The Slackers are planning on walking the
Great Glen Way,
(The Groovy Way :-) late April 2013. We intend to start our preparation around January 2013 with plenty of good long walks.
If you are interested in coming along for the trip or any of the planned walks or indeed have a walk you would like to suggest as good GGW prep (nothing to hard) then please let us know.Our intended splits are as follows:
Stage 1:
Fort William to Gairlochy, 10.5 miles.
Today’s walk is very easy, which will give you the opportunity to do several side trips. The first one being Old Inverlochy Castle which is one of Scotlands earliest stone castles, built in 1260. Continue on with your walk before taking a short diversion to Corpach sea loch, with its lock-keepers’ cottages and pepper-pot lighthouse. You then head up to the Tow path of the Caledonian Canal following it past “ Neptune’s staircase” (a flight of 8 locks) to the small village of Gairlochy.
Stage 2:
Gairlochy to South Laggan, 12 miles.
A mainly easy walk today, but it does have two short steep ascents. You will be walking on a mixture of tarmac, forest paths and tracks, mostly shared with the Great Glen Cycle Route. Two miles after the start of your walk, take a side tip to Clan Cameron Museum and Cia-aig waterfall before rejoining the Way at Clunes. From Clunes all the way to Kilfinnan, you walk on forest tracks, you will get splendid views of Loch Lochy with the mountains behind.
Stage 3:
South Laggan to Fort Augustus, 10.5 miles.
Today the terrain is a mixture of tarmac, railway track bed, old military road, then a canal towpath. You will enter the Leiterfearn nature reserve, enjoying the wonderful ash, birch, elm and hazel woodland. If you have time you could walk up Meall a’Cholumain from Fort Augustus which is a great viewpoint. F. Augustus was largely built in 1729 as the hub of General Wades military road building programme to calm the highlanders after Culloden and there are 5 Locks at the center of town on the Caledonian Canal and several museums.
Stage 4:
Fort Augustus to Invermoriston, 9 miles.
A harder day today with steeper ascents. You will climb through a forest of birch and pine, beside a stream and uphill to a forest track. You should get some dramatic views of Loch Ness at intervals through the woods. Walk through the village of Invermoriston with its little bridge built by Thomas Telford.
Stage 5:
Invermoriston to Drumnadrochit, 14 miles.
A moderate day of walking today with some steep sections. There is quite a bit of undulation today, but hopefully you’ll be used to the walking now! For strong walkers in good weather you could ascend Meall Fuar-Mhonaidh from where you may get views from Ben Nevis all the way to Inverness. You can take excursions to Urquhart Castle with commanding views over Lochness. Drumnadrochit which has a Loch ness Monster visitor’s center…or two!
Stage 6:
Drumnadrochit to Inverness, 18 miles.
Today would normally be a long 18 mile/29km, which is a bit beyond the scope of the tour especially if you want to see something of Inverness. So it is possible to shorten the tour with a taxi transfer taking you from the town to near Loch Laide, famous for its very clean water. On route you can visit the Caiplich prehistoric settlement. Descend then to Blackford and the Great Glen once again meeting the Caledonian Canal once again before reaching Inverness, a beautiful town of past and modern, although mostly Victorian.
BLT
