UKH

My wonderful daughter would like to walk the West Highland Way with me in August (because she's a teacher and has the long holiday).

Is that a crazy plan in terms of midges?

Lizzie

Probably.

Go at Easter instead.

Yes it's crazy. Also one of the wettest months of the year. And the busiest.

Take headsets 

Go in one of the May holiday weeks. You might get a few midges but at least you won't be screaming for mercy and the weather will likely be better. I've not done the WHW but have spent a lot of time along the route bagging Munros. The site at Auchtertyre is good. We used to watch the wayfarers plodding through, some of them looking very sorry and ill prepared.

Drown out the wails of the midge-bitten?

That reminded me of this potential gem of a film

https://jdkirk.com/midges-the-horror-movie/

Auto corrupt does sometimes come up with some unintended crackers 😂

It will completely depend on the weather conditions and what your sleeping arrangements will be. I did it a few years ago with my partner, a bit later in the year than August, I think it was the last week in September. I don't recall getting one midge bite, and it was still the right sort of conditions for them. We did stay in accommodation though instead of camping. 

I've since done the Great Glen Way (in September) and the East Highland Way (last week of August/first week of September this year) and only had issues with them when setting up our tent a couple of nights. Maybe September is getting a wee bit late in the year for them. 

Had a nightmarish time with ticks on the EHW though. It was like a horror film when lying in the tent watching hoardes of them crawling up and over the outside of the inner tent.

Hope you enjoy the walk. It's essentially a pub crawl with a bigger distance between pubs than normal 😂

+1 for the "go in the spring" brigade. Easter holidays are the most obvious time if you have a teacher, it will be colder but you will not see any midges. While it could just be down to chance, I've observed that in the last few years, global warming is appearing to make spring happen much more emphatically in April than it ever used to - April becoming warmer in general and, more importantly, dryer. Like April is becoming the new May.

I don't know how mobbed the WHW is at different times of year but I would have to guess that if you are considering walking it, you don't really worry too much about the crowds. Having said that, it _might_ be less busy over Easter holidays than in August.... it certainly won't be _more_ busy at least!

Huge thanks to all. I thought as much. We are re-thinking!

A counter reply. Not if it's windy and you don't camp. If August is the most logical time to do it, then go. Take smidge, skin so soft or DEET. Life's too short to worry about a few midge mites.

I'd say life's too short to needlessly condemn yourself to a week of potential misery

Beats me why anyone would want to spend time walking the WHW when, with a little imagination, you could escape roads, the hoards and discover quieter Scotland. Train to Strath Carron, walk via Torridon, the coast, Fisherfield, Glenbech and finish at Ullapool?

I did this with my daughter a couple of years back. 

We went in August and were lucky with the midges as it rained a lot. 

Yes!

Worst midges that I have ever experienced were at Bein Glas at the N end of Loch Lomond.

We've done quite a few sections in August,  mainly in monsoons so midges not a problem.  The dry days were fine too, as long as you never stop. Think Benny Hill type chase, Inc the dodgy music. Maybe another time of year would be better?

We stayed at the Bridge of Orchy Hotel, as our one night not in the van. We walked past the WHW camping contingent at dawn, and all I can say is that midges like sunrise too....

I was camping near to loch quoich in June or July a couple of years ago where I was unhappy to discover that pouring rain does not always offer protection from midges.  

A few years ago I did a mountain bike ride in August which travelled along the WHW for a stretch before cutting off and heading elsewhere.. I passed lots of hikers and it was memorable how bitten they all were. I briefly chatted to quite a few and they were all really struggling with the midges around camp am and night time. It was fine on the bike as long as I kept moving. One poor couple looked like they had measles with all of their bites. Like others have said do spring or Autumn or get eaten! 

I feel like there is a lot of hysterical comment on this thread. The cult of the anti-midge has gone too far - being well-versed midge-lore, I'll try to counter it. 

There is nothing crazy about doing the WHW in August. There is beauty in the west highlands all year round, and the crazy thing would be to avoid mid-May to late September just because you'll need to share it with midges.

In the first place, if you're walking all day and have indoor accommodation then the midges will be a trivial or non-issue. 

If you are camping, then be prepared for some trying times on calm mornings and evenings. Make sure you have Smidge and a head net. But a proper midging is character building, and a proper shared midging is truly bonding, at least in retrospect... and if you have the right mindset it can even be a kind of enjoyment at the time.

Never underestimate the deep pleasure of shared adversity - it could be a lovely, even profound,  mother-daughter experience - Blitz spirit and all that. After all, if all you wanted was an easy life you'd be on a different forum asking about massage and spa treatments at the Dunblane Hydro.

Instead you seek reward through effort on the WHW. One such reward is the joy of that oh so sweet breezy morning that follows the miserable still evening that came before. The storm after the calm.

Or just go at Easter

It's  a really nice route through diverse landscapes. The other stuff you mentioned is nice too but knowing about that doesn't mean you get to look down on WHW walkers.

In my experience the threat of midges gets less as you head east. I have been bitten in the Cairngorms and around Aviemore, but far less than around Loch Lomond, Glen Nevis, Loch Maree etc.

Oooft. Slam dunk! 

Easter is nice too, yes. But if the most convenient time to go is August, don't dismiss it as crazy. Every time of year has its charm. If you go at Easter the wild mountain thyme will not be sweetly blooming. Nor will the heather. There'll be no devil's bit scabious nor blue(hare)bells amongst the grass you camp on. At Easter you'll likely miss out on all the summer migrant birds, and you'll definitely miss the young eagles' first clumsy flights. Unless you're proper hardcore, you'll miss out on swimming in the lochs and the sea lochs. And yes, you'll miss out on the midges.

I'd agree as far as I know some of it. Yet is there a guide to the good pubs along the route ( I love the Inveroran, but yesterday had a lovely Cullen Skink at the Bridge of Orchy Hotel (now owned by Hungarians(?)) on the way home)?

Certainly having done Beinn Na Caillich and Mam Na Gualainn 2 days ago, I went back to the Kinlochleven part of the WHW to retrieve my bike, and thought to have a beer at the Bothy bar across the road. I was totally disappointed. No on-draft beer, and only one type of bottled beer, albeit a Cairngorms brewery one. Plus it was far too cold, and cost £6, almost as much as Speckled Hen in the Albert Hall, but this is not London!

I should have gone to the Clachaig Inn.

I'd say if you are not camping it wouldnt be that much of a problem - as others have said. But I'd definity avoid July/Aug if you are camping (and most of June and Sept).

Steve

So basically don’t camp in summer…. 
 

It’s pretty changeable day to day and depending on breeding cycles and I don’t think the possibility of midges is a reason to discourage camping through all of the best months of the year (excluding May).  

I like this.

I climb (badly), road and mountain bike, hill walk (most Wainrights and over 100 Munros, all of the Cheviots), but I too fellow readers am lowering myself to do the WHW next year for our 30th wedding anniversary.

We did the GGW for our 28th and it was one of the best weeks away we have ever done. Something quite natural about waking up, walking to your next destination, eating and drinking, sleeping then doing it all again for 6 days with no transport to worry about.

We are (of course) staying in good lodgings each night and paying a man to carry our bags between overnight halts. (dislike all you like, they are switched off). It is our wedding anniversary after all.

Our lodgings and pub crawl is as follows

Night 1: The Dryman Inn, staying in a B&B

Night 2: Rowanden Lodge

Night 3: Drovers Inn

Night 4: Bridge of Orchy Hotel

Night 5: Kingshouse Hotel (staying in the suite overlooking big boochil so I can remeber my youth clambering up Curved Ridge with no idea)

Night 6: Kinlochleven - Guest House booked, no idea what bar yet

Night 7 and actual anniversary: The Garrison (stayed many times), many beers in the Black Isle Bar followed by dinner in the Crannog.

Night 8: Caledonian Sleeper to London for a couple of nights staying with our son.

Better than sitting on a beach in Tenerife.

Nobody* is judging you on the style of your walk**, you do you. 

* Hm.. nobody except perhaps.. yourself?  Could it be that you're 'projecting' everso slightly in anticipating disapproval here?

** I have, however, given you a dislike for the casual sexism of specifying that the person who moves your bags will necessarily be a man.

Much!

Jealous  (other than Night 8 of course, unless I had a return).  Enjoy!

No worries deepsoup though I’ve booked it with ex army veteran Gregg and he assures me he will be the one doing the heavy lifting . I wouldn’t give a monkeys sausage if he turns out to be a female  

Believe me my wife’s had plenty of more than casual sexism in the hills over the last 30 years both climbing and biking unfortunately. Though much less in latter years. Probably as she doesn’t wear the high heals anymore. 

You are right about the projection, was aimed at Dizy with his / her disdain for the WHW. 
 

I enjoyed the WHW much more than the GGW. A bit too much canal path IMO on the GGW, although some of the history behind the canal and locks was interesting. 

Yes there are "harder" walks that require more skill and will give you more solitude. But for what it is, the WHW is great. 

Part of the fun is getting to know the people that are doing the same stages as you as you. I still remember seeing a girl limping along before Rowardennan and thinking that she wasn't going to make it, then seeing her and her group again in Witherspoon's at the finish. Or the ex soldiers we met in the Bridge of Orchy bunkhouse that had hoofed it all the way from Milngavie on day 1 and then proceeded to down a bottle of buckfast each, then head down to the pub to follow it up with some whisky, don't know how they got on with day 2, they were still asleep when we left. 

I would definitely do it again! I hope you and your wife have a great anniversary trip and make some memories! 

It's a funny old thing that innit - how often someone will pop up on a thread about almost anything on here to tell us how not interested they are in whatever the topic is.  Passes the time I suppose.

Not looking down at all. If the west highlands are unfamiliar then I suspect it’s an enjoyable trip. It’s a physical challenge through one of the world’s most romantic regions.

However, if you have driven along the A82 hundreds of times, the scenery is familiar and it’s a trudge (I know have travelled twice, foot and bike). Second time walking (charity thing) we kept going north at Bridge of Orchy staying at Gorton then Staonaig and wondered why the WHW didn’t route that way. Personally the joy of any dramatic scenery is finding the unexpected, peaceful and or beautiful. Walking 100 miles alongside one of the busiest roads in the region lessens the probability of any of these.

I’m so glad we have forum police to root out those who have no interest or knowledge of a good walk and are unable to suggest a more interesting alternative. We can’t possibly allow space for the idea that one of the UK’s classic walks maybe isn’t that great (see also Milford Track, New Zealand or Inca Trail, Peru). In my humble, inexperienced and clearly wrong opinion the WHW is the UK’s most overrated LDP.

Excellent! 

Enjoy your anniversary walk.