What a glorious morning – waking up in such a beautiful hotel as the Kingshouse Hotel with some of Scotland’s finest views right from your bedroom window (below), realizing you had completed the hardest day on the trail yesterday, and seeing once again clear blue skies for the day’s short walk!
I must admit the boots were hard to fit back on our achy feet that morning but the pain quickly subsided upon seeing the breakfast room bathed in Highlands light. Everyone was in a similar mood – relaxed, enjoying a leisurely breakfast, in no rush to start the “short” 9 miles to our next and penultimate stop.
We slowly got going around 9am, following yet another section of spectacular Highland scenery.
The great arrowhead mountain Buachaille Etive Mor was in full view, towering above the Way for the first hour of our walk.
It might look like a pretty wild place from this perspective, but we were walking parallel to a very busy road to our left, the A82, which was a stark contrast to yesterday’s totally isolated trek. Trucks, cars, and buses were speeding through the valley retracing our steps backward all the way to Glasgow.
We finally left the side of the road once we reached Altnafeadh with great views of the “weeping glen”. The valley of Glen Coe is famous for its impressive scenery and being the home of Scottish mountaineering, but it’s even more famous for its bloody history. Any fan of Outlanders or other Scottish historical drama will have heard of the Glencoe massacre where the MacDonald clan was exterminated in cold blood by Highland troops to which they have provided hospitality for weeks. No wonder it’s referred to as the bloody tale of deception.
Fittingly, the next stage of our morning walk involved climbing the Devil’s Staircase!
It really wasn’t as ominous as it sounds. A mere 850ft ascent which yes, could feel a bit like a butt kicker after yesterday’s workout but with more than enough rewarding views if you just turned around to look back.
About halfway up you’d get a sense for the name “Devil’s Staircase” given to the engineering zigzags bringing you to the top of the pass.
Two summit cairns marked not only the end of the climb for the highest point on the entire West Highland Way (548m/1797ft) – woohoo! Views north revealed our first sight of Ben Nevis (the UK’s highest mountain) and the Mamores mountain range in front of it.
The 360 panorama was unbelievable and it seemed like the ideal place to stop and take a break. That’s until you had been there admiring the views for about 10 seconds and realized the winds and elevation had dropped the temperature down considerably. It was not a place to linger and we started our long descent on the other side pronto.
It was a pleasant enough walk, zigzagging slowly down the mountainsides, crossing a few streams and meditating while watching the moving shadows of the clouds on the ground…
Soon the mountain path gave way to a steep four-wheel drive track all the way down to the village.
We arrived in Kinlochleven just in time for lunch – this was by far the shortest day! 3.5 – 4hrs at a steady pace and we now had the whole afternoon to ourselves.
Fun fact: Kinlochleven was the site of a huge aluminum smelter in the early 1900s (now closed) powered by a hydro-electric scheme. It made Kinlochleven the first village in the world to have every house connected to electricity and was therefore called “The Electric Village”! Today it’s mostly a jumping off point to all the mountains around, attracting climbers and hikers, and the old smelter now houses the biggest indoor rock and ice climbing wall in Britain.
After lunch at the local pub, we still had hours to chill, buy provisions for the following day, and wander around the village which felt divine.
I had heard of a popular restaurant a 10 minute cab ride away set on the shore of Loch Leven – special penultimate dinner was in order!
The Lochleven Seafood Cafe is also a deli and shop and known to have the freshest seafood around. They catch local shellfish with their own boats and store it in seawater tanks next door – you can’t have more local than this and we tasted it!
Ravenous, we clearly ordered half the menu and regretted not having more room to try the rest – it was that good! From razor clams and oysters to langoustines and mussels, we feasted as the sun was setting over the loch. Even without a view this restaurant would be worth the trek but sitting right on the loch certainly deserves extra points.
Only one more day to go…
