Land at Glasgow Airport around lunchtime. Taxi or rideshare to Milngavie (~20 mins, £25-35) is the easiest call after 24 hours in the air. Otherwise the Glasgow Airport Express 500 bus into the city, then ScotRail to Milngavie station (direct line, runs every 15-30 min, journey 20 mins). Milngavie is the official southern terminus and the trail starts at the obelisk in the town centre, two minutes from the station.
Eat. Sleep. Final gear check. Buy any last bits at the Tesco or outdoor shop in town. Stove fuel cannot fly so pick up canisters here. Walk to the obelisk to scope tomorrow's start. Early dinner, early to bed — jet lag works in your favour if you crash early on a westbound trip.
Easy walking the whole way. Rolling farmland and woodland through the Allander valley, onto the disused Strathkelvin railway path, then country lanes and field tracks into Drymen. Well-marked and well-trodden — the WHW is the most popular long-distance path in the UK and you'll know it on Day 1.
Glengoyne Distillery off to the left around the halfway mark — worth a stop for a tour and a dram if you have time. Highland cattle in the fields. The first hints of the Highlands as Conic Hill comes into view across the farmland with Loch Lomond just over its shoulder. Drymen itself is a tidy village built around a central square.
The day everything changes. Forest tracks out of Drymen, then the steady climb up Conic Hill — your first real ascent and a proper Scottish moment when the loch reveals itself from the ridge. Steep descent into Balmaha, then a long undulating lochside path through ancient oak woodland to Rowardennan. Some short rough sections beside the water.
The summit of Conic Hill sits on the Highland Boundary Fault — the geological line dividing Lowlands from Highlands. From the top, Loch Lomond stretches north for 36 km with its scattered islands directly below. Widely regarded as the single best view on the entire WHW. Balmaha for lunch, then the loch path proper. Wild goats, deer, the occasional otter if you're patient.
The notorious northern lochshore. Constant up-and-down through tangled oak and birch woodland, with sections of root-laced single track, exposed slabs, and rocky scrambles right at the water's edge. Two route options past Inversnaid — the high road via the forest track is faster, the low road hugs the loch and is slower but spectacular. Either way this is the day that surprises people.
Wild Loch Lomond at its narrowest and most dramatic. Inversnaid Falls thundering down beside the hotel. Rob Roy's Cave (more of a recess than a cave, signposted but easy to miss). Feral goats. Ben Lomond looming behind you for most of the morning. Cross into Glen Falloch near Inverarnan — the trail finally lets go of the loch and you're properly in the Highlands.
A welcome breather after Day 3. Wide drovers' track up Glen Falloch alongside the Falls of Falloch, then a steady rise past Crianlarich and on to Tyndrum on good forest road and open path. Some bog underfoot in places but the gradient is gentle throughout. A genuine recovery day in the middle of the walk.
The Falls of Falloch worth a five-minute detour. Old shieling ruins in the glen — these tracks have been used by drovers moving cattle to market for centuries. Crianlarich station off to the right (escape option if you needed one, which you don't). Tyndrum sits at the meeting of three glens and was a Bronze Age gold mining site.
Wide-open glen walking on good gravel track parallel to the West Highland railway line and the A82 — though both are far enough off to feel quiet. Gentle gradient throughout, no real climbs, easy underfoot. The scenery does the work today.
The peaks of the Bridge of Orchy hills (Beinn Dorain, Beinn an Dòthaidh) rising directly ahead — conical Munros that dominate the skyline for the entire morning. Trains passing on the West Highland Line, one of the great railway journeys in Britain. Auchtertyre and Tigh-na-Cuilbe sheep farms. Bridge of Orchy itself is a single hotel beside a stone bridge over the river.
Past Inveroran and Victoria Bridge, then a steady pull up onto the Rannoch Moor plateau — the day's only real climb. From there, wide stony track (Telford's old military road) across gently undulating peat bog and heather, fully exposed with no shelter. Ba Bridge, roughly the halfway point of the moor crossing, is today's stop — an obvious, scenic place to make camp.
Inveroran and the head of Loch Tulla falling behind you. The Black Mount peaks to the west as the trail climbs onto the plateau. Once up on the moor, wide-open views over lochans and heather in every direction, with Buachaille Etive Mòr just starting to show itself far ahead.
The longest day so far, in both distance and time — it folds the rest of the Rannoch Moor crossing into the same day as the Devil's Staircase. Still exposed, still no shelter, until Black Rock Cottage and the Glencoe Ski Centre mark the end of the moor and the first refreshments in a long while. Then the highest point on the entire WHW — the Devil's Staircase at 548 m. Steady climb out on the old military road, then a series of switchbacks up the staircase itself (named by Hanoverian soldiers who built the road in 1750 and complained about the gradient). From the summit a long, sustained descent into Kinlochleven on stony zigzags. Hard on tired knees. Trekking poles essential — start early.
The Black Mount and the rest of Rannoch Moor falling away behind you. Buachaille Etive Mòr in profile for the entire climb out of Glencoe — one of the great mountain views in Scotland. Glen Coe stretching east. From the staircase summit, a panorama down to Loch Leven with the Mamores ridge ahead. Kinlochleven nestled at the head of the loch — a tiny town that exists because of the aluminium smelter that closed in 2000.
The longest day on the trail and a sting in the tail. Steep climb out of Kinlochleven up the Lairig Mòr — old military road on stony track. Long traversing miles through a remote glen with no road access and no shelter beyond a single ruined cottage. Then forest tracks down to Glen Nevis and the run-in to Fort William town centre. Long, sustained day on already-tired legs.
The Mamores ridge to the north — eleven Munros on one continuous skyline. The Lairig Mòr pass between Stob Bàn and Mam na Gualainn. A first sight of Ben Nevis as you crest into Glen Nevis — Britain's highest mountain (1,345 m) and the goal you've been walking toward for nine days. The official end is the statue of the Tired Walker on Gordon Square in Fort William town centre. Sit down on the bench. You've finished.