Not to be confused with the more illustrious West Highland Way on the mainland, the West Island Way winds around the Isle of Bute, just off the west coast of Scotland, and within fairly easy access of Glasgow. We walked this trail over a summer weekend, and at 30 miles can comfortably be completed in a couple of days. There are no hard climbs, and plenty of great isolated spots on which to marvel at the coastal scenery and the mountains beyond.
Best of all, the walk is almost a figure of 8, which means that you can station yourself in the main town on the island, Rothesay, and leave all of your belongings in your hotel room, to which you will return each night. This is very convenient, and allows you to hang up wet clothes to dry if you get hit by one of the frequent showers towards the end of your day.
We barely passed another soul on the trail, and we were there in August! The midges for which Scotland is famed (and feared), did not materialise, and we were spoilt for choice as to where to stop for a leisurely picnic lunch. We encountered old deserted churches, beautiful lochs, quaint old bridges and ancient woodland along the way. 15 miles is still a fair distance for most of us, and as on each day we approached Rothesay, the prospect of ice cream and a long cool drink was very welcoming.
As with anywhere in the UK, the traditional breakfast set us up well for the day, and really left us not needing too much sustenance until our evening meal (we enjoyed some excellent seafood while on Bute). There’s not much to do here in the evenings so make a meal of your dinner, or else bring a great book with you. If you do fancy a nice quick fix of hiking on an easy path, in a comfortable fashion, you could do a lot worse than making the trip to Bute and hiking the West Island Way. But make sure you bring your raincoat!
(Aug 2004)
