West Highland Way 2019 Day 6

Day 6 Thursday 26^th September 2019

Another early start at 7:40. After passing 3 people I had the trail to myself.  For most of the day there was drizzly rain.   

At one point the map on my navigation app went completely blank/white except for my location, which was kind of pointless without context.  I initially blamed it on an update to the app that happened last night and, as I had not purchased maps in quite a while, relying on the navigation app with potential backup of the trail guide, I felt a little disoriented at first.  There were no major problems and, later, after playing around with the app a little discovered I must have accidentally changed a setting as I was able to get the map back (although a week or so later the same thing happened).

Ben Nevis?  Or just another random mist shrouded mountain?

After passing by a mist enshrouded Ben Nevis, and descending to the Ben Nevis visitor’s centre, I wandered a road into Fort William.   

At first I encountered the “old” end of the West Highland Way on the outskirts of town, but a sign informed me that the end had been relocated.  

I continued on, along busy roads, into the heart of Fort William and, after a little searching, found the statue that represented the official end.

I celebrated with a late lunch at Wetherspoons and then purchasing a figurine of a hare that I had seen on Holy Island, but here it was 40% off (the discount then was spent the next day on postage to New Zealand as the box was too big to fit in my pack or lug around).  

I also purchased a humorous t-shirt that I eventually gave to an ex-Scot friend of my parents who lived in New Zealand.

I have added the West Highland Way to my list of “must do” walks that I would gladly do again, as there was a lot of variety and some great scenery.  If you are curious, the other walks on that list are the Ridgeway, the South West Coastal Path, and Lady Anne Way (which is the only LDW I have done twice).

Oh and, for the curious few, the next day the young attractive woman, that I saw a few times on the first few days of the walk, walked past me as I was waiting for my departure bus in Fort William.  When seated on the bus, as it pulled out, I saw her sitting and waiting (obviously for another bus) and she looked up at me and smiled, which was nice.  It bugs me a little that I never asked her her name.