West Highland Way 2007

The West Highland Way attempt in 2007 became a Lost Penguins training event after the discovery of the challenge in 2006 (see WHW 2006 if you‘re interested). During the Polar challenge the team will be subject to between 12 and 18 hours on foot per day, every day until they reach the Pole. So long walks like West Highland Way are ideal training.

The build up to this weekend trek had been emotional. Connie’s ‘friendly knees’ and hips hadn’t enjoyed all of the summer training and events. Resting didn’t cure the pains that she felt during and after exercise - she was told during physiotherapy that she needed to cease training and start again from scratch, letting her muscles get accustomed to the movement again. This was a real blow, Connie’s training had to stop and with the WHW on the horizon it looked very doubtful that she’d be fit enough and body ready to do such big distances.

The Polar Challenge training in Wales in November gave the team a chance to see how Connie was recovering. The training included a 15 mile ridge walk in the Black Mountains (see the blog) which they ran most of the first half without a Connie complaint. The second half was entirely different the wind had picked up to gale force and slowed progress down to about 2 miles an hour. By the time they reached base the daylight was vanishing and Connie’s pains were back. Things were not looking to good for doing the WHW in 4 weeks time.

To make things worst Mike and Rich weren’t injury free either. Rich’s almost weekly physio continued with various explanations to his bow legs - just how loose does his knee cap need to be? Mike had ITB trouble since the London to Paris cycle. However, the challenge was there and all three fools decided that it was worth a go.

For this attempt Rich felt it better to begin the walk from the north at Fort William in order to leave the hardest section of the walk to the second day, thus increasing chances of the team walking both days. So, after trains, planes and automobiles to reach the opposite end of the country they settled down for a short night’s kip. At 5am, after finishing all of the porridge they could lay their hands on, the Penguins started the gentle climb along the WHW from Fort William. The path winds it’s way alongside Ben Nevis and through the forests before opening out into the rolling valleys.

The target for day was set at roughly 37 miles. This would get the team to a pub in Bridge of Orchy (close to wear the boys had dropped out during the previous years attempt) for a night cap before a bigger trek the following day. As the sun came up the team left the tree line behind and climbed up into the Highlands. The West Highland Way is a beautiful walk whatever the weather, provided you’ve got the right kit and the right food. This year everyone was practically waterproof and had enough of the right food to keep spirits up. By lunch they’d completed about 15 miles without hitch, confidence was building, the sights were incredible and the weather seemed to always be on the brink of a storm without it ever starting.

Whoever named ‘The Devil’s Staircase’ must have been being sarcastic. It‘s the part of the walk that had intrigued us the most since we started looking into it but it‘s tiny. In fact the whole of the first day’s trek was very manageable. The hardest part was the walk into the evening after the sun went down. The last 7 miles of the day were done in complete darkness in the middle of nowhere. It was probably a good thing that there was little choice between walking on a further 7 miles to a pub or turning back for a 14 mile walk to their lunch stop because spirits really took a battering. Temperatures had hovered around freezing all day and once the sun went down they were even lower. Three pints, a plate of haggis and potatoes and an hour trying to dry out mobile phones later beds were calling - but day one had been a surprising success.

Day two started even better. The snow had fallen all night but was just stopping when the Penguins got back on the track. Despite huge potential to get lost in the dark and fresh snow covered fields they managed to keep on course. When the sun rose the sights were again delightful especially as they included an open corner store in Tyndrum. Refueled and with a massive chunk of the walk completed most concerns with the challenge had been put to bed.

The walk from Tyndrum to Loch Lomond is some 30 miles of hills. These seemed to take it out of Potter. Sadly the pace suffered massively and it was soon obvious that they would not be able to complete the whole day especially as the final section was the dreaded Loch traverse that had been so challenging in 2006. At the point of no return (for two reasons, firstly the route passes a pub and it also heads off away from roads) the guys bailed out. It was a good decision: Connie needs to be well for the race, the boys had completed the West Highland Way in 2 days (albeit with a year between each day) and after a few pints, a KFC and a few more pints the team were given free tickets to the Human League concert in Glasgow - a brilliant weekend!