WHW: Scotland's West Highland Way

What better way to celebrate getting my Triple Crown after finishing the Appalachian Trail this summer than to go on another hike. A few big differences to my previous hikes:

Mrs. Haze is hiking with me!
We are out of the USA and in Scotland – I feel right at home here, maybe my 21% Scottish blood?
We are hiking with daypacks and staying in B&Bs or inns every night – our luggage will arrive at our next destination and be there when we arrive. What a treat!

The West Highland Way (WHW) is a 96-mile route in the Scottish Highlands opened in 1980 and Scotland’s first officially designated Long Distance Route. In 2010, the WHW was co-designated as part of the International Appalachian Trail, reason being the geologic evidence shows that the Appalachian Mountains, certain mountains of Western Europe and North Africa were parts of the ancient Pangean Mountains. With the breakup of the Pangea over 200 million years ago, sections of the former range remained with the continents as they drifted to their present location. How cool is that?

We are going to hike the northern half of the WHW from Tyndrum to Fort Williams which appears to have more relief and interesting scenery.

We started this trip with three days in Edinburgh, the historic capital on the east coast. Lots of long walks being tourists in this beautiful city, tours of the Edinburgh Castle, the Palace of Holyroodhouse and the Old Town known for its medieval street plan.

Today, we drove into the Scottish Highlands to Tyndrum but stopping at interesting sites including 14th century Doune Castle where Monty Python’s Holy Grail was filmed. Tyndrum is a small village surrounded by hills and glens and was a former mining center for lead. The village is situated on the site of a 1306 battlefield.

We enjoyed dinner and a pint of Scottish ale at a local pub. Looks like we will get some rain tomorrow on our first day on the WHW.