West Highland Way - day 4 or 6 - Tyndrum to Glencoe

West Highland Way - Tyndrum to Glencoe. The West Highland Way is Scotland's premier long distance footpath. The hike is 96 miles (154 km) long and runs from Milngavie north of Glasgow to Fort William in the Scottish Highlands. It is estimated 36,000 walk the entire route annually and is considered by ourselves to be one of the best long distance trails in the world We left Tyndrum at 7.45am following coffee and malt loaf for breakfast in our room. We visited Brodies shop which sells groceries, maps etc, posted as the last shop for 44 km to Kinlochleven, buying yoghurt, cheese and bread, and chatted to fellow walkers going the same way. http://brodies.webeden.co.uk/ Again the walk is well signed with an obvious path to the right of the shop. We reached Bridge of Orchy station after 7 miles or 2 and a half hours. A rather unfriendly sign says toilets at the station are only for train customers. We called into the Bridge of Orchy hotel for coffee, meeting a lovely young American couple, regaling tales from their Pacific Crest Trail - a coincidence since we watched the film the night before. http://www.bridgeoforchy.co.uk/ We left The Bridge of Orchy at 11am, taking the path which goes up hill with tremendous views over Loch Tulla with mountains in all directions. Alternatively again, given walkers' and weather conditions, an old road can be taken giving a flat walk, rejoining the WHW at Inveroran Hotel. We stopped to chat to fellow walkers we had met earlier, who were having drinks outside Inveroran Hotel. https://www.inveroran.com/ We followed the path up through the trees, sitting in the shade to eat our sandwiches. The path was an old Parliamentary road built by Thomas Telford in 1803 for the movement of cattle and sheep being driven to market, and used in this fashion until 1933. The temperature must have been 25 degrees, fairly warm for walking, I had my umbrella up to keep the sun off!! The trees end to reveal the vast expanse of Rannoch Moor, again truly magical with views in all directions. We followed the old drovers path again taking our time to enjoy the views and chat to walkers, being in no hurry to reach our campsite. Eventually at 4pm, we came over the last crest to see the expanse of Glencoe before us. We were camping at Glencoe Mountain resort, which can only be described as a bit of an eyesore in such sublime scenery. We arrived at 4.30pm and paid £6.00 to camp, and a £1 each for a shower. There is a cafe which shuts at 8.30pm, where we ate dinner. The menu was limited, with burgers, baked potatoes etc, but I really enjoyed my tuna baked potato. There are fantastic views, a phone charging station in the cafe, free WIFI is available for 2 hours. This is a fairly small campsite with not much space between the tents. When we stayed there was a fair amount of noise from fellow campers, and people in camper vans. https://www.glencoemountain.co.uk/ Distance Miles 18.09 Duration of Walk Hours 8.5 Average Pace Min/Mile 29.17 Steps 52516 Elevation gained in feet 2000