Nordic Walking the West Highland Way: Day Seven
King’s House to Kinlochleven
When: Saturday 19th September
Miles walked: 9.66
Steps taken: 19,374
Moving time: 3:35:53
Elevation gain: 1374 ft
Well, last night was terrible. We are staying on a campsite on the banks of Loch Leven in Glencoe and overnight were being buffeted by 40 mile an hour winds from two sides, I didn’t sleep well because the awning was constantly slapping against the van where it attaches and Isaac didn’t sleep well because his bedroom pod is on the side of the awning that was bearing the brunt of the wind. To top it all one of the poles holding up the bedroom section has snapped at the joint this morning. We are supposed to be camping here again tonight and leaving the drive-away awning while we are walking. I am not confident there would even be an awning to come back to! I decide to see if there is a Mini Lodge available tonight as I can’t face another night like last night. After a bit of discussion between the campsite manager, his wife and me we manage to secure a Mini Lodge and proceed to empty the awning and take it down whilst waiting for a key so we can off-load all our stuff into the Lodge. The campsite were considerate enough to only charge us the difference between what we had already paid for the pitch and the cost of a solid, dry and heated pod that sleeps 5. It is a relief knowing we should sleep better tonight!
Once we have put everything into the pod we set off to start our day a little later than anticipated and via the local garage to pick up a sandwich for our packed lunch.
Back at King’s House Hotel where the weather is initially dry, but ever so windy and we pop into the hotel to get another stamp in our passports. The Way goes behind the hotel and by the time we have passed the hotel it has started to rain, so we pause and battle the wind whilst trying to get our waterproofs on! We’re following a road to begin with, and the sun is out again. There are some great views across to Buachaille Etive Mor a summit favoured by rock climbers, now managed by the National Trust for Scotland.
The path leaves via a gate off to the right and veers way from the A82 on a rough track, we have to cross multiple burns along the way.
The path continues undulating and then descends to run parallel with the A82 for a time. We cross a wooden footbridge and it’s raining again! The hills look foreboding and brooding in the gloom.
The weather has really closed in as we approach the infamous Devil’s Staircase. This section of the West Highland Way is on another Old Military Road and was constructed around 1750 linking Fort William with Stirling. The actual staircase refers to the engineered zig-zags leading up to the highest point on the route at 1850ft. It is said it got the name after some navvies constructing The Blackwater Dam perished either on their way to the site or to King’s House for whiskey! There are two wooden plinths at the entrance to this next section, one celebrating 40 years of the West Highland Way in 2020 and one giving information about The Devil’s Staircase.
Once across the little wooden footbridge we start the climb and guess what? The sun comes out! Stunning views, probably the best so far! We make our way slowly up and pass other walkers going both up and down.
As it is still currently sunny, we decide to pause and eat our sandwiches with this amazing view! It didn’t last long before we had to get going again - no-one likes sitting in the rain!
Once we reach the top of the Devil’s Staircase we soon begin the 1788ft of descent down to sea level in Kinlochleven. The path here is rocky and punctuated with bouldery outcrops surrounded by heather and grass and water from the numerous burns.
Crossing burns, surrounded by water, views of water, rivers, lochs and more. The Blackwater Reservoir and Dam sits high above Kinlochleven and holds water gathered from the expanse of Rannoch Moor. This water then travels 3.5 miles through an aqueduct before dropping through 935 vertical feet of conduit and reaching the Hydro-Electric plant. Because of the abundance of electricity produced in Kinlochleven it became the first village in the world to have every single home connected to electricity! We’ll pass the conduit later.
At least it is dry above at the moment.
We have seen these informative posters on the West Highland Way a few times now and in preparation for this trip I did some research into how I would ‘leave no trace’ if the need arose. I put together a pack with hand sanitiser, wipes, bags etc to carry out waste if necessary (thankfully it wasn’t) and I already use reusable pee cloths if I need a wild wee. I have to say it was quite disgusting in places with all the discarded tissues littering the place along the route. Come on folks it’s really not that hard!
It’s quite a lot of downhill! No-one minds when it is such beautiful scenery, even in the rain.
Towards the end it does become necessary on the steeper downs to zig-zag to save my poor knees!
A patch of sunshine lingers on a hillside, I have really enjoyed the views today and walking through small patches of woodland looking as ever for fungi, or mossy rocks. The West Highland Way walks alongside the huge black conduit pipelines that bring water from the reservoir to the hydro-electric plant, which we pass. As we come into Kinlochleven we pass the Blackwater Hostel and pop in to get another stamp for our passports. We then continue into the centre of Kinlochleven having a closer look at this disused Pelton Turbine originally from the aluminium smelting factory which used the electricity from the hydro-electric plant for it’s power. Then we meet Steve and Clara, dump our rucksacks and head off to visit the Grey Mare’s Tail waterfall a short 10 minute walk away.
Grey Mare’s Tale waterfall drops 40 ft into a craggy abyss, here there is also the country’s only Via Ferrata Route, where you can get up close and personal with the waterfall and gorge by a series of narrow walkways and wires.
Afterwards we drive back to Glencoe to our warm and dry pod!
