How difficult is the West Highland Way?

Easy, low-level walking on old railway path, parkland and farm lanes through Mugdock Country Park and a run of small towns, Milngavie, Blanefield, Killearn, Drymen, with no real climbing until the very end. Conic Hill, just before Balmaha, is the one exception: a short, sharp pull that gives the first proper view over Loch Lomond and its islands from height. Well served throughout, with shops and pubs never far away, a genuine warm-up day, sociable and flat, before the trail's character changes completely at the loch shore.

Navigation: Well waymarked and hard to lose on the old railway path and forest tracks; Conic Hill's open summit path is the one place worth care in poor visibility, where the enclosed paths before it give way to open hillside.

In poor weather: Sheltered, low-level walking for most of the day; Conic Hill is the only exposed high point, and its Loch Lomond view disappears entirely in low cloud.

Escape options: Milngavie, Drymen and Balmaha (just beyond the section) all sit on bus routes with full services, easy to adjust plans anywhere on this stretch.

Balmaha and Rowardennan give a deceptively gentle start on estate track and quiet road along Loch Lomond's east shore. Beyond Rowardennan the path narrows and turns genuinely rough, roots, boulders and short, sharp ups and downs through native oak woodland, worse again north of Inversnaid, and pace drops well below what the distance on paper suggests. This is widely reckoned the single most misjudged stretch of the whole Way, catching out walkers expecting an easy lochside stroll. Some burn crossings can flood and become impassable after heavy rain. Beinglas, near Inverarnan at the far end, is the natural finish.

Navigation: The path is obvious, there's only the one line along the shore, but it demands constant attention to footing rather than route-finding; some burn crossings can be genuinely impassable for a time after heavy rain.

In poor weather: Tree roots and rock become slick and dangerous when wet; heavy rain can also swell the burns crossing the path to the point of being uncrossable until levels drop.

Escape options: Seasonal passenger ferries cross to the west-shore road and rail line at several points (Rowardennan, Tarbet, Ardlui); otherwise this shore has no road access of its own once past Rowardennan.

A complete change of pace and landscape after the loch shore, gentle glen walking up Glen Falloch and Strath Fillan on well-surfaced track, much of it an old military road, with the hills opening out either side instead of closing in. Crianlarich sits slightly off the main line and is easy to bypass if not stopping; St Fillan's Priory ruins and the river crossings at Kirkton mark the approach to Tyndrum. Both villages have full services, making this one of the best-supplied stretches on the trail. A straightforward, recovering day between two harder ones.

Navigation: Well waymarked on broad, well-surfaced track; easy to follow even in poor visibility after the attention the loch shore demanded.

In poor weather: Low-level, glen-floor walking, sheltered by the hills on either side, one of the least weather-affected sections on the trail.

Escape options: Crianlarich and Tyndrum both have rail stations on the West Highland Line, the easiest bail-out points anywhere on the Way.

The trail's big remote crossing: past Bridge of Orchy and over the open moor to Rannoch Moor, one of the largest and wildest expanses of open ground in Britain, on the line of the old military road. Only one settlement in 34km, and almost nothing in the way of food or shelter, carry what you need. Kingshouse, isolated below the Glencoe peaks, and the ski centre beyond it are the only real landmarks. Fully exposed throughout; this is where wind and driving rain, not distance, decide how hard the day feels.

Navigation: The old military road across Rannoch Moor is broad and obvious, but featureless in mist, easy to lose confidence in the distance even though the line itself is hard to actually lose.

In poor weather: Fully exposed with nothing to break wind or rain for miles. This is one of the trail's most weather-dependent stretches; a calm-looking day can turn hard fast.

Escape options: Bridge of Orchy, early on, is the last realistic bail-out; after that there is nothing until Kingshouse or the Glencoe ski centre at the very end of the section.

The Devil's Staircase and the drop into Kinlochleven, packed into a short but brutal 12km, the most dramatic elevation change on the whole trail. The zigzag climb to 548m, the Way's highest point, is well graded and clearly engineered despite the name; the long, knee-jarring descent afterwards, loose and rocky in places, is harder than the climb. Kinlochleven itself, reached at the bottom, then demands the first stretch of the next climb straight back out before the section ends. Big views of Buachaille Etive Mòr and the Mamores from the top reward the effort.

Navigation: The staircase path is clear and well engineered, despite the name it's more about stamina than route-finding; the descent has loose gravel and rock that wants more care than the climb.

In poor weather: Exposed at and above the summit, with moorland on both approaches catching full weather; this is one of the trail's harder days to have in poor visibility or high wind.

Escape options: None between Altnafeadh and Kinlochleven, once on the staircase you're committed until the descent is done.

A steep climb straight out of Kinlochleven leads onto the Lairig Mor, a remote, high pass between the Mamores and the Ben Nevis range, rough underfoot but easy to follow, and a genuine wilderness feel after the villages before it. The gradient eases once over the top, and the second half of the day is a long, gradual descent through forestry plantations into Glen Nevis, with Ben Nevis itself in view for the final approach. The last few kilometres turn suburban, then urban, finishing at the walker's statue in Fort William's Gordon Square, a low-key end after days of hills.

Navigation: The track is broad and obvious throughout, if rough underfoot on the high pass; navigation is straightforward even though the ground itself demands care.

In poor weather: The Lairig Mor is exposed moorland with no shelter; once through the forestry plantations lower down, the walking is sheltered and largely weatherproof to the finish.

Escape options: None on the high pass itself; Glen Nevis, reached late in the section, is the first realistic option before Fort William itself.