Hiking the West Highland Way | 20 Top Tips & Advice

After recently hiking The West Highland Way, I want to share my top 20 tips with you from my experience of walking this incredible trail.

This popular Scotland walk is a 96 mile long distance hiking trail that runs from Milngavie on the outskirts of Glasgow, to Fort William in the Western Scottish Highlands. The walk goes through incredible scenery; along the wooded banks of Loch Lomond, across the wilderness of Ranch Moor, over the mountains above Glencoe and finishes just below Ben Nevis - Britain’s highest mountain.

I hope this video is helpful for anyone planning this wonderful thru-hike!

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Thank you for taking the time to watch my video, I appreciate it so much.

Mary 💚

#westhighlandway #scotland #backpacking #wildcamping

[jungggledave]

Tip 21: When you get to Glencoe Mountain Resort, take the ski-lift up to the top. It runs all year round and the views are amazing.

[meikusje]

Little extra tip for resupplying in Tyndrum: go to Brodies Mini Market first, then get the stuff you couldn't find there from the Green Welly Shop. They stock a lot of the same stuff, and the mini market is cheaper, and probably needs your patronage more than the Green Welly Shop.

[keithcarper]

Great tips from an experienced, intelligent and thoughtful hiker. Thanks, Tink!

[Flurb_Xray]

Thanks for the summary! Will take in account.

[Ali-ldvd]

You made that so enjoyable! Thanks for the tips. Very useful.

[chrisholt]

Great information to help my research for my WHW walk, solo in April 2024, thank you.

[davidalexander]

It's a great video and very informative .

[martinwelch]

Your advice is always well organized and helpful. Cheers!

[anitavincent]

I unfortunately doubt I will ever be hiking this trail but this was an excellent video with great tips for those who will. So very different than the PCT in most aspects (rain, terrain, accommodation possibilities, etc) but breathtakingly beautiful.
Thank you Mary, you are an “InterNational” treasure for sure.
🙏🏻🥰👏🏻

[susanmansfield]

Great tips Mary. Practical and straightforward. Loved it! x

[NickGoesHiking]

Great tips thank you, doing the whw for the first time end of April this year, I'll be solo too so this helped settle some nerves, off to watch your whw video now 😊

[moraggunn]

Your video is excellent. I appreciate the supportive info. You delivery spot on. Thank you.

[howardmcknight]

I agree with everyone of your tips Mary, excellent advice for anyone thinking of doing the walk, when we did the walk in 2019 we used baggage transfer and they picked us up at Glasgow Railway Station, took us to our accommodation at Milngavie, moved our bags daily and picked us up at our accommodation at Fort William and took us back to Glasgow Railway Station at the end and I think it was about £60 or just over for everything which I thought was very reasonable compared to what other baggage transfer companies charge on other long distance routes.

[mas]

Some good tips there Mary, here`s another. For those not arriving by train I have parked at Milngavie train station on two occasions . The first time I asked in the station if there was a charge and was told it`s free and acceptable if catching the train back from Fort William. I have also parked in the West End car park in Fort William, caught the train down to Milngavie and walked back to the car.

[bettyjorodgers]

Thank you so much for all the tips. You are really good at doing utube. Awesome.

[Wholesomeday]

This was really helpful thanks, especially good to note the wild camping around Loch Lomond.

[Puffball-llly]

That was usefull thanks planning to do in early May 🙂

[SunnyGlasgow]

great video, Mary, thanks very much 👍

[KristinaAdventures]

thanks for sharing this video, really fun to watch! gave so much great advice that ill use on my next adventure forsure! looking forward to see more content 🤗

[robinthebobin]

Brilliant video! I did the WHW as my first long distance hike in 2022 as a keen 19 year old, wildcamping for the first time and it was fantastic! A great introduction to longer distance walks, whether you plan on going onto tougher walking/mountaineering, or you're already an experienced thru-hiker.

A note on the dietary requirements thing - I'm vegan and I found it pretty decent everywhere, so I can reassure veggies and vegans that it's pretty good on the trail. Can highly recommend the Oak Tree Inn in Balmaha, where I had an absolutely awesome chickpea curry!