The Route
The West Highland Way official guide divides the 154 kilometers that make up the route in 8 stages.
These 8 stages of the official West Highland Way route are the same ones I comment on in my story. Instead, the official website www.westhighlandway.org divides it into 7 stages, although it comments that there are 8 stages. In the end, it is a question of adapting the route to each other’s possibilities, taking into account the physical state that allows for more or less miles to hold, and where accommodation has been found to make night, that if it is not planned in advance, it may force us to change some end/beginning of stage.
Below you can find the West Highland Way stages divided by 5, 6, 7 and 8 days, with two possibilities for route 7:
Stage | Itinerary | Distance (km) |
---|---|---|
1 | Milngavie – Drymen | 19,5 |
2 | Drymen – Rowardennan | 22,5 |
3 | Rowardennan – Inverarnan | 22,25 |
4 | Inverarnan – Crianlarich | 10,5 |
5 | Crianlarich – Bridge of Orchy | 21,5 |
6 | Bridge of Orchy – Kingshouse | 19,25 |
7 | Kingshouse – Kinlochleven | 14,5 |
8 | Kinlochleven – Fort William | 22,5 |
Stage | Itinerary | Distance (km) |
---|---|---|
1 | Milngavie – Drymen | 19,5 |
2 | Drymen – Rowardennan | 22,5 |
3 | Rowardennan – Inverarnan | 22,25 |
4 | Inverarnan – Tyndrum | 19,4 |
5 | Tyndrum – Inveroran | 14,5 |
6 | Inveroran – Kinlochleven | 30,6 |
7 | Kinlochleven – Fort William | 22,5 |
Stage | Itinerary | Distance (km) |
---|---|---|
1 | Milngavie – Drymen | 19,5 |
2 | Drymen – Rowardennan | 22,5 |
3 | Rowardennan – Inverarnan | 22,25 |
4 | Inverarnan – Tyndrum | 19,4 |
5 | Tyndrum – Kingshouse | 30,6 |
6 | Kingshouse – Kinlochleven | 14,5 |
7 | Kinlochleven – Fort William | 22,5 |
Stage | Itinerary | Distance (km) |
---|---|---|
1 | Milngavie – Drymen | 19,5 |
2 | Drymen – Rowardennan | 22,5 |
3 | Rowardennan – Crianlarich | 32,2 |
4 | Crianlarich – Inveroran | 24,1 |
5 | Inveroran – Kinlochleven | 30,6 |
6 | Kinlochleven – Fort William | 22,5 |
Stage | Itinerary | Distance (km) |
---|---|---|
1 | Milngavie – Balmaha | 32,2 |
2 | Balmaha – Inverarnan | 33,8 |
3 | Inverarnan – Bridge of Orchy | 30,5 |
4 | Bridge of Orchy – Kinlochleven | 33,8 |
5 | Kinlochleven – Fort William | 22,5 |
The West Highland Way: The Official Guide
Surely, buying the official guide, or any other guide, is not necessary to travel the West Highland Way without any problem. But if what you want is to know better about the environment where it goes, the landscape, fauna, flora, history, while you see precious photographs of the lakes and hills that you’re going to go through, it’s definitely recommended. And it will also help you, of course, to improve the planning you can do.
The official guide, updated in 2018, is the one I used (in a previous edition, obviously); it is protected with a plastic cover, so that it does not get wet, and it carries a map that goes very well to know where you are at all times.
For those who do not want books, or want to save money, you can buy the official map, indestructible, without the guide, or, for example, this other map, on a scale of 1: 40,000 and water resistant.

The stages
The West Highland Way 8 stages
Milngavie – Drymen
First stage | 19,5 km | Download | Read the story | Accommodation
Total climbing: 1556 m
Total descent: -1573 m
Total time: 05:17:38
Drymen – Rowardennan
Second stage | 22,5 km | Download | Read the story | Accommodation
Total climbing: 3385 m
Total descent: -3440 m
Total time: 08:19:31
Rowardennan – Inverarnan
Third stage | 22,25 km | Download | Read the story | Accommodation
Total climbing: 1503 m
Total descent: -1496 m
Total time: 07:46:21
On the official route the stage ends at Inverarn, but I only found accommodation at Ardlui, shortening the route by about two and a half kilometers.
Inverarnan – Crianlarich
Fourth stage | 19,5 km | Download | Read the story | Accomodiation
Total climbing: 1736 m
Total descent: -1606 m
Total time: 05:45:27
As I mentioned, this stage is about two and a half kilometers longer than the official guide, for having slept in Ardlui.
Crianlarich – Bridge of Orchy
Fifth stage | 19,5 km | Download | Read the story | Accommodation
Total climbing: 2209 m
Total descent: -2226 m
Total time: 05:38:58
Bridge of Orchy – Kingshouse
Sixth stage | 19,5 km | Download | Read the story | Accommodation
Total climbing: 1855 m
Total descent: -1724 m
Total time: 05:32:23
Kingshouse – Kinlochleven
Seventh stage | 19,5 km | Download | Read the story | Accommodation
Total climbing: 1538 m
Total descent: -1824 m
Total time: 05:09:35
Kinlochleven – Fort William
Eigth stage | 19,5 km | Download | Read the story | Accommodation
Total climbing: 2712 m
Total descent: -2709 m
Total time: 07:24:10