Double Route Doubled

This trek will be composed of 2 separate but connected paths.   The West Highland Way (WHW) is 96 miles, and the Great Glen Way (GGW) is 79 miles.  There will be a rest day in Inverness before this trekker turns south and repeats the 2 paths in reverse.

West Highland Way begins just north of Glasgow in the town of Milgavie, pronounced Mullguy, and continues north/northwest to Fort William.  Milgavie's ancient name was taken from the Gaelic Muileann-gaoithe, meaning - windfall.  Looks like the Scottish language will be as interesting and as foreign as Welsh was.

WHW was the first long-distance-footpath established in Scotland in 1967.  The Way follows ancient and historic routes using old footpaths of the Highlanders and the Drovers where their cattle were driven to markets in the south.

GGW follows the Great Glen, a geological fault, from Fort William in the southwest straight to Inverness in the northeast on the edge of the North Sea, following the shores and hills past Loch Lochy, Loch Oich, and Loch Ness (where the Loch Ness Monster of folklore is said to live deep in the depths of the lake).  

In 1544 there occurred the Battle of the Shirts between clans in the Great Glen.  The name came from the fact that the day of the fighting it was so hot the clansmen took off their chainmail and fought in their shirts.

This area is also well known for the 18th century Jacobite risings/rebellions, or the War of British Succession, among the Scottish Highland Clans in their aim to return James II of England and VII of Scotland to the throne of Britain.  The route will pass by the location of the Big battle.

More about Scottish History when this trekker gets to the actual sites.

Have read that summer, when this hiker will be in Scotland, is the peak season for "the VORACIOUS 'midge' biting insects that can cause distressingly itchy bites".