Ok, so this post is for those who are pondering the Rob Roy trail as a hiking trip option in the near or distant future. Just really my summary to help others in the search for more information…. We trekked the last full week of September – so weather conditions will vary based upon time of year, etc. So here it goes.

I would say that the trail itself is not overly difficult to do, the longest day for us was about 16 miles – which isn’t bad, but about 5 miles of it was on asphalt and for me that just kills my back/knees/feet by the end of the day. Generally the trail is well marked – we got turned around about three times and you simply back track. I use AllTrails as a hiking app, and had no problems with navigating the route using that as a guide. Note that I download the map as to not rely on an internet connection for that part – but could get location data the entire trek – so easily done.

If you read the blog we had a great week of hiking, with almost no rain except light sprinkles. If it were to be raining it would be very muddy in spots – I brought low cut hiking/treking shoes – upon reflection now a more over the ankle hiking boot is probably in order that is waterproof. I did bring gaiters, didn’t have to wear them, but if it was raining I would. You could probably get by with lower cut hiking shoes (below the ankle) with gaiters if raining without a problem. Cindy wore hiking boots from Hoka – they seemed to work out ok and had more sole to deal with asphalt vs mine. The problem with hiking boots is they are typically more solid and have little to no cushion. If I were to do one thing I’d replace the interior soles of my shoes with upgraded ones – I’ve done that before and they are great – why I didn’t do it this trip is a who knows.

You have to approach the weather problem from a layering perspective. We live in Colorado with little to no humidity – but in Scotland it is humid and wet and that can go right through your layers if not done correctly. Cotton is out – generally jeans, etc. should not ever be worn – if they get wet then they are wet so avoid. I typically wore hiking/treking pants and then layered multiple items on my torso. On the coldest hike up to 2,000 feet it was windy/cold and snowed the next day – so it was probably 42F when we were there (cloudy/broken), but fellt colder. On that day I had a hiking shirt, then long sleeve thin shirt, long sleeve medium layer, then my melanzana (which is basically a fleece), then my rain jacket on the outside. Add a ski hat and gloves – and I was fine. Without the fleece/Melanzana I was a bit cold – even while hiking. Going up you break off layers, but going down you need them for sure. I did bring a black fleece jacket as a backup (really for Cindy) in case it was really cold on our hikes – but we never used it. I do think if you were a week or two later (October) and more rain was happening I’d have a longer gortex style jacket as my outermost shell – not a winter jacket per-se but something more water proof than just a rain coat.

Let’s see what else. We brought too many snacks. Remember there are shops here to buy things. We did this last year as well. We ate through most of the stuff – the best one being the dark chocolate candy bars that we would ration along the way. I brought liquid IV – didn’t need it, left it in the garbage can in the hotel. Brought a bunch of meds (anti-diarrheal, etc.) that we didn’t use but when you need them you need them. Brought my extra satellite gps receiver, didn’t need it. Brought my knife, didn’t need it. Flashlight, didn’t need it. First aid kit – only mole skin was used.

However here’s the thing about First Aid – you are on a trail and in parts it is muddy, slick and you can slip quite easily. We discussed this on the trail – you should know first aid to do this trip. We had one day we saw no other people. Unless you speak highland cow or sheep – there are spots that if you got hurt you need to be able to take care of yourself and get down – or have your partner do it to get help and get back. I have a pretty dense first aid kit from wilderness first aid that I take everywhere – but it has basic things to build a splint, wrap a sprained wrist or ankle, cuts, scissors, etc. So I would highly advise that you have one and the skills necessary to do basic first aid.

From a conditioning standpoint – because we chatted with a lady from Florida who said “I could never do that”, but in all honesty she could if she put her mind to it. In a day you really only hike about 12 miles – yes there’s a long day – but if you do 2 miles and hour that is six hours of walking. On the entire trip my highest heartrate was 124 bpm, and that was going up hill at 2000 feet. In Colorado that’s more like 140-150 at 10k feet. Most of the time it was an easy pace and an easy hike. The highland trail is longer distances with a bit more vertical – first day I think is 17 miles and day two can be 20 – so we like this as it doesn’t make us push so hard. You do want to be in your next town by 4 pm or so… The other critical advise is to have dinner reservations in the towns you are staying in – they are small and can sit only so many people – so that’s a must have.

Timezone adjustment – we gave ourselves an extra couple of days in London and Edinburgh before the actual trekking trip – we did meet people that “got in yesterday” and were now hiking. I’m sure the preference is to have the extra time – as 8 am will feel like 1 a.m. and you need to be out the door by 9 am usually to be on your way… It took us about three days to adjust to the timezone.

We didn’t fly into Edinburgh or Glasgow but you could. Glasgow is probably closer to the start of the hike. The train from Pitlochry is easy to get on back to Edinburgh as well. We flew in/out of London – largely to experience London with Cindy, but also to get a direct flight to/from Denver. For me it’s easier to just sit on a plane for 9 hours, vs doing a 5 hour, then layover then another 4 hours to get back – and sometimes those flights leave at really crazy times – and having the layover can promote bag loss, missed connections and a condition known as grumpy wife which is not recommended.

We used a travel agent to book our trip, that included baggage portage from one hotel to the next – we had no issues and everything worked out great. Come to find out that basically in this area it’s the same company moving your bags one hotel to the next not individual movers per company… so the same folks are hired out. I do think using an agent is the way to go as they can book the hotels for you in advance – make sure you get breakfast included (most do by default as it’s the way it works). We booked this trip 5 months in advance and you need at least that for the highland trail – when we tried they said “sold out” – so for that one you need probably a year in advance to get setup. For ours we wanted the week prior, but couldn’t fit it in… so book early.

It is a reminder with the quote that I have on our site and if you’re reading this and thinking “should we or shouldn’t we?” My answer is yes you should, do it while you can. Do not hesitate. My quote from Jim Carrey holds true today as when I found it ten years ago “You will only ever have two choices: love or fear. Choose love, and don’t ever let fear turn you against your playful heart.” Which I say, go have fun and love the adventure of it all. As my friend Bob would say “Be Whimsical”.

Good Luck and don’t forget to “Courie In” (you’ll have to google what that is in Scottish)