Scotland - West Highland Way (NoBo) - Venture

Summary

A 96 mile route that follows the West Highland Way from south to north (Nobo) and completed over a 7 days camping trek. Starts at the town of Mulgavie on the northern outskirts of Glasgow, before heading across a pretty rural landscape to Loch Lomond. Climbs Conic Hill for delightful views of Loch Lomond before following its bonnie banks northwards. Includes an out-and-back (with wildcamp) near to the summit of Ben Lomond providing exceptional views of the loch. Continues to the end of the loch on an awkward, but interesting path. Follows the dramatic glens of Falloch and Fillan to the frontier feeling town of Tyndrum. After crossing the pretty Bridge Of Orchy the trail crosses the western edge of Rannoch Moor using General Wade's military road, which includes another remote wildcamp. The trail then takes on epic proportions as it climbs the Devil's Staircase, with views across to Buachaille Etive Mor and down the Pass Of Glencoe, before descending into the village of Kinlochleven. Some more military road marching takes you through a high glen to Glen Nevis and the foot of Britain's highest mountain, Ben Nevis. If the weather is good, you may want to spend a day conquering its summit, before continuing the West Highland Way on its final leg to Fort William. 

Notes

Most people complete the West Highland Way from south to north. I chose to walk it south to north because I intended walking the Great Glen Way (Fort William to Inverness) afterwards. NoBo offers you the option to climb Ben Nevis as a finale to the trail . It also gives you the feeling of trekking from a rural lowland landscape into a remote highland one. 

The trail is very busy compared to other trails. You will inevitably share your time with many other walkers, and a lot of them being international. This makes the trail seem almost like an international trek. Despite walking through vast and remote landscapes, people never seem to be that far away. 

A lot of people use baggage transfers between stages, even the campers. This is a great option if you don't want to haul your gear with you. There are decent campsites along the trail, but there are good opportunities for wildcamping too (I included two: Ben Lomond and Rannoch Moor). If you intend to wildcamp, be aware of the restrictions on certain sections of the trail during peak season (1st March to 30th September). It is possible to buy a permit to camp in some of these areas during this period. If you don't want to camp, then there are plenty of options for staying at hotels and B&Bs, although availability will reduce during peak periods.

There are a few honesty boxes and water taps on parts of the route, but these shouldn’t be relied upon for the whole trail (more prevalent in the early stages). I found opportunities to filter water once I was beyond Drymen. There are a couple of cafes on that first day, but it is worth carrying a day's worth of water if you don't intend to stop at them. The campsites usually have shops with limited supplies. Large places such as Milngavie, Tyndrum and Kinlochleven have retailers for most of a walker’s needs. There are quite a few cafes and inns along the trail and so it is reasonably easy to get a half decent meal if you don’t want to fuel your journey with Firepots. 

I used the Trailblazer West Highland Way trail guide. It has sketch maps of the trail and very useful trail information. I saw some walkers using Harvey's West Highland Way map. I didn't have one, but have found their format very good for this sort of trail. The route is well signed and it is difficult (although not impossible) to go wrong. I did download the gpx routes onto my phone, but it was very rare that I used these for actual route finding. 

I decided to wildcamp below the summit of Ben Lomond on the second day. I had hoped to continue to the top on the third day, but decided that it would have made a long, hard day. Others fitter than me may decide that is still a preferable option. Others less fit than me might question the stupidity of all that ascent away from the West Highland Way trail. That is an excellent point. If your only objective is to follow the trail then it would be better to walk beyond the Camping Management Zone at Rowardennan and find a suitable spot to wildcamp.