Great Glen Way activities

The Great Glen Way is Scotland's newest long distance footpath - running 73 miles (117km) between Fort William and Inverness. It can be walked in anywhere between 4 to 8 days, depending on you level of dedication and fitness. Most do it in 6 days, walking about 12 miles per day. The terrain is generally level, although there are some hilly sections on the northern part of the trail.

It follows the Great Glen, an ancient fault line that divides the main body of Scotland from the North-West Highlands, and runs alongside a series of Lochs - Loch Lochy, Loch Oich and Loch Ness. These Lochs are joined by the Caledonian Canal, built nearly 200 years ago to provide a shipping route between the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea. It's an area of great natural beauty, and also of human history - with the canal and also sections along and abandoned railway line along Loch Oich. At South Laggan the path passes within 300 metres of the Great Glen Hostel so we make a great stop-off on your walk.

The path is funded by the Highland Council with assistance from Scottish Natural Heritage and managed and maintained by the Great Glen Way ranger's office near Fort Augustus. They are a great source of advice and information about the way and their website can be found here - Great Glen Way. The ranger's office runs guided walks and activities throughout the year, which are a good introduction to the route, even if you don't want to tackle the whole thing. This year in the summer holidays they are running activities for children aged 7-11 called Wild on Wednesdays - which are a series of activities suitable for the age group located all along the Great Glen. Check out their website here - Guided walks and activities - and go wild in the Great Glen this Summer!