look at this that beneath me is the
village of kinloch levin i think that
right there is the guest house where
i've been staying that guest house was
what sparked my interest in the west
highland way long story short i found a
way to spend a week there for free and
you can find out how you can do the same
in this video but today's video is all
about the west highland way one of the
most popular long distance walking
routes in scotland it stretches for
nearly a hundred miles all the way from
glasgow to fort william and tomorrow
i'll be walking the last leg of it from
fort william back here to kinloch levin
today we're gonna be chasing waterfalls
while swimming and doing all sorts of
stuff in this area so uh let's get
started it looks like the weather is
gonna clear up as well which would be
really nice
[Music]
right we've just made it to the
waterfall check it out
[Music]
i'm gonna do something fun and a little
bit crazy i'm gonna go
for a little swim i discovered i'm not
the only one with this idea there's a
group of ladies
to my left which
means this isn't as adventurous and bold
and cool as i thought it was but also
i'm kind of relieved
that i'm not here alone
so
the only thing left to do is um to strip
i don't know if you can see them but
there are so many midges scotland's
kind of renowned for them sorry i look
mad but this is um absurd so i'm just
gonna go in
all right
okay i'm not trying to be a hero or
anything but this is actually genuinely
not that bad sorry the lens got a bit
rainy it's raining a tiny bit but um
this is very manageable i'm going to
show you exactly where this is on the
map so you can find it yourself the
current is strong so only come here if
you're a strong swimmer but otherwise
absolutely fantastic
[Music]
okay um i'm gonna go draw a bath now and
um
well that's it
[Music]
okay i keep waiting to turn back but i
know if i keep going i'm gonna get a
nice view or i think i'm going to get a
nice view of the lake here luckily even
so uh we're going to push on
for a little bit longer okay so i was
actually so focused on walking uphill
that i missed the
here view i'm going back down to see it
properly let's flip this round
[Music]
look at that view
[Applause]
[Music]
right this feels like a great spot to
sit down and
have a little snack i get so many
questions about what food i pack for my
hikes and i think this is a really
really good solution for when you're on
the go waifu is a meal replacement
company and i have tried quite a few
different products in this category
different powders and stuff like that
but i have to say these are genuinely
just the nicest tasting ones that i've
been able to find each bottle has 500
calories it makes for a pretty
substantial snack it's got loads of
nutrients it doesn't have any lactose or
gluten you shake it
open it
and that's it lunch is ready cheers
let's taste this
oh it's actually really nice it really
reminds me of those milk-based drinks
that i used to drink as a child right
i've finished my lunch so now i think
it's time for a little nap
[Music]
i got off the bus here in fort william
about half an hour ago i've had a little
walk around the town and my conclusion
is that you should definitely set some
time aside to do that because it's
really really lovely beautiful
architecture the views of the mountains
are absolutely spectacular but even more
importantly there are museums there are
really lovely restaurants so it's
definitely well worth your time i don't
think time is on my side today because
the weather is definitely definitely
going to turn look at those clouds
they're basically predicting rain
throughout the entire day so i better
get a move on but i'm really glad that i
got the chance to see it and um i'm
going to quickly explain why i'm not
walking from quinlan even where i've
been staying this entire week but
walking from here instead it's because
the buses are very very irregular and i
was basically getting quite nervous that
i wouldn't be able to make it back in
time so instead of walking to fort
william i took the hour-long bus here so
all i have to accomplish today is make
like lassie and find my way back home oh
and the rain's starting to you can't see
it because it's a light drizzle but it's
literally starting right as i got up
this right here is the original endpoint
of the west highland way so if you walk
the full 96 miles some people say it's
100 96 to 100
this is where you would celebrate
i got this jacket about a week ago
because i realized i don't have anything
rain proof which is ludicrous living in
britain and not owning a thing like that
i am linking it below and i was centered
free of charge with no obligation to
mention it in a video but i do want to
mention it because a
it's really cute it's got like all these
vents and pockets and stuff and b
um
is really comfortable so i walked this
way got off the road and now
here we are
here's a fun fact i just learned from
that plaque over there
curling is actually incredibly old it
dates back to 1638 here in scotland and
this what looks like a parking lot um
used to be uh curling ground for the
locals there's a little picture from
1890 of the locals playing it right here
there you go
and now we're just going to continue
walking it's much nicer getting off the
road
[Music]
this may or may not be the wishing stone
that the sign just told me about i'm
going to touch it and make a wish
and my wish
is to make it back to kinloch levin now
i know by saying it i have probably
negated the effects of this magical
stone but i was thinking about this the
other day do you not think it's funny
that we're not supposed to say our
wishes out loud and why is that isn't it
better to like share what your goals are
um and then i don't know people around
you hold you accountable or
you know you've vocalized it so you
start consciously working toward it
what's the point to the secrecy i don't
get it
i'm now in a forest
and um i have to say i'm really really
enjoying this walk already it's so green
quiet i've bumped into like
two groups doing this walk so it's not
very busy at all absolutely peaceful the
only only thing disturbing the piece
frankly
is me
[Music]
first things first
view check
look at
this
incredible
how is this real um secondly have you
ever read the alchemist by paulo coelho
i am reading it now for the second time
primarily because i'd forgotten what it
was about or just pretty much
all the things about it but secondly
because i came across it in my library's
audiobook catalog libraries are an
incredibly valuable resource they're so
incredibly well stocked these days
including audiobooks and various like
newer formats not just physical books
i've been reading it and
i'm completely unsure as to what i think
about it i know a lot of people listed
as like one of the most life-changing
books they've ever read
there's definitely a lot of
wisdom in it sorry about the heavy
breathing by the way i am charging ahead
um there's a lot of wisdom but equally i
feel like a lot of it is just
deep on the surface but a bit shallow
underneath it if you know what i mean
i'm only halfway through so jury's still
out but if you've read it drop me a
comment below let me know what you
thought about it
i have decided to take a little detour
or what i hope is a little detour
because i can't actually figure out how
far i'm gonna have to go but basically
there is an ancient fort um it was built
about 2000 years ago or rather the
remains of an ancient fort because it
also burned down and
i don't know i'm feeling curious i mean
who wouldn't
feel curious
surrounded by views like these
[Applause]
[Music]
who made it to the top um no sight of
any picture fortresses and i can't find
it anywhere on a map so that one might
just remain
a mystery and that's okay and i'm
finally gonna have my breakfast at 1 p.m
salami and cheese
basic
but delicious
right i feel like this video is quickly
becoming a lesson in things not to do
when you're solo hiking but
i am just gonna be honest um i came up
this way like up the hill and
i don't want to retrace my step and i
think i found a workaround i'm gonna try
to connect onto that path and then i
think that one should be the west
highland way and if i'm wrong i'm just
gonna retrace my steps twice which will
be um good punishment
i was wrong i was wrong i was wrong i
was wrong i was gonna stop um i was
wrong um i can get to that path so
i had to retrace my steps just as i
didn't want and you know what i'm glad i
did they were great steps and now i've
got about
what 20 000 of them remaining to
complete this walk and
and that's that's all good that's all
good i'm not
not tired at all
that was sarcasm
i am tired luckily this path is pretty
well signposted
with these symbols um because if it
wasn't i definitely would have gone that
way but hey-ho i feel like every time i
point the camera at myself i like
different my hair is up my hair is down
jacket's on off
um but i have a cultural update for you
which i'm sure you really really deeply
care about um you know how i've been
listening to the alchemist well i have
had to pause that for the time being it
was just getting a bit much for me it's
good i intend to finish it but
it just wasn't the right fight for me so
now i'm listening to bill bryson's short
history of nearly everything bill
bryson's incredible for many reasons the
primary reason from my perspective being
that he is extremely funny there's also
the fact that he's incredibly
just pretend that didn't happen that
he's incredibly knowledgeable um
great juxtaposition there and um
thirdly and this is probably a very me
reason to like him but he is an american
that's been in the uk for a very long
time and has a hugely
blended accent a confusing accent
because sometimes he sounds american
sometimes he sounds british and for the
past let's say
six months or so maybe a year i've been
getting tons of comments about my accent
and how it's shifted now that i've been
in the uk for for a long time um
and i don't know i feel an affinity with
bill bryson because i think he gets
those comments a lot as well and if if
bill and i ever meet i'm sure we'll have
a ton to talk about
[Music]
for those of you who are subscribed to
my channel which by the way you should
totally do
you might have seen my video about my
first solo camping adventure slash fail
and in it i was talking about how much i
enjoy people greeting one another as you
do these walks and it is very much true
here in scotland as well and it's like
this perfect little microcosm that you
just don't get in
cities
[Music]
to stop for a bit so i'm gonna do it
[Music]
friends
i have totally hit my stride i looked at
the map and suddenly i'm basically in
kenwood at the end of this
which is incredibly exciting i almost
kind of want to prolong it now but let's
not speak too soon let's not get cocky
okay nearly there but look at this view
i'm gonna sit here for a bit have a
snack
and then go back to my hotel which by
the way we might be able to see we can
see it indeed it's right there the
yellow one
here is my snack don't fall and you've
seen it before but this is a different
flavor called smooth vanilla i 1000
recommend this walk it was wonderful yes
it's pretty long it's 15 miles
but the views more than make up for that
little bit of sweat i'm not gonna lie
i'm very excited to get back now it's
literally right around this corner we'll
be there in a minute
yes
i quickly wanted to show you where i've
been staying i mentioned earlier that
i've been staying here completely for
free and i just want to inspire you to
watch my video where i explain how i did
that because this has been truly
incredible so let me give you a little
walk through this has been my room this
has been my kitchen again have i
mentioned i've been staying here
completely for free my living room
okay i gotta go catch my bus now but do
check out the video about world packers
and how i stayed here for free it's
linked below otherwise thank you so much
for watching i hope you enjoyed this
video and i'll see you next friday bye