West Highlands Way - day 6

It was a beautiful day physically and scenically! The sun was shining, the trail easier than expected, and the scenery was absolutely gorgeous!

At breakfast we met Natalie and Steven from Australia. They started hiking the day before and will only hike 3 days. Our hosts, Mary and Colin joined us for breakfast as well and supplied us with many stories. It would be fun to just spend the day with them.

At the start of the trail there were more hikers than we have seen all week . This is the popular Glencoe tourist area and many people come to do day hikes up the devil's staircase. Many are younger people carrying camping supplies and maybe only hiking for a day or two. Either way, there are a lot of people on the trail .

We hiked only 9 miles in the Scottish Highlands. While I'm sure they look beautiful from the road, being in the mountains surrounded by more mountains was amazing.
The trail started easy enough for three miles and then we started up the devil's staircase. It's a step climb with a lot of switchbacks to the highest point in the trail. The trail was used for many things in the past including during WWII. It was more treacherous then and many died on the trail, hence it's name. Though it was steep, the path was pretty clear. We took our time and had no problems. We were rewarded with stunning views. Along the way we met the midges - tiny biting gnat like creatures who swarmed you when you stopped moving. We had spray and wore our nets when we stopped.

Of course what goes up must come down and down is not always easier than going up. The way down was mostly gradual until the last two miles which became rather steep. The entire trail was open and one could see hikers in front of you and behind you like ants on a hill.

Throughout the day we saw our younger friends Sophia and Oscar , as well as Francesco. We also met Cherylina from New Mexico. She had bad knees and was definitely taking her time, but this had been on her bucket list to do. On our way to dinner we saw our friends from New York as well.

We ate at the Highland Getaway as recommended by our BnB host and we were not disappointed. We finished our meal with the spotted dick and custard - Delicious!Read more