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 five, 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 five 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

What's Next?

Completing a Scottish Way

Reaching Inverness marked the end of our time walking through the Scottish Highlands, and in many ways, the Great Glen Way had been just what we needed. After weeks spent crossing England and following an increasingly demanding series of trails into Scotland, we had arrived in Fort William exhausted and uncertain about continuing. Yet the encouragement of a local bookseller had led us onto a quieter pathway, where the lochs, forests, canals, and historic communities of the Great Glen offered an opportunity to rediscover the pleasures of walking without constantly feeling overwhelmed by the journey.

The contrast with our preceding West Highland Way adventure was particularly memorable. Although both trails revealed extraordinary aspects of Scotland's landscapes, the Great Glen Way provided more opportunities to slow down, observe birds and wildlife, and appreciate the relationship between the natural environment and the communities that have developed around these waterways. Even the more demanding sections and unexpected route changes became part of a journey that felt less hurried and more closely connected to the reasons we had begun travelling on foot.

Following the Caledonian Canal also reminded us of our experiences along Canada's Trans Canada Trail, particularly our earlier walk beside the Rideau Canal in Ontario. Separated by an ocean, these historic waterways nevertheless offered interesting parallels in the ways engineering, transportation, settlement, and natural landscapes have become connected. Such encounters have been among the unexpected pleasures of travelling slowly, when places that initially seem unrelated begin to remind us of journeys undertaken elsewhere.

Our arrival in Inverness did not quite mark the end of our British walking adventures. With only a few days remaining before our return across the Atlantic, we travelled south to follow Hadrian's Wall Path, crossing northern England once again, this time through landscapes shaped by the history of the Roman frontier. It would become the final long-distance hike of our journey through Britain before we returned to Southampton and the sea.

Looking back, the Great Glen Way remains memorable not because it was the most challenging or dramatic trail we walked, but because it offered something different when we needed it most. It reminded us that there is value in choosing a quieter path, paying attention to what surrounds us, and allowing the experience of walking to matter as much as the distance covered.

For our other long-distance hikes, pilgrimages, railway adventures, and ocean voyages, we invite you to explore the wider Come Walk With Us travel collection.

See you on the trail!