Kings House to Kinlochleven

11 May 2012 - Kings House to Kinlochleven

Distance - 8.9 miles

Weather - Cold and wet early on, drying out later

We stayed at - Tailrace Inn, Riverside Road, Kinlochleven, PH50 4QH  Cost £75.00

Despite it being May, the higher bits of Glen Coe had a dusting of snow overnight and there was still a cold rainy wind blowing down the glen in the morning.

Today is a shortish stretch, although after a few miles walk down the glen, we began our ascent of the infamous 'Devil's Staircase'.

The Devil's staircase had a bad reputation in the earlier days of the WHW, probably because more people were camping and carrying all their gear then. Most people who start the WHW with intentions to do it 'properly' change their minds after the first day. These days, when it only costs £40 to have your baggage carried for you the whole way, the only people who carry everything are the truly stubborn.

Mountain in Glen Coe

In fact the 'staircase' is just an extended bit of walking uphill. The staircase proper is the very top bit which is steep, but the path has been build up and now winds back and forth, making the gradient a bit less demanding. The top has some great views of Buchaillie Etive Mor (the mountain which practically defines Glen Coe) as well as the Blackwater reservoir which feeds the aluminium plant at Kinlochleven.

The last few miles is a long slog downhill to sea level at Kinlochleven. When Alistair did this with full pack on back in the day, he found this part harder going than the uphill part.

Top of Devils Staircase

The pub we stayed at in Kinlochleven had better accommodation than we were expecting, which was a bonus. The food was good and we didn't have to travel much from our trail. The pub was so geared up for walkers that it had a little garden shed like structure outside for the luggage companies & walkers to deposit rucksacks.

Again we were threatened with motor bikes, but all we saw in the end was a couple of organisers head up the hill carrying warning flags as we were finishing.

Mountain near Kinlochleven

Again, after we got to the hotel, it started tipping it down. At one point we thought the velux window in our bathroom was open because of the noise. In fact it was just hail causing the rucus.