Fiona pictured, on the front row second from the left, at the start of the walk
Linking Milngavie and Fort William, Scotland’s first official long distance route totals 95 miles of hills, moors and woodlands. Last week Fiona McGhee, Account Manager in the Glasgow office, tackled this hike along with 13 friends. The walk was in aid of Motor Neurone Disease, a cause close to their heart as a friend’s dad has recently been diagnosed with the disease. The Route follows the shores of Loch Lomond, passing Ben Lomond, crossing Rannoch Moor to the head of Glencoe, climbing the Devil’s Staircase and crossing the River Leven at the head of Loch Leven before entering Lairigmor and Glen Nevis. Sounds easy! Well according to Fiona it wasn’t!
“I’d known that we were going to do this for about 5 months but no amount of training could have prepared me for the mental and physical challenge of walking an average of 14 miles a day for 7 days. If it hadn’t been for all the money we raised I’m sure some of us would have given up at some point.”
The group’s hike began in their home town of Milngavie where even the local paper turned up for a few photos which made the front page of the local newspaper. The first day was fairly easy, everyone was fresh and raring to go, and only a short 12 mile fairly flat hike took them to Drymen for their first stop. After a night of rest and relaxation the team headed for their next port of call – Rowardennan. For Fiona, this was her toughest day!
“I had been to Rowardennan before but had always driven, it’s funny how 14 miles can feel so quick in a car! Walking through the woods alongside Loch Lomond was really difficult as we had no idea how much further we had to go and how much longer we needed to keep walking. Finding out from some fellow walkers that the hostel we were headed to had no water slowed our pace a little I think.”
After Rowardennan it was onto Inverarnan which was the most difficult part of the whole hike. A small crumbling path along the side of Loch Lomond was slippy and dangerous thanks to all the Scottish rain, it was so dangerous in fact that Fiona slipped and rolled down a hill landing on the banks of Loch Lomond, thankfully with just a couple of bruises Fiona bounced back up even more determined to get to their next destination. The next couple of days the group rested their weary heads at Tyndrum, Kingshouse and Kinlochleven before making the arduous climb out of the valley towards the end point of Fort William.
All 14 members of the team arrived together at the end of The West Highland Way at 4pm on Friday 24th July after approximately 60 hours of walking. With numerous blisters, sore knees and tired bodies the group huddled together for a final photo in front of the sign marking the West Highland Way. So was it worth it?
“Absolutely” Fiona says of her trip “to think of the amount of money we raised and also the awareness we have raised of the disease makes it totally worthwhile.” However, she also adds “I’m glad I did it, the scenery really was amazing and the walk showed Scotland at its best but I will never ever do it again!”
So far the group has raised over £3200 for the charity and more cheques are still being counted.
