West Highland Way

Kinlochleven to Fort William - 16.8 miles

I woke to the sound of rain, again, so my acrobatics skills were needed once again to change from my sleepwear into my rainwear. Luckily, there was another covered area, so I was able to transfer my bag and tent to sort and roll everything up under dry conditions. The last day of my trip is always confusing: I'm happy I'm getting to the end and succeeding in my plan but very sad that the adventure is ending… I tend to slow down so I can make it last a bit longer. After a quick breakfast, I set off through the town towards this small hill that turned out to be a mini-Everest in the sense of gradient. With my full gear on sweating was to be expected but what I got after the first 15 minutes resembled a shower, after 30 a swim in the lake and after 1 hour a dive in the ocean. All I wanted to do was take everything off and cool down, but I knew that would have meant a very unpleasant cold, so I left stripping for later. Once I reached the top the view gradually changed and Loch Leven made a gorgeous appearance, even with the gentle drizzle it was beautiful. My cute Angels worked overtime again and once I managed to find a sheltered spot with amazing views the rain nicely stopped, I didn't want to push my luck so my boots stayed on, but my butt had a great rest. The next section felt like the focal point / the crescendo of my trek .... all my hard work was leading me to this moment, to this majestic view: Lairigmor (the great pass). The great highlands on either side and this never-ending path endlessly following the shape of the valley in the middle. There was no reason to rush so I had a leisurely pace with 20 picture breaks a minute and a grin plastered to my face, which would have been envied by the Joker himself. With a light heart, I enjoyed every single step of this road and worked hard to imprint every detail not only into my mobile memory but my own as well. It was about an hour after my last break when the sun actually came out; I didn't hesitate for a millisecond: I parked my behind firmly down, got my Kindle and some food out and removed my boots and socks for a nice sunbathing session ....looking at the view around me was another AAAHHH moment to treasure for a lifetime and beyond. For the next 2 hours I followed the path and marvelled at everything: from mountains to plants, from waterfalls to puddles, from sheep to cute birdies, and from fresh air to more fresh air. When I was about to leave Lairigmore behind I stopped and just looked back for a full minute, this time it was with a heavy heart as I have fallen completely and irrevocably in love. What a stunning place .... My lunch break was obviously under the very first tree that gave me some shelter from the elements where Camila managed to catch up with me. It was a pleasure sharing stories with warm lunch and just a bit of a drizzle. I expected the next section to be a bit boring and less ... hmm... grand ... I was sorely mistaken of course. After a bit of forest and gentle hill walking the views opened and of course the great Ben Nevis himself came into view in dramatic fashion, shyly hiding behind a veil of fog. This of course meant only one thing ... Fort William was very close which also meant the end of my adventure. I wanted to run and cheer, and I wanted to stop and hide .... emotions were running high, but I still enjoyed every minute. Just few feet after turning onto the tarmac I took a mini detour for a 2,000-year-old fort .... as I said ... I didn't want to rush the end. I was either walking all over it or just too blind to see it but I simply couldn't find it .... what I did find was a stunning view of Ben Nevis surrounded by a brand-new kind of green that's difficult to describe, you had to be there to believe it. As much as I wanted, I couldn't put it off any longer and I started my descent into Fort William .... I could see civilisation and even cars: it was uplifting and incredibly sad at the same time. For some reason, my feet really didn't like this section, my knees started bothering me and my feet started throbbing to the sound of music that must have included African drums. This is how I ended up in the Ben Nevis Centre sitting by a nearby bench in the pouring rain covered up from head to ankle and my feet peeking out and enjoying the nice shower. What is the point of getting to your destination in absolute pain? I stayed for a good 30 minutes before braving the last mile of my 96 miles (156km) journey ... it came sooner than expected. In the past, the 'official end' was just a big sign which made the whole thing feel very anticlimactic however they changed this to a statue in the middle of Fort William of an old man holding one of his legs. It's called "Sore feet". After putting my mask on I waltzed through the town with a bounce in my step, sore feet and knee forgotten, and headed to my destination with a precision of a target-seeking missile. It was such a pleasure seeing familiar faces here: the two friends from ‘The Devil's Staircase’ who very kindly took the picture of me mirroring the sore feet statues pose with the biggest smile possible. What an adventure, what a journey, and what a fantastic memory to treasure and to share.

Life is a gift, do something that makes you utterly happy every day ..... DON'T wait ... JUST DO IT NOW 😊 Nike were onto something.

Thank you for reading and hope you enjoyed my crazy stories.