I had made a mistake.  For some bizarre reason, I had thought that there was one more day of walking on the West Highland Way until we returned home. If we hadn't noticed the error we might have arrived in Fort William and found ourselves without a roof over our heads for the next evening. Fortunately, some weeks earlier  Jerome spotted the gaping hole between the date of completing the walk and our flight home, and we decided to spend one last full day in Fort William. What to do on this day was a matter of debate. Jerome and Chris both favoured walking up Ben Nevis. I was less keen, mainly because I had climbed it back in 1974 on a dry but dull day. Back then I was enthused because the top of Ben Nevis was in the clouds and I thought it would be exciting to walk through them. What I failed to realise was that I had walked through clouds many times before - when it's foggy. And I can reveal that Ben Nevis in the fog is just a slog. I was prepared to walk it again if that w

At just over 16 miles and with over two thousand feet of elevation gain, today's walk is one of the longer days of our itinerary. It also probably everyone's last day as there's no possibility of breaking the journey and yesterday's itinerary from Kingshouse to Kinlochleven also had no obvious rest stop for those without a tent.   In terrible conditions it is possible to shorten the route by taking the military road as it forks beside the ruins of the old toll house above Lundavra. This route leads more directly to Fort William and shaves three miles from the journey, but that would mean missing out on Glen Nevis and (if we are lucky) a view of Scotland's mightiest mountain. The pipes for the hydro-electric power station snake down the mountain behind Kinlochleven The Way climbed rapidly out of the town and over a mile we scaled seven hundred feet. Soon we have a view over the Loch and back to the town.  Carrying on, we walked along the Lairigmor , or the Big Pass,