Great Glen Way

Two very different walks joined at Gairlochy. The first is canal walking, and it is as easy as the trail gets: riverside grass and pavement out of Fort William, the Loch Linnhe shore at Caol, the sea lock at Corpach, then the towpath up past Neptune's Staircase and away north east on level gravel with hillsides closing in on both sides and the River Lochy below. Boats, cyclists and dog walkers keep it sociable. From Gairlochy the character changes twice. First a quiet lochside road with woodland paths cut alongside it to keep walkers off the tarmac, as far as Clunes; then a long enclosed forestry road above the north shore of Loch Lochy where the loch is behind conifers for most of the way and progress is measured in bridged burns rather than views. The last part is the least satisfying stretch of the day, dropping to the A82 corridor at Laggan and the Well of the Seven Heads before climbing back into forest for Invergarry. Nothing on it is steep. What governs the day is the twelve kilometres of forestry road with no way off it, and the thin services between Gairlochy and Laggan.

Logistics: The stored line follows the signed Invergarry Link, not the main route. The two part at a blue-signed junction on a minor road shortly before Laggan Locks: the main Great Glen Way crosses the canal and takes the old Invergarry and Fort Augustus railway path along the far side of Loch Oich, while the Link stays west through Laggan and Invergarry on forest tracks and lanes. The Link is the longer and hillier of the two, it is the one that reaches Invergarry's beds and food, and it is the standing diversion whenever forestry work closes the lochside path. The Link runs through working forest and is regularly shut for harvesting. A short length just south of Invergarry is closed at present, with a purpose-built diversion path signed around it and the work expected to run to the end of 2026; the diversion walks well enough but is awkward on a bike, and cyclists are told to take the main route on the east side of Loch Oich instead. Highland Council posts these on the trail's own news page, and that is the thing to read before committing to the Link, because one side of Loch Oich or the other is usually under forestry work. One thing that circulates as a closure on this section is not one. Where the forest track comes down to the minor road south of Invergarry there is a marker post offering two ways in: the waymarked Link turns right and follows the road into the village, and a left-hand line drops through fishing beats to a footbridge over the River Garry. That footbridge is the one walkers ask about. Highland Council's news page for the trail lists no bridge closure anywhere on the Way, and an Inverness Courier account of the circuit in April 2025 found the bridge in use with a sign asking that no more than five people cross at a time. It is off the waymarked line either way, so following the blue posts through the village avoids the question and nobody is being sent onto the A82 bridge instead.

Navigation: Waymarking is the Scotland's Great Trails thistle in a hexagon on blue posts and it is consistent throughout. The canal half asks nothing beyond keeping the water beside you, with two interruptions to expect: the level crossing at Caol, and the road and railway swing bridges at Banavie, where the bank has to be left and picked up again below the locks. Leaving Fort William there are two lines, a riverside path and a road alternative, and it is worth knowing which you are on before it matters. Along Loch Lochy the forestry road forks repeatedly and the marked line generally stays on the larger track, with a fork to take near the quarry and another at Kilfinnan. The decision that shapes the second half of the section is the blue sign at a minor road junction shortly before Laggan Locks, where the Invergarry Link leaves the main route. The chainages here follow the Link, so a track downloaded for the main route will part company with this description for roughly thirteen kilometres.

Three distinct pieces in one section. Out of Invergarry the Link climbs back into forest and runs high along the west side of Loch Oich on tracks, which is where the best of its views are, before dropping to the A82 at the Aberchalder swing bridge and rejoining the main route. The Caledonian Canal then takes over for the best part of eight kilometres of dead level towpath past Cullochy and Kytra locks, a quiet, wide, well surfaced stretch with boats working through and cyclists on the same gravel, and the easiest walking on this half of the trail. Fort Augustus is the natural pause and the obvious place to break a trip. The last third is different again: a steep pull out of the village on Bunoich Brae and a woodland path, then forest track rising and falling along the western side of Loch Ness for the best part of ten kilometres, the loch showing in gaps rather than continuously, and finally a long descent on path and surfaced lane to Telford's bridge at Invermoriston. Spread out, the climbing is never severe, but the surface and the mood change under you three times.

Logistics: Fort Augustus sits at roughly the middle of the trail and is the only settlement between the two ends with shops, food, a post office and a doctor's surgery. It is also the one mid-route point where a walk can be abandoned straight onto the A82 without arranging anything in advance.

Navigation: Forest tracks are obvious and blue waymarked, and the towpath needs nothing at all. Two things want attention. The first is the split a couple of kilometres out of Fort Augustus, where the high route leaves the forest track, climbs above the tree line and rejoins just short of Invermoriston. It is the better walking and much the better views, and in clear weather it is the one to take, but the chainages here follow the low forest line. The second is the descent into Invermoriston, where the gravel path down the hillside has been closed by fallen trees before now and a signed forestry diversion takes over on the tracks; follow the signs rather than a downloaded track. Around Invermoriston there are also local waymarks with a white circle which are not the Great Glen Way.

The steepest ground on the trail and the only part that feels like hill walking. It begins with a switchbacked tarmac climb straight out of Invermoriston through close conifers, close to two hundred metres of it inside the first two kilometres, then eases onto forest track before a rough path throws much of the height away again. The middle is a wide, well graded track heading north east through woodland with a stone shelter built into the bank part way along, level enough to make real time on. At Alltsigh the line comes right back down to burn and loch level, and then does the whole thing over: a gradual pull, then two sets of hairpin loops that lift the track onto the shelf at around three hundred metres and keep it there. Foyers is across the water and the route never goes near it. What makes this hard is not the surface, which is good throughout, but that it climbs, gives the height back and climbs again inside a very short distance.

Navigation: Well signed and hard to lose once you are on it. The start is the part people get wrong: out of Invermoriston the route leaves the A82 for the A887 and then takes the first road on the right, and there is nothing on the main road that looks like a trail. The one real decision is at the top of the first climb, where the high route branches away. It reaches around four hundred and twenty metres, takes in the View Catcher and the Fairy Bridge, and is much the better walking, but it stays high past Alltsigh rather than dropping to it, so anyone booked into the hostel there wants the low line, which is what the chainages follow.

A long shelf above Loch Ness that slowly turns into a descent. The first part is forest track and woodland edge at around two hundred and fifty to three hundred metres, with Meall Fuar-mhonaidh filling the view inland and the loch a long way below; the high route drops back in near the start of it. At Grotaig the track becomes a public single track road and stays that way for about three miles through Balbeg and Bunloit, though a good deal of new path has been built alongside the tarmac and the road walking is less of a slog than it used to be. This is the open, airy part of the trail, and on a clear day it carries the best Loch Ness views on the route. The lane runs out at a clapper gate and the line falls steeply through woodland to the River Coiltie, then follows the near bank east to Borlum Bridge, the A82 and Lewiston. Drumnadrochit at the end is a proper village with shops, food and a doctor. Most of the work here is downhill, which flatters the distance.

Navigation: Blue thistle waymarks throughout and little chance of going wrong once on the lane. The turn off the road is the one to watch: a wooden clapper gate on the left with the path dropping away at once, easy to walk past if you have settled into the tarmac. Lower down, do not cross the bridge over the River Coiltie; the route turns and follows the near bank. Where new path runs beside the lane it is intermittent and puts you back on the road repeatedly, which is normal rather than a wrong turn.

The high crossing out of the Great Glen, and the part of the trail that feels least like a canal walk. It opens flat, on A82 pavement past Urquhart Bay, then leaves the road and climbs steadily on surfaced track and forest path onto the ridge behind Abriachan, reaching the highest ground on the stored line at a little under four hundred metres. Abriachan Forest is community owned and has toilets, benches and a campsite and cafe on the line, which is the only thing of the kind up there and the reason many people split this into two days. Beyond it the route follows a public single track road for close to four kilometres with no pavement, then an old drove road across open moor, sparse old pine and birch woodland, and forest again past Blackfold. The last part drops off the ridge through woods above the city, comes down through housing at Leachkin, meets the Caledonian Canal at Torvean and finishes along the River Ness and its island footbridges at the castle. Long, high and committed in the middle, entirely urban at the end, and with no natural stopping place other than Abriachan.

Logistics: A short section between Drumnadrochit and Inverness is closed at present for forestry harvesting, with a signposted short diversion round it. Forestry closures come and go along this half of the trail, so the managers' news page at greatglenway.com is the thing to check rather than any stored line. The new path between Ancarraig and Clunebeg, on the same stretch, opened in June 2026 and will not be on an older map.

Navigation: Signing is good, but this is the section where people carry straight on: the marked line repeatedly turns off a wide forest track onto a narrower path, and the wide track always looks more like the way. At Abriachan Forest there is a real choice, a low forest road and a high option over Carn na Leitire which is the true summit of the Great Glen Way and much the better viewpoint. The stored chainages follow the low road, so a walker who takes the high option will be running slightly ahead of these distances until the two rejoin. On the four kilometres of public road there is no alternative line to take, so stay on the tarmac until a sign leads off it. The finish is at the castle, reached from the river bank up a narrow alley, not from the canal.