I had a couple nights in Banavie just northwest of Fort William at the Chase the Wild Goose hostel. During this time I visited Glencoe and walked the initial five kilometres of the Great Glen Way from the old Fort of Fort William to Neptune’s Staircase—the series of lochs leading from the sea to the Caledonia Canal. The Great Glen Way continues north from the Staircase to Gairlochy, the point where I would end the trail on the Great Glen Way for day one of my hiking.
My day one trip would take me to Gairlochy and then off the main track to Roybridge, a town nine kilometres east of Gairlochy which was the closest I could find a hostel for the first night. I realized a bit too late that the hostel was an additional couple kilometres east of Roybridge which definitely added to my step count for day one.
The path from Banavie to Gairlochy was largely uneventful other than having to get suited up in rain gear when the rain started coming down in earnest when I was midway up the trail. The path was a relatively flat path that ran along the east side of the Caledonia Canal. Occasionally you could see the river below on the east, but typically the trees blocked this view. The flat, well maintained path kept me moving steadily to complete the 12 kilometres I had to Gairlochy.
On arriving at the Gairlochy bridge, I turned east to follow the road towards Spean Bridge. This was around six kilometres around the winding but relatively flat road where I had to watch for the odd traffic due to the narrowness of the path. In Spean Bridge I stopped to eat at a local cafe before catching a bus to Roybridge. Then I walked the last two kilometres to my hostel, Aite Cruinnichidh, a quiet but pleasant hostel in a rural setting next to the Spean River.
BorealHiker 