West Highland Way Day 8 – Kinlochleven to Fort William. We slept in today, woke up at 8, got packed and went for another full breakfast :D after breakfast I went to the co-op and got lunch.
We started walking at 11, the climb was steep out of Kinlochleven – the devils staircase II !
We walked through a glen, mostly uphill, then stopped for lunch. The path was full of big rocks, so Zoe has taken to using the ‘hobbit paths’ – the little tracks that have formed along the sides of the rocky path.
After a few stops and a long distance in the sun, still climbing, we turned a corner and could see Ben Nevis. we were half way. 7.5 miles done.
The second half was a slog, uphill for half, then a steep downhill for the last half. The downhill parts are killer.
We arrived at the Ben Nevis campsite at 5:15. there are still 2 miles to fort william, but we are doing that tomorrow with our bags!
My feet are sore. Zoe is knackered!
There is a pub at the end of the campsite, so we will go there and get some food after a wee snooze :)
We went to the restaurant next to the pub. we got a pint of crofters ale each, Zoe ordered a steak and I went for steak and ale pie (couldn’t have fish and chips every night…
The meal was excellent. for pudding we had some ice-cream and I had a latte. Zoe had another pot of tea. on the mountain the rescue helicopter was flying round trying to rescue someone. They were having trouble because of the high winds, lots of people were stopping to watch.
We headed back to the tent around 9. There were a pair of eagles circling overhead. I heard the screeching first, then saw the pair, followed by a third screech from the top of the hill. Must be eagle dinner time. West Highland Way Day 8 – Kinlochleven to Fort William was excellent.
