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The West Highland Way


Lex

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June certainly, but not May.

May is a midge free month in most of Scotland.

June to mid Sept for the midges.

Your right in that may is probably not prime midge season but it depends on the winter. They were already out at loch quoich last week, although not biting yet and I have heard people saying they were out in Glen affric at the start of the month. one of the worst midge affected nights I eve r had was in Glen Nevis campsite in May.

Forecast is for a bumper year this year due to the mild winter.Tbh the last few years I have hardly noticed them apart from one night at loch morlich where I must have lost about a stone in blood in one hour.

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I did it in 6 days two years ago, my first ever long distance walk. We started on a Thursday in mid-May, had three glorious, hot days at the end of the walk and never got bothered by a single midgie. And they love me, so any midges about would've made a beeline for me.

The Thursday thing worked well until the last day (Tuesday). For some reason the opening stretch along Larigmor after the initial climb was like Sauchiehall Street on a Saturday - fekk knows where they all came from, we only recognised four other people from other days on the walk.

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I'll be doing it for the first time in August.

I have never been bothered with Midges in the past. Am I in for a rude awakening?

Depends. Ever woken up in a tent in Glencoe before?

The midges can be bad, but by and large it's only when your standing around. During the walks you'll be fine. In the pub you'll be fine. In your tent you'll be fine. There's just a few annoying bits in between these moments.

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I'll be doing it for the first time in August.

I have never been bothered with Midges in the past. Am I in for a rude awakening?

It's variable. Depends on weather, time of day and year and other conditions. I've personally never had too much of a midgie problem on the Way but Kinlochleven village at dusk was really bad, you literally couldn't stay outdoors.

Personally worse than midgies have been clegs. I've been bitten several times around the area from Tyndrum to Blackmount area. I think it might be because there are a lot of sheep on that section that they proliferate but I'm no expert.

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All done :)

Got really lucky with the weather, only 2 hours of rain in 8 days! Really enjoyed it overall, and would certainly recommend it to anyone who is thinking of doing it.

My favourite stages were the loch side scramble from Inversnaid to The Drovers Inn and the walk through Rannoch Moore.

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Planning on doing this in 4 days in May with a couple of mates. Camping and carrying packs so praying for good weather. When my cousin did it the same way in August it rained 80% of the time and he said it was miserable. Staying in Fort William on the last night for a night on the booze.

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44 minutes ago, afca32 said:

Planning on doing this in 4 days in May with a couple of mates. Camping and carrying packs so praying for good weather. When my cousin did it the same way in August it rained 80% of the time and he said it was miserable. Staying in Fort William on the last night for a night on the booze.

Did it a long time ago, April 1983 and the path was pretty undeveloped. Six days carrying packs, maybe 30 lbs, but no camping gear. Only one pishing wet day but next day the Devil's Staircase was covered in snaw. There's far more accommodation nowadays.

I was very fit then from climbing Munros but suffered a fair bit of tendonitis in both Achilles from the weight and the hard surfaces. I don't know you but 4 days sounds a bit optimistic. 

July and August are two of the wettest months of the year but most people don't realise that. Just because it's the school holidays everybody expects decent weather then gets disappointed.

May sounds good, Smidge is good, you may get off lightly, best of luck. 

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21 minutes ago, The Mantis said:

Did it a long time ago, April 1983 and the path was pretty undeveloped. Six days carrying packs, maybe 30 lbs, but no camping gear. Only one pishing wet day but next day the Devil's Staircase was covered in snaw. There's far more accommodation nowadays.

I was very fit then from climbing Munros but suffered a fair bit of tendonitis in both Achilles from the weight and the hard surfaces. I don't know you but 4 days sounds a bit optimistic. 

July and August are two of the wettest months of the year but most people don't realise that. Just because it's the school holidays everybody expects decent weather then gets disappointed.

May sounds good, Smidge is good, you may get off lightly, best of luck. 

Definitely a challenge I'm aware of that. I was against the idea at first but one of the guys who did a similar route years ago proposed a good plan and I thought f**k it let's go for it. If we don't manage it's not the end of the world. 6 days of walking around Poolewe at Easter should prepare me. Cheers, should be a good laugh.

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Doing it within four days is an optimistic plan IMO, given both the knock-on effects of walking from the day before, as well as the infuriating section in the rocks on the east side of Loch Lomond - you'll be lucky to record two miles an hour there. If everyone in the party is accustomed to long-distance walking then it could be done, but otherwise I'd advise taking at least an extra day to complete it.

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1 hour ago, virginton said:

Doing it within four days is an optimistic plan IMO, given both the knock-on effects of walking from the day before, as well as the infuriating section in the rocks on the east side of Loch Lomond - you'll be lucky to record two miles an hour there. If everyone in the party is accustomed to long-distance walking then it could be done, but otherwise I'd advise taking at least an extra day to complete it.

Agree with this. I done it in 4 days with my parents when I was 13yo. The last day being 30+ miles to Milngavie being particularly exhausting. 

Take the 5th day and enjoy the scenery at a more leisurely pace would be my advice. 

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