We got up when we heard everyone else packing up. Rather than deal with cooking, we headed into to the hotel for breakfast and porcelain (not necessarily the order of derived pleasure). By the time we got packed up and hiking, it was…10:30. The walk started out parallel to a highway and was nice, easy, and level. We made good time hiking the 3.5 miles to the base of Devil’s Staircase. To our right the whole morning was my new favorite mountain, Buachaille Etive Mor. I was daydreaming about living in medieval times and using this mountain as a fortress. There are so many gullies and crags that could have been developed into fortresses that I dare anyone to look at this mountain and NOT fantasize about living on it.
Back to Devil’s Staircase. This rather steep climb represents the highest point on the WHW. It was built in 1750 as part of the old military road but it didn’t get its name until later when a reservoir was being built in the mountains to provide hydroelectric power to Kinlochleven’s aluminum works. Irish labor was imported for building the reservoir. Irish being Irish, the laborers didn’t want to stay up at the reservoir every night when the closest bar was only about 6 miles away at Kingshouse Hotel. This section of road got its name from the hungover walks made every morning back to Blackwater Reservoir.
Another trend, other than our late daily starting time, has become apparent by this point of our hike. Pam is not a morning hiker (or morning person in general, but she’ll argue this point to death so I won’t mention her short temper in the mornings). She starts slow and whiny so I tend to hike ahead until she loosens up and wakes up (the flip side of this is that once she gets going, she’s like the dam energizer bunny and doesn’t want to stop at the end of the day when I’m dying).
The staircase is about a 900’ climb in less than ½ mile. With Pam not quite warmed up and walking slow (but steady), I climbed on ahead. Since she wears a bright pink broad brimmed hat, it’s always easy for me to pick her out in a crowd at any distance. I just wanted to get this climb over. I got to the top and dropped my pack. Pam wasn’t more that 5-10 minutes behind. We met, Peter, Marcia, and Dan at the top and had a long relaxing lunch with views of Ben Nevis in the distance. After lunch, Peter and Marcia did a celebratory dance (kind of polka-ish) while we clapped and cheered them on.
PMD decide to hike a ridge loop trail after lunch while Pam and I decided we didn’t have that kind of energy to hike an extra 3-4 miles so we headed down the trail. We hadn’t gone more than a mile when the sky clouded over and started pouring like hell. I had a minor panic attack trying to drop my pack to get my rain gear and gloves. Pam wasn’t bothered at all by the rain, but I freaked. No idea why. We were worried about PMD being exposed on the ridge.
It didn’t rain long and then the sky cleared back up. We hiked the remaining 4 miles downhill into Kinlochleven without incident. We didn’t see PMD again after the Devil’s Staircase or know where they were going to stay that night. They were planning on driving a few miles (via Dan’s wife, Janette) to a sea food restaurant for supper, but we opted out since I’m not a fan of shit ingesting life forms (pigs and chickens excepted) as a food source. We went to the MacDonald’s Hotel to camp and shower (only second shower on the trail since Beinglas Farm) and then headed back into town for supper. We got some great sunset pictures from the porch of one of the cabins before we went in search of a supper establishment.
We found a surprising restaurant on the River Leven, “The Hideaway”. We headed upstairs where we found a couch and table to relax at while we waited for our curry. Of course we had our tennis ball to roll out our feet. Unfortunately, the rest room was on the first floor and we sure stiffened up in a hurry after sitting down. We ate and drank loads; chicken curry, steak pie, chocolate cake, and Sauvignion Blanc wine—our hiker’s appetites have arrived.
After supper, we hobbled around town a bit (shopped for snacks/lunch for tomorrow), looked at illuminated sculptures along the river, and just fell in love with this planned town. Kinlochleven is definitely our favorite town along the WHW. It was originally built around the aluminum smelter (we had followed the water pipes down from the mountains which generate the electricity for the works—at one point, we could hear a loud hiss which we couldn’t identify. It turned out to be a small hole in one of the water pipes shooting pressurized water 60’ in the air). While we were eating, they moved the MacDonald Hotel about a mile further down the road.
