Fort William to Spean Bridge

Distance Walked: 14.89/82 Miles

The real adventure begins...

We set off bright and early from the Premier Inn, following a very meagre breakfast for Dani. Who'd have thought that a Premier Inn in Scotland wouldn't have many vegan options!? As usual, I stuffed my face, unable to resist all of the sugary children's options. As we walked out of the Loch Iall Brewers Fayre, we were faced with a spectacular view of Ben Nevis. A snow-capped, colossal mound of rock framed by the bright blue sky. Yes. Blue sky in Scotland... Weren't we lucky!

How the heck do we get out of Fort William!?

Straight off the bat, we were faced with our first challenge: Navigate to the start of the route. Now. For anyone else, this wouldn't have been a challenge. But, for us, sleep-deprived and bleary-eyed, identifying where we were on the tiny makeshift map was difficult. After a good 10 minutes of faff, we decided to follow the main road out of Fort William. Seemed like a logical idea, seeing as we were headed for the mountains. This plan did actually come to fruition, and soon we were walking along a conifer plantation fire road beneath the Nevis range.

Spot the bridge

I was anxious to redeem myself after getting lost within the first hour of our kit test trip (read this adventure here). So, as we walked, I studied the map intently. We began to use streams and bridges to monitor our progress along the route, which quickly became a game. If you've ever had the pleasure of meeting Danielle, you know she's a big kid, so she jumped on this enthusiastically.

Successful navigation...

The second navigation challenge of the day soon presented itself. We hit a fork in the path and were faced with the choice of a slightly overgrown-looking path or a manicured fire road. Our first impulse was to take the fire road, but using our 'expert' navigation skills, we realised we needed to stay close to the train track. So far, so good. We then came across a lovely little café, and, as tempted as we were to stop, we waved to the happy, free-range chickens as we passed by and carried on along the path.

Too hot? In SCOTLAND!?

We eventually reached a lane, and it was time to start the first uphill of the day. It was now a beautiful, warm, sunny day, and having set off before the sun had had a chance to warm us up, we were completely overdressed. Bare in mind this was a day in March in Scotland. About halfway up the lane, we were both so flustered and sweaty that we absolutely had to stop to remove some layers. As Danielle has already mentioned in a previous post, taking layers off when you're carrying a huge backpack is a real struggle. Mid-faff, we had to jump out of the way of a giant land rover, clearly on some important mission that couldn't be delayed by even a second.

Soup for the soul...

Feeling much cooler, we continued the slog up the lane until we finally reached the shade of yet another conifer plantation. By this point, it was long past lunchtime, and our stomachs were growling (a common theme throughout the trip). The plan was to head down to Spean Bridge to scout out lunch options. On the map, our destination didn't look far at all. But obviously, as we were already a little weak and hangry, this short distance felt anything but short. Luckily, the route was mostly downhill from there. So, in our excitement at the prospect of yummy café food, we practically ran the whole way. After a brief stop to admire some random hand-painted stones on the side of the trail, we made it.

We had our sights set on the Old Station café, but too much disappointment, it appeared to be closed. Slightly disheartened, we trudged further off-route to look for alternative options. We stumbled across a Spar shop and were about to settle for sad supermarket sandwiches when Danielle noticed that the Woollen Mill shop opposite was actually also a cafe. How exciting! We ventured into the shop and were instantly greeted warmly by the shopkeeper. She was very interested in our adventure and asked a myriad of questions before ushering us into the cafe to refuel. We found ourselves a table, and Danielle went to investigate the lunch options. I was about to join her when another friendly local struck up a conversation with me. He tells me all about his own experience of walking the East Highland Way, giving some very valuable advice about avoiding a section that becomes boggy in wet weather. If you know me, you know that I have a memory like a sieve, and so, of course, I instantly forget this useful nugget of information. By this point, Dani had her lunch—lentil soup and a roll. Not what most people would choose after lugging a gigantic backpack for the past 4 hours. It turns out, though, that this soup is the best soup either of us has ever tasted, so far. I also picked up some Iron Bru and Tablet to try. After a discussion about what flavour Iron Bru actually is, refreshed, and happy, we embark on the second part of our journey.

Too good to be true?

The final challenge of the day was to find somewhere suitable for our first wild camp of the trip. We follow a tree-lined, shady lane for a few more hours, keeping our eyes peeled for a good camp spot. We pass a few decent spots but decide to gamble in the hope of finding something better. Eventually, we came to a little path leading off the road and into the woods. We decide to follow it and stumble across a shady, flat, grassy area next to the river. Jackpot! Someone had even built us a fire pit and put up a washing line. Thinking that this was probably too good to be true, we both question whether we've invaded someone's camp. Yes. We had, indeed. We'd discovered the Insh Scout Campsite. I struggled not to follow the rules, so I felt uneasy about staying here without having asked for permission. But, despite this, we decided to wait until dusk to set up our tents just in case the scouts made an appearance. While we waited, we brewed a cuppa and ate our dinner, which consisted of hummus and flatbread from the Spar for Dani and an unmemorable sandwich for me.

Unsurprisingly, the highlight was the chocolate bunny lollipops that Dani had squashed into her backpack for us.

We also discovered that our camp spot had a swing, so we, of course, spent a good half an hour making the most of that.

Dusk arrived, and we decided it was safe to set up. Dani had a whole new set of kit to test, so I quickly got myself sorted and nerded out over her new tent. The temperature dropped rapidly once the sun disappeared, and so we found refuge in our tents for the night.

Reflecting on the day...

Cosy in my brand new down sleeping bag, I reflected on what a perfect first day we'd had. Great weather, a delicious lunch, friendly locals, and managing to avoid getting lost. Little did we know that this was the calm before the storm that tomorrow would bring.

Stay tuned to read all about Dani's swim in a bog, more chats with friendly locals, last-minute detours, and a night spent in a cosy local hotel in next week's post, Roy Bridge to Tulloch.