KINGSHOUSE TO KINLOCHLEVEN AND ON TO FT WILLIAM

This post covers two days on the West Highland Way; the last two days of our walk.

The shuttle from Clacaigh Inn picked us up early, and drove us up Glencoe to the start of our walk. There was a steady rain when we started, and it rained persistently all day long.

Our route was uphill from the start, and after the first 15 minutes, we were at the bottom of the “Devils Staircase.” We were all steady up the switchbacks, and 500 feet of altitude gain later, made the top.

For all these walking days, Marty has been acting as our rabbit on the uphills. He spent extra time on his  conditioning and it shows. He’s been doing the uphills with relative ease. I’ve been pleased with my conditioning as well, but I take the 18 wheeler approach to long uphills; keep up a sustainable pace for me, slow and steady. Steve is in great shape as always. 

Unfortunately, at the top of most climbs you wind up giving back some of that hard earned altitude. That was the case here. What followed was a long downhill, then a couple of hours of up and down walking until we were on a ridge looking down on Kinlochleven, our stop for the day.  Today’s walk was nine miles, a relatively short day. Just as well, since the weather got worse as the day went on.

We got into Kinclochleven in a steady rain, and were the first folks of the day to check in at the MacDonald Inn. The rooms wouldn’t be ready for a couple of hours, but the Inn had drying rooms for our gear, and a cozy pub and friendly innkeeper behind the bar. Pretty much all we needed.  

Kinlochleven (“Head of Lake Leven”) is at the head of a valley with a large number of  water sources coming down from the surrounding mountains, feeding the lake. In the early 1900’s British Aluminum chose the village's location to build a large aluminum plant. They built a then technically advanced hydro facility, using the mountain streams to power the plant.  The town became a company town, first with the construction workers, then the plant workers. As with a lot of American company towns, British Aluminum built the housing for the employees.  In 1908, Kinlochleven became the first town in the world in which every home was electrified.

The aluminum plant closed in the 1950’s, and the hydro facility was converted to provide electrical power for the area. Today, Kinlochleven is a nice little town with a small commercial district catering to West Highland Way walkers and other Highland outdoor activities.

At one time, the forecast for the Wednesday walk was for heavy rain, temperatures in the 40’s, and 30+ mile an hour winds. The Wednesday walk being 16 miles, our options that day, if the forecast held, were an on going topic of discussion.

But the forecast improved as the week went on, and Wednesday morning started cold, but clear. Best weather we could hope for on the last, long day.

The climb out of Kinlochleven into the surrounding mountains was as long as the Devil’s Staircase was the day before. Once we got to the top, we began to follow an old military road down Lachraimor ( “Large Vallley”) for several miles. Lachraimor is a wide, open valley with large mountain ridges on both sides, with no habitation save for some sheep. Views in the valley stretch for miles.  Steve compared the views to those he had seen in Denali in Alaska. We made good time through this valley, getting a lot of miles behind us.    

Toward the top of the valley there we passed an information plaque next to a large cairn. The plaque said that this was the place in 1620 where the MacDonald clan broke off their chase of the Campbell’s and let them return to their homes in the north. To commemorate the end of their pursuit, the Campbell’s created a large cairn, and dictated that forevermore, passing MacDonald’s should add a stone to the cairn, and passing Campbell’s shall remove one. The cairn is still there, and it’s large.

Shortly after the cairn, the trail climbed out of the valley, over a couple of ridges toward Glen Nevis and Fort William. Here we started getting views of Ben Nevis, the highest peak in the UK. We found a good place for our first stop of the day – almost four hours out from Kinlochleven.

 A lot of people use Fort William and Glen Nevis as a base to climb Ben Nevis. It’s a difficult hike/climb and it’s considered a dangerous undertaking. Not so much for the difficult climb up, but because the  wide summit area is typically shrouded in clouds, causing disoriented climbers to walk off an edge looking for the way down.

The trail headed generally toward Ben Nevis, across some unfortunate previously forested clear cut areas, until we reached a gravel road signaling a three mile downhill into the village of Glen Nevis. From there, the final stretch of the walk was a two mile walk along a back road into the larger town of Fort William.

We got into Fort William around three o’clock, having done the 16 miles in 6 ½ hours. We found the Premier Inn, our place for the night, and everybody went to shower, get our feet up, tend to our bruises, and take a well earned nap.

This was the end of our 8^th walk in Europe. Each one has been special. The adventure, time with good friends, opportunities to meet the people, and really get to know their country – nothing better.

Tomorrow, it’s train back to Glasgow, a night in the Doubletree, and dinner at the best Italian restaurant in the city – already have the reservations.