West Highland Way

Slighe Taobh an Iar na Gàidhealtachd

Byline

  • The Hiking World editorial · author

    Desk byline for seed records. Named surveying editors replace this once a trail is verified.

OSM hiking route in the Scottish Highlands (153.2 km line). Vertical figures sampled from Copernicus GLO-30. Days (13) is a placeholder from round(lengthKm/12), not the published 5–10 / Wikipedia 7–8 thru-window (unverified).

Figures marked provisional are seed data and still need verification. Source and last-checked date sit under each cited value.

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Ingested from OpenStreetMap relation 16287 (ODbL). The mapped line and 2D length are derived from that geometry. Ascent, descent, and high/low points are sampled from Copernicus GLO-30 (copernicus-dem:glo-30) and remain provisional. Ascent/descent use a 10 m minimum-elevation-change threshold on the stored elevation profile (not a re-fetch); high/low are unchanged. Water, permits, and hazards were not taken from OSM tags and must be verified.

OSM 2D length is 153.2 km (relation 16287, superroute stages snap-joined). The official route page cites 154 km / 96 miles from Milngavie to Fort William (https://www.westhighlandway.org/the-route/, checked 2026-08-20); Wikipedia agrees. Those figures are cross-checks only, not this DataPoint.

typicalDays 13 is Math.round(lengthKm/12), a placeholder. Wikipedia cites seven to eight days, sometimes five or six (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Highland_Way, checked 2026-08-20). The coverage-pack 5–10 day window is a lead, not written into this field.

Wikipedia infobox cites 3,155 m cumulative gain and a high point of 550 m on the Devil's Staircase (same page, checked 2026-08-20). Vertical DataPoints stay with Copernicus GLO-30 after DEM sampling.

Water was not mapped to named WaterSource points. Treat burns and loch water; do not assume it is safe to drink untreated.

Water

No water sources recorded.

Permits & fees

No permit required.

Getting there

  • Start (OSM line) car-free: unknown
  • End (OSM line) car-free: unknown

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Hazards