Planned Route

Day; Start; Finish; Dist (Mi); Total Ascent (ft); Total Descent (ft)  

1 Milngavie to Drymen          12.5  1,100  1,034
2 Drymen to Rowardennan        13.5  2,329  2,480
3 Rowardennan to Inverarnan    15.6  2,924  2,967
4 Inverarnan to Tyndrum        12.4  2,130  1,450
5 Tyndrum to Inveroran          9.5  1,238  1,391
6 Inveroran to Kingshouse       9.7  1,106    886
7 Kingshouse to Kinlochleven    9.4  1,605  2,379
8 Kinlochleven to Fort William 13.8  2,454  2,446

T minus 3 weeks

We're now geared up with all the maps and have checked out the sections fully. Slightly alarmingly, we had under-estimated the up and down of the route - as well to know now rather than on the route (see next post for detail)
Back in Feb, we started a lot of  road walks in our boots and have concentrated on hard surface routes. On the Great Glen Way, Lynne suffered badly with blisters and some of the problem was the repeated footfall on hard surface tracks rather than the varied paths we normally walk.  We have noted a lot of WHW mileage seems to be old roads, track beds etc. so we're hardening our feet to that. We've also experimented with socks as overheated and sweaty feet increase vulnerability.
Unfortunately, much of March was lost due to colds and flu and and a shoulder injury but we're back on track now. The last few weekends have been at least 10 miles and 1800ft ascents which is still low compared to some days but we're upping it for the next couple of weeks.

Inception and Booking

We decided to go for it mid January 2011 and after researching and dicussing we arrived at our preferred route and stop overs.
We approached Easyways accomodation service who we had used for the Great Glen Way a few years back and after a little shifting of dates, we managed to get our preferred stop overs and, once confirmed, we were ready to book transport.
However, train tickets cannot be booked more than 3 months ahead so into the diary the dates went. Late Jan and we book the Outward journey: Home station - Manchester - Glasgow - Milgavie (£36 total for 2 of us). 8 days later, Return journey booked: Fort William - Crianlarich - Glasgow - Edinburgh - Doncaster - Stockport - Home station (£68 total). So, it's all booked, no going back!