From Alan McAteer

The WHW has been very dear to me and my pals since we first set out in 1997.

A bunch of eight keen hill walkers and Munro baggers, we planned to celebrate our 30th birthdays by walking the WHW. We decided to do it in four days, carrying all our kit. Although we were all keen and fit, we realised that the WHW was all about pace and distance. Only two of us, Fraser Christison and I, completed the full distance. It was a particularly hot August and through exhaustion, blisters and broken bones, six of the guys pulled out but still travelled by bus to each of our planned stops. The most memorable night on this trip was the Kingshouse where we met so many people from around the world. Some of the guys are quite gregarious and great with story-telling so we tend to draw in a crowd. On a beautiful warm sunny Saturday night as we reached the Ba Bridge we were surprised to find a group of foreign girls skinny dipping in the cool waters. Being gents, we averted our eyes and said, “Good evening girls” and kept walking.

The frustration for the guys who had been unable to complete the walk prompted the plan to have another go in 2007 for our 40th birthdays. This time there were only six of us and we discovered ‘baggage-handlers’ so took our guitars too. We took six days this time - less draining - and each night we got out the guitars and played in whichever pub we landed. Again the Kingshouse was a great night as we played and sang until after 2am. When we checked out, we were given a decent discount from our bill having entertained the punters and kept the bar active…

Having twice vowed ‘never again’ it was suggested that we do it again for our 50th birthdays. This time the group had grown to 12 and it was going to be an emotional trip: sadly, Fraser Christison had died in 2014 of a heart attack and we still had great memories of our walks and laughs with him. Fraser had been particularly important to me because on the final day of the 1997 trip, on the path from Kingshouse to Fort William, I was absolutely exhausted and Fraser had helped keep my spirits up.

I have a great memory of stumbling into Fort William an hour ahead of schedule expecting the guys to be waiting for us at the finish. However, because we were early, they were all sitting in the pub watching football. I sunk onto a bench feeling broken and Fraser disappeared for a few minutes and came back with a huge ice cream. I laughed and cried in equal measures.

For me, another trip in 2017 was particularly poignant. We planned it, booked it and began enjoying our warm-up hikes but in March 2017 I suffered a heart attack 12 weeks before we were due to start. When I started cardiac rehab the first question I asked the physio was, “Do you think I’ll be ready?”

Fortunately I made a good recovery and we set off in early July. One of the guys had packed a defibrillator for me - just in case - and another had returned from Australia specially to join us. Once again along the way we met great people and very often found ourselves staying in the same hotels or bunkhouses as people we’d been walking with throughout the day. We became very friendly with a group of Danish lads and spent each night having a sing-off in the pub.

The best night was at the Macdonald in Kinlochleven where the bar was rammed and Davie Mclaren was telling the many, many tourists about Scottish history. This time around we had rehearsed more songs and found ourselves surrounded by people from Canada, America, France, Spain and of course the Danish lads. Davie brought the entire pub to silence for Douglas McCabe and me to play ‘Ye Jacobites by name.’

Together, on the 2017 trip, we raised over £5k for the British Heart Foundation and we’d also raised £2-£3k on each of our previous walks.

I guess the lasting memory is the friendship and camaraderie which comes from a common bond set by achievement.

We were planning to do it again in 2020 but had to cancel because of the Covid-19 outbreak. But we are booked up for 2021.

Alan McAteer

Thanks to Alan for sending in his West Highland Way story. The selection of nearly 40 of his photographs in the gallery below captures the spirit of his close friendships, illustrating his story of WHW camaraderie.