Paths of glory: How 96-miles of the West Highland Way have been Scots’ happiest trail for 40 years
It was in the years after the Second World War that a keen walker from Glasgow hatched a plan to create a long-distance footpath from his home city to the Scottish Highlands.
Tom Hunter had been on the mountain Ben Lomond when he looked down over Loch Lomond and saw a ribbon of construction, including a hydro-electric station, along the western side.
He resolved then to do something to protect the loch’s eastern shore – and came up with the idea of a waymarked walking route. At the time, Tom, who passed away aged 90 in 2016, said: “There’s enough walking country for our lifetime, but if we don’t do something now there will be none for future generations.”
Unfortunately, not everyone was in favour of an official walking route from the Scottish Lowlands to the Highlands and it took years of convincing land owners and bureaucrats to finally gain approval for work to start on the trail in 1974.
On October 6, 1980, the West Highland Way (WHW) was opened by Lord Mansfield, the then Minister of State at the Scottish Office, as the first designated long-distance path in Scotland. The WHW, which takes the average walker seven or eight days to complete, was to become the first of many signposted multi-day walks across the country.
Today, the 96-mile route is still Scotland’s most popular and it is walked end-to-end annually by more than 40,000 people from around the world. The path, which starts in Milngavie, just north of Glasgow, and finishes in Fort William, is visited annually by around 120,000 people.
Over the decades, there have been many historic moments, such as the founding of a West Highland Way Race in 1985.
In the early days, only a handful of runners took part in it, but in recent years it has become a sell-out success with numbers capped at around 240.
A shorter 53-mile Highland Fling race was also launched for ultra-marathon fans in 2006, from Milngavie to Tyndrum. In 2005, its 25th anniversary saw stage and screen actor Ian Kelsey walk the route for a TV programme about the West Highland Way.
A new finish point, at the so-called “Sore Feet statue”, was established in Fort William in 2010. Until that point, the route ended at an uninspiring roundabout in the town.
A new Tourist Information Office in Milngavie was opened in the same 30th anniversary year, with Tom and his wife Margaret cutting the ribbon. And in 2012, the footpath was listed as one of the world’s top 20 hikes by the National Geographic magazine.
Now, the 40th anniversary next month will be marked by a specially created online exhibition. Walkers, runners, cyclists and charity fundraisers from around the globe have contributed content for the virtual show, including stories, photographs and videos.
The exhibition will also feature a 40th anniversary film and will be accessible via the website, www.westhighlandway.org from October 6.