West Highland Way
19 Oct 2017
After reading Matt’s blog last week about getting back to the core of life, back to the outdoors and away from technology, I thought it made sense to write something this week about my eventful week off, which involved walking the West Highland Way. It was a few months ago that my friend asked if I would be interested in walking the West Highland Way later this year and I agreed straight away without really realising quite what I was letting myself in for. For anyone that doesn’t know the WHW is a 96 mile walk through the Scottish highlands from Glasgow to Fort William.
We planned the trip over 5 days, walking from Milngavie – Balmaha – Inveranan – Bridge of Orchy – Kinlochleven – Fort William. Being outdoors in Scotland at this time of year you need to prepare yourself for any weather and even though we were prepared it was still a pretty tough challenge. We walked for hours (between 7-12 hrs per day) in the pouring rain, battling the wind, getting covered in mud and bumping into more livestock that I had hoped for! But spending the day in the open air, not a computer in sight and no signal on our phones was actually quite therapeutic. I can’t remember the last time I went a whole day without checking my phone.
It also gave us the chance to do a good deed and raise some money for charity. I set up a ‘Just Giving’ sponsor page for the event and am pleased to say I have now raised nearly £400 for my chosen charity – St Vincent’s Hospice.
I really enjoyed the adventure and probably saw more of Scotland than I have in the whole 26yrs I have lived here. It’s a nice feeling, knowing that by taking on this challenge I have been able to raise money for a charity that is really close to my heart. My charity adventures are starting to become a regular thing…last year I completed a charity swim in Greece, this year was the WHW, I just need to decide now what my adventure will be for next year. If anyone has any suggestions of what my next challenge should be please leave a comment below and watch this space!!
(Stacey Clark)