We set a new record today, we got up at 7 for breakfast and were on the road by 8 to spend some time at the fairy pools. We walked about 3 miles back to the pools near the base of the mountains and for the first time in several days, the sun came out. It was great to be healed up enough to enjoy walking again. Not to mention seeing the sun on the Isle of Skye, we definitely would like to come back here again.
After the pools, we went back to the MacDonald Castle for lunch and to thank Tom again, but he wasn’t there yet. We then parked our car at the Ferry Lot at Armadale and shopped at the stores there for some last minute souvenirs. We really enjoyed the photography at Grumpy George’s.
On the trip back home, I think we covered every possible form of transportation. Walking, driving a car to Armadale, ferry to Mallaig, train to Glasgow, bus to hotel near airport, walk to Holiday Inn (where we unpacked everything and dried it out in the room), shuttle to airport, plane back to Chicago via Philadelphia, “El” from O’hare to downtown, Amtrak to Carbondale, and car once again to Sikeston.
In spite of all of our eating, during and post trip (desserts every meal) we managed to lose over 10# each. In total, we hiked 95 miles on the West Highland Way plus an extra 10 on the Kelvin Walkway to get to the WHW from Glasgow. We also hiked another 10 miles on side trips on Inchailloch, to Rob Roy’s Cave, to Drover’s Inn, etc. for a total of 115 miles. Not a spectacular distance, but not bad for a couple of 50 year old novice hikers and the first long distance, multi-day hike ever for Pam.
Overall, the West Highland Way is a great hike. You have several different ways that you can hike ranging from day hikes from inn to inn with a luggage service all the way to carrying all your own gear. I will say that there are not a lot of backpacking food options along the way, but why bother when you can eat at 300 year old inns and meet locals along the way.
As a follow up to the hat that changed our lives—we have become great friends with Peter and Marcia and have gotten together with them at least once a year since. We talk regularly and have learned a lot from them. They both have through hiked the Appalachian Trail which is on our bucket lists. The hat was great for us, but may have been a curse for them.
