West Highland Way 2014

[Ed]

I'm planning to walk the Way in mid-May, over 6 days. The plan has been pretty much assembled. Now it would seem irresponsible of me to cross and encounter many waters and not have a cast. So, the rod should form part of my equipment.

I'll make use of the bag carrying company, so what I need to do now is work out what stretches of the Way I should include the rod and reel within my day sac.

Any suggestions, with thoughts and reasoning?

All insight and intelligence would be a appreciated.

Ed

[sinbad]

The river fillan at crianlarich and the lochs/rivers across the rannoch moor are all good fun without straying far off track. I'd start with them. Sb.

[Fishtales]

If you are intending doing 16+ miles a day you wont have time to fish

[Otter Spotter]

Doing a few training walks up around Blairgowrie one of the team has done the 'challenge' on the WHW she reckons the terrain is very similar. We are currently doing 20 miles in about 5 to 5.5 hours with light packs 10-15lbs. Plenty time for fishing if you are out for the full day. Encourage fellow walkers to leave early in order to maximise your daylight hours and try and end your day with the fishing , that way you wont get sidelined  Walking with fishing at the end tends to get you there quicker. You'll be passing so much water that any of it has got to be worth a cast in particular as SB says around the moor has to be a good shout.

[Fishtales]

I've done up to Inversnaid using the baggage drop. We were trying to do it in five days and that bit was hard enough to blow my mates knee trying to do it too fast. I used to have the maps and times on my computer but they seem to have disappeared.

[Inchlaggan]

I was about to brag about me and a mate doing the whole route (unsupported) in a tad under 48 hours in the early 1980's and decided to Google what the current record was....... feck me!

http://westhighlandwayrace.org/history/

[Otter Spotter]

Ed worth checking the training routine here
www.caledonianchallenge.com
Or here
[url]http://www.soldierscharity.org/events/cateran-yomp//[url]
Sandy raises a good point you have to be well prepped otherwise injury is a distinct possibility. Fit and hill fit are different beasts 
Of course you aint trying to do it in 24 hours so a more gentle flavour should get you through  If you are fishing in the hills regularly then thats a great start, but I would try and get as many walking miles in as possible before your trip.
Ken I'm attempting 54m in 24 hours in June I am hoping to bring it in at around 17-20hrs. Last year 3 of myates RAN it in just over 8  :shock: At the final checkpoint they were misinformed that the Ghurkas were right behind them so they picked up the pace for the final stretch. Turned out they were over 2.5 hours behind but my buddies set a record that will be tough to beat 

[Fishtales]

I have GPS tracks for loads of different walks from roads to hills and very few have an average speed of more than 3 miles an hour and most are between 2 and 2½ mph. If I am looking at any walk now I set it out in Anquet, get the mileage and set the time to 2 mph and it is seldom very far out. The Milngavie to Inversnaid we did in just under two days, which was approx 34 miles if I remember (it was ten years ago), and we weren't taking our time.

This was the map for the first day Milngavie to Cashel campsite. Which I think was 18 miles, I used to have all the distances for each section we were going to do and some days were twenty miles. I think the shortest was 15 as you had to tie in with where the bag drops were.

[attachimg=1]

The second day should have taken us to the campsite at Beinglas.

[Fishtales]

I think these times aren't too far out to enjoy the walk.

http://www.west-highland-way.co.uk/theroute.asp

Going by these distances our first day was 20 miles, second day would have been 21 miles but we only managed 14 miles

[Ed]

Thank you all for the information. My plan of attack is as follows:

Day 1 - Milngavie to Balmaha, 20 miles. Camp.
Day 2 - Balmaha to Inverarnan, 21 miles. Camp.
Day 3 - Inveranan to Tyndrum, 12 miles. Hostel.
Day 4 - Tyndrum to Kingshouse, 20 miles. Camp.
Day 5 - Kingshouse to Kinlochleven, 8 miles. Camp.
Day 6 - Kinlochleven to Fort William, 14 miles. Hostel.
Returning on the train, with a stop off at Rannoch to catch up with a mate that stays in the Station House.

I'll be carrying a day pack, by engaging the carrier services to shunt the bulk stuff (clothes, tent, sleeping bag etc.).

I'm travelling alone. As I see it there'll be plenty of new people to meet along the Way, so I'll have the luxury of starting early and selecting a pace that meets my needs.

I understand that Day 2 is the difficult section, both physically and mentally. For me, I see the difficulty being walking 20 or so miles day after day, and for that I can't prepare for due to commitments. I'm walking, running, and working on my upper body.....and a whole load of WILL.

My thoughts on fishing, all going well with the first two days (and I get past the wall that I will hit), it may be that I could take 30 minutes out to cast a fly on waters, whilst having lunch or catching breath. So if there are any fishy wee burns and the like, that you would have loved to fish when walking the Way, but never had your rod with you, then a steer in their direction would be great.