West Highland Way Day 8: Kinlochleven to Fort William

The eighth and final day of our journey started with sun in the Leven valley. The Robertson's of Edencoille served a bountiful breakfast including fresh raspberries and strawberries from Perth with fresh scones. It was hard to pull ourselves away from the table.
We were able to take photos this morning, as yesterday saw us walking to the BnB in the rain. Kinlochleven sits on the floor of a narrow v shaped valley between Meall Dearg (3118') and Na Gruagaichean (3461'). Just outside of town we started up a hill of alders, gaining altitude on switchbacks. In the early morning sun we stopped to take off a layer of clothing. Soon we stopped again to put on midge repellent. Huffing and puffing our way up the mountain side, Mari christened this the "Devil's Staircase II". Bellow us were views of the village and Loch Leven . According to fellow hiker Christy from Aucklund, sea going ships came into the loch to pick up aluminium from the plant when it was active.
By the top of our 820' climb, we were again stopping, this time to add layers and foul weather gear. We had climbed into the clouds, wet and cold from a strong wind. Our views of the loch and the valley lost, we left the trail for the old military road, well above tree line. After gaining hard fought elevation, we were not happy to see the road descend only to climb again. Today the Way was a busy street with many groups of hikers in sight, several of which we had met on previous days. We continued, leapfroging groups as we came to the Lairigmor "The Big Pass" (1082') our highest point of the day.
Along the road were two sets of old stone ruins. Hard to believe anyone chose to live up here in a beautiful but harsh landscape. Further along the valley floor fell rapidly as the valley grew wider. We came to a point were the road swung to the north following the valley as it opens up. This began our descent to Fort William.
We lost elevation, coming back to trees, or at least were trees use to be. The hill sides have been clear cut to harvest the conifer plantation. All that remains is straight row after straight row of tree stumps. On the downhill slope from the road were grazing sheep.
We began to see some large groups of hikers passing us as they headed up the hill. I wondered aloud "Aren't they getting a late start?", only then realising that we must only be half way done with our hike. It was already close to 1:00.
Soon we came to an information sign showing that indeed we were exactly half way, 7.5 miles from Kinlochleven and 7.5 miles to Fort William. We did have a choice. The military road became a single track country lane from this point, continuing to Fort William in 4.5 miles. A trail climbs the ridge to our right, dropping into Glen Nevis running 7.5 miles to Fort William. Two roads diverged in the woods, and we close the less traveled one.
Off of the rocky trail and on to a paved country road, we were able to make better time. We saw no other hikers, only the postal van making deliveries to the farms along the way. Tree lined sheep pastures and blooming rhododendrons made for a pleasant and peaceful walk. Ben Nevis was to our right, shrouded in clouds.
The road left the river Kiachnish, climbing a ridge steeply. At the crest, Fort William came into view below us. We were on the west end of the city, while the Way arrives on the east edge of town from Glen Nevis. One more steep descent brought us into town and we walked to our final BnB of the trip, Rhu Mhor. The Victorian aged stone two story is set in a lovely wild garden just blocks off High Street.
After showers and clean clothes, we set out to explore Fort William and find a good meal. As we reached High Street, the local children's pipe band marched by piping in full kilts. We couldn't ask for better end to our eight day 96 mile adventure.
Unedited Day 8 photos are on Flickr.