Day 9: On to Kinlochleven

This morning after breakfast, the taxi came for Debbie to take her back to the Glencoe Ski Center (which you remember she had reached on Day 7). Looking at the map, we had figured out that there was no reasonable way I could walk the first part and then skip the rest, because there is no human habitation along the Way between Glencoe and Kinlochleven. Also, this leg of the walk involved climbing a stretch called the Devil's Staircase, which reaches to the highest altitude anywhere along the Way. After my experience with Conic Hill, I was not eager to challenge this particular incline.

But Debbie was determined. So off she went in the taxi to begin her walk. Meanwhile I had confirmed which bus would take me to Kinlochleven: it was, in fact, the same bus we had taken the day before to go into Glencoe Village, but I had over an hour to wait for it. So I made my way to the bus stop, and waited.

The bus was more or less on time, and an hour later I was in Kinlochleven. I didn't have a map with me (Debbie had the maps), so I ambled around for a minute and finally asked someone where the West Highland Way comes into town. I got directions, and set off to find it.

Now, the slope down from the Devil's Staircase into Kinlochleven is gentler than the steep climb up from Glencoe; but I discovered that "gentler" is not the same as "gentle." Following the trail backwards so I could meet Debbie en route was still a good bit of exercise. Also, the trail was very clear (almost a road) but much of it was covered in loose gravel or many small stones. There were stretches where I did not feel confident of my footing. So after hiking a mile and a half in, or maybe two, I decided that was good enough. I looked around to enjoy my surroundings, found a flat rock to sit on, ate my lunch, and waited for Debbie.

Oddly enough, I think this was the first day that I had to find somewhere to pee on the trail, and it happened twice. What I noticed right away was that while this part of the trail cut through forest, the trees nearest the trail were rather sparse and their trunks were very thin. Also there were plenty of people coming through, because the West Highland Way is a major tourist attraction. So it took a little ingenuity to find a place that I was more or less concealed, and it took patience to wait until I could hear nobody in either direction. On the other hand, at least the peeing itself was easy to do. Debbie had told me about facing the same difficulty more than once (over the course of the trip, I mean), and of course for her it was a lot more awkward. (Once was during the morning of Day 4, when we were hiking together along the shores of Loch Lomond. But the trees in that area were very dense and very large, so I just rested on the path for a few minutes while she disappeared into the thickness of the woods.)

Finally, after some hours, Debbie came along the path and I walked up to meet her. She told me about her hike, and said that the Devil's Staircase had not been hard for her at all. She simply approached it as a form of walking meditation. We walked together the last hour or so into town, and then followed the map to find our hotel for the night. After we checked in, Debbie wanted to explore the town for a bit. So we walked around, looking for a couple of places mentioned in the guide book (such as a local history center). We found them, but they were already closed. So we made our way back to the hotel for dinner and bed.