Great Glen Way – Coast to Coast in the Scottish Highlands

The Great Glen Way Trail

A Quiet Walk Through Waterways, History, and Highland Forests

After walking Wainwright’s Coast to Coast, the Pennine Way, and the West Highland Way back-to-back-to-back, we arrived in Fort William physically exhausted and emotionally drained. We weren’t certain we had the energy to continue. It was a local bookseller who convinced us otherwise, describing the Great Glen Way as quieter, more peaceful, and altogether different from what we had just experienced. 

Ultimately, that was all the encouragement we needed.

So we set out once again, this time following the geological fault line that forms the Great Glen - a long valley carved by tectonic forces and glaciers, linking Loch Linnhe, Loch Oich, Loch Ness, and the Caledonian Canal. Opened in 2002 as Scotland’s fourth official long-distance trail, the route stretches approximately 126 kilometres (79 miles) between Fort William and Inverness, offering a coast-to-coast crossing of the Highlands.

Why Walk the Great Glen Way?

What distinguishes the Great Glen Way is not its topography, but its character.

The route offers a short coast-to-coast walk through the Highlands, linking the Atlantic to the North Sea entirely on foot. Much of the trail follows the edges of the Caledonian Canal and the long, narrow lochs on canal towpaths and forestry tracks.

After the busier and more physically demanding West Highland Way, the contrast was immediately clear. The Great Glen Way felt calmer and more relaxing with fewer people and more space to move at our own pace. It also offered more opportunities for birding and observation.

At the same time, the route sits within Scotland’s broader network of Great Trails, reflecting ongoing efforts to balance access, conservation, and tourism. For us, there was also another connection across continents. The Great Glen Way is twinned with the Rideau Canal - another route we had followed while crossing Canada on the Trans Canada Trail - linking two journeys.

Trail Details

The trail begins in Fort William on Scotland’s west coast and concludes in Inverness along the shores of the Moray Firth, covering roughly 126 kilometres (79 miles). While often completed in five to seven days, we chose to walk it in four, combining stages to allow time for the next hike in our journey.

The terrain is generally considered easy to moderate, following a mix of canal towpaths, gravel tracks, forest roads, and loch-side trails. However, recent trail re-routes have introduced more elevation than earlier descriptions might suggest, particularly where the path has been redirected away from lower canal-side sections into surrounding hills and forestry.

As a result, what appears straightforward on paper at times felt slightly more demanding in practice. Like much of Scotland, the trail is best walked between late spring and early autumn, though rain remains a constant possibility in any season.

Our Walking Itinerary and Stages

We walked the Great Glen Way in four days, combining traditional stages to create space later in our journey for Hadrian’s Wall. The structure of our walk reflects both the route itself and the adjustments we made along the way:

Beginning the Great Glen Way : Fort William to Gairlochy Lock

Beyond Gairlochy : Continuing onto Laggan Lock

Re-Routes and Roads : Laggan Lock to Fort Augustus 

Hiking Loch Ness : Fort Augustus to Drumnadrochit

Finishing the Great Glen Way : Drumnadrochit to Inverness

Reflecting on the Great Glen Way

From Highlands to Waterways, and from Crowds to Canals

Completing a Scottish Way

The Great Glen Way marked the end of our time in the Scottish Highlands before returning south to hike Hadrian’s Wall Path. It formed the northern arc of our UK journey - a quieter and shorter counterpart to the trails that had come before it.

This walk now sits within our wider collection of slow travel experiences, both in the UK and abroad. We have crossed Canada on the Trans Canada Trail from the Atlantic to the Pacific and onward toward the Arctic, followed pilgrimage routes across Spain and Portugal, travelled by rail aboard VIA Rail’s Canadian and Ocean, and crossed oceans on Queen Mary 2 and Wind Surf. Each voyage and hike, in its own way, continues to extend the same line of our journeys around the world. 

See you on the trail!