the front of the bike so constantly lifting the front end over obstacles did me in and I ended my first day at Doune bothy instead of 20 miles further on.
The rest of the route is fine and navigation is easy, i'd say it's impossible to get lost.

[rudedog]

We did the top of Loch lomond with just the bikes (no gear) and it was bad enough. We passed some Germans on town and country/shopping style bikes who looked as though they had given up the will to live.

[Drillmaster1]

I've done it north bound started 5am finished just before midnight totally knackered on an unloaded bike.
Section of hike a bike at top of Loch Lomond was memorable, but not for good reasons!
Had a little bit of walking on some parts of Conic hill too.

I found the whole thing harder and took longer than I thought

[fatbikephil]

To be honest I'd steer well clear. In fact in my view its poor show and there are is far better stuff to be done nearby. It will be rammed with walkers from now until October (I passed over 200 between Fort Bill and tyndrum last year), the 'singletrack' is a wide eroded mess for the most part and whoever created it seemed determined to put in as many pointless climbs as possible (Crianlarich to Tyndrum is the best example of this....). In the old days things like the descent into KLL were considered to be top notch but its been totally outclassed by stuff in Torridon, Fisherfield and the Cairngorms. Do the cairngorms loop - either inner, outer, a mix of the two or both. Its miles better than the WHW, most of it you'll have the path to yourself, there is a real mix of riding from totally hardcore techy nadgery single track to smooth wide estate roads and all points in between. Plus being in the east there is more chance of decent weather. Or do Fisherfield and Torridon in a loop based on the Highland Trail route.

[ianfitz]

To be honest I'd steer well clear. In fact in my view its poor show and there are is far better stuff to be done nearby. It will be rammed with walkers from now until October (I passed over 200 between Fort Bill and tyndrum last year), the 'singletrack' is a wide eroded mess for the most part and whoever created it seemed determined to put in as many pointless climbs as possible (Crianlarich to Tyndrum is the best example of this....). In the old days things like the descent into KLL were considered to be top notch but its been totally outclassed by stuff in Torridon, Fisherfield and the Cairngorms. Do the cairngorms loop - either inner, outer, a mix of the two or both. Its miles better than the WHW, most of it you'll have the path to yourself, there is a real mix of riding from totally hardcore techy nadgery single track to smooth wide estate roads and all points in between. Plus being in the east there is more chance of decent weather. Or do Fisherfield and Torridon in a loop based on the Highland Trail route.

That sounds like good advice to me!

The descent to kll is ok but rocky/rumble top section leading to a long fire road descent. Amazing scenery, but Scotland aint short of that. And the pipes that you cross on the last bridge at kll are impressive.

A circuit from garve to Ullapool via the htr route is worth considering. Technically easy riding in a very remote feeling environment. It's a good intro to some of the 'wilderness' up there.

[rudedog]

We did it in may last year and only time walkers were an issue for us was when we got within a few miles of Fort William - otherwise we hardly saw any. I think it's a great ride, really accessible, well serviced and tons of cracking scenery.

[Single Speed George]

Interesting, the reason behind my west highland way thinking is that i can get a lift up there to Glasgow with a member of my family who needs to be up there on the Friday after work. so i wont have to drive and ass that person is then going up to mallaig they can get me where ever i end up ( as unsure if will make it back to Glasgow or not just wanna see how far i can get ). i have done a fair bit of bike packing and most of my normal mountain biking in the lakes as i live in Kendal. so hard terrain isnt necessarily an issue, just thinking going super light and just keeping riding until need sleep haha. but notice that there are a few sections that could be done on road to cut out some of the more dubious looking track around Crianlarich i think especially on the way back but dont know what peoples thoughts are on this haha.

[Ray Young]

Do the whole thing going up, cut out the nasty bits coming back .

I did it at the end of April and walkers were not a problem.

[rudedog]

Here are some pics from my couple of trips, hopefully will give you a bit of an idea of what to expect :

Loch Lomond Sections :












Above Crianlarich:



Between Crianlarich & Tyndrum:





Between Tyndrum & Bridge of Orchy:



Rannoch Moor:



Wild Camping at Kingshouse (Glencoe)





Glencoe:



Top of Devils Staircase:



Coming back down off Devils Staircase


Between Kinlochleven and Fort William

[AlasdairMc]

Do the whole thing going up, cut out the nasty bits coming back .

I did it at the end of April and walkers were not a problem.

Yep, they're only a problem on certain trails at certain times. Fit a bell, use it. You'll find the trail is pretty dead outside the hours of 9am to 4pm as people tend to do only short day stages between campsites and bunkhouses as opposed to the longer days we do bikepacking.

I don't know what the complaint is about Crianlarich to Tyndrum, I think it's great. Just don't stop in Crianlarich as you lose a lot of height - you're far better pushing on to Tyndrum.

[whitestone]

What sort of time would be typical for the northern part of the WHW?

We are looking at starting at Crianlarich, getting to just past Kinlochleven on the first day, bivvy out then ride to Ft William the next morning and get the train back to Crianlarich. We won't be racing but equally we won't be dawdling but cafe stops will be de riguer We'll be fairly lightly loaded and both be riding hardtails.

[AlasdairMc]

Tyndrum to Kinlochleven is about 4hrs, so add an hour on for a Crianlarich start, and then perhaps 3hrs from Kinlochleven to Fort William. The first bit out of Kinlochleven is horrible as it's quite a push up but once it evens out it's fine.

I personally would get the last train to Fort William, start riding to Kinlochleven immediately and bivi en route at the ruined cottage halfway (about 90mins riding), and then cruise the rest of the way to Tyndrum. You're then not reliant on catching a train to return and can therefore be as quick or as slow as you want.

[rudedog]

That would be a pretty easy couple of days

[whitestone]

That's possible but with driving up Friday night it makes things awkward unless we get there by about 2000 which is unlikely given already committed holiday allowances. We can stop at the YH in Crianlarich, hence the S-N itinerary. The train back from FW is at 1140 so plenty of time in the morning to get from above Kinlochleven to FW.

The first train on Sat mornings gets to FW at midday so we could do a few hours of riding, bivvy out somewhere Sat night and finish back at Crianlarich.

@rudedog Not looking at hard days - my wife's keen to do some bikepacking so felt that a couple of steady days would be a good intro. She's reasonably fit but I'd rather not break her

[Taylor]

Watching this with interest as I'm planning on doing something similar over half term (whilst the HTR is on).

[Zippy]

West Highland Way is generally alright, the hike a bike bit by Loch Lomand is the PITA. I was riding a full susser though which made bits of it more rideable than otherwise...

Watching this with interest as I'm planning on doing something similar over half term (whilst the HTR is on).

What's your plans Taylor - I'll be in the area over the bank holiday....

[Taylor]

Family holiday for the week, staying by Loch Ard, arriving Saturday afternoon. (Missing the start of HTR).
Been given a pass for the night but day not specified yet.
Was thinking of heading north to fort bill meeting the family the following day.

[Single Speed George]

Got a date in about 4 weeks to do this now , thinkin of goin from Glasgow to fort William on whw then carrying on to Inverness on the great glen way seems a bit less brutal than goin for the whw dobble haha , thanks for all the info will tell U how i get on !

[ScotRoutes]

I did the GGW on Saturday. 120km and 2066m of ascent if you choose the high route. Well worth it for the views though