The East Highland Way

At the end of March, Sarah and I took on the challenge of walking the East Highland Way. This 82-mile walk starts in Fort William and ends in Aviemore, right in the Cairngorms. We both wanted to go on a holiday to Scotland. One that involved a long hike with some wild camping, where we were solely reliant on what was on our backs.

The obvious choice was to do the Great Glen Way, but as we both wanted to visit the Cairngorms, the East Highland Way made sense. After some research, we realised that the guidance for this route was pretty limited. It consisted of an out-of-date guidebook and a map that combined sections of the multiple OS maps needed for this walk. We purchased these in preparation.

We weren't really sure what to expect from this trail, but we definitely weren't disappointed!

The route took us down some extremely picturesque paths, and our surroundings constantly rewarded us. Yes, it was a tad roady/fire roady, but nonetheless, it was still very enjoyable.

The first half of the walk, leading to Kingussie/Newtonmore, was super remote. We saw a grand total of six other humans on this stretch. It was extremely peaceful, and this made the trip even more special. It really gave us both the time we needed to reconnect and appreciate the cushy lives we had been living back home. I kid you not, I did not want to come home after this trip. I wanted to stay in the wild forever (I think Sarah felt the same way).

Overall, this route had both its highs and lows: dodgy camps, bulls, neverending fire roads, a lack of proper coffee, horrific Bulk bars, and sad Huel. BUT we also had mostly sunshine, beautiful views, a simple purpose, and great company to keep us going. It was not a holiday for everyone, but it was our kind of holiday.

So, if you want to read all about this trip, including me falling in a bog running from an uninterested bull, Sarah's feet becoming absolutely mangled, both of us almost missing our bus to Scotland, and multiple exposures to froggy threesomes, then stay tuned as we release our eight-part series on our experience doing the East Highland Way.