The Devil's Staircase

The Devil’s Staircase is the nickname, and now the accepted name, for the military-road zigzags that carry the West Highland Way over the pass between Altnafeadh, on the A82 near the head of Glen Coe, and Kinlochleven. The path still follows the line of the old military road, and the zigzags exist for the reason they exist on any such road: to keep the gradient manageable for men and pack animals, which they do equally well for walkers. Walkhighlands says that despite the forbidding name the path is very clear and the zigzags make the going easier.

From Altnafeadh the path climbs steadily, about 250m of ascent by the figure Scotland’s Best Walks With Children gives, to a summit at 550m, the highest point on the entire West Highland Way. The climb is steep in places but never technical, on a clear, well-constructed path that can be boggy underfoot and is exposed to wind, since it crosses open moorland with no shelter. Ordnance Survey’s Explorer 384, Glencoe, covers it. Walkhighlands calls the view of the Glencoe mountains from the top fabulous, and Buachaille Etive Mòr fills the view back down the glen.

Most West Highland Way walkers continue down the far side into Kinlochleven, a long descent that needs transport back to Glencoe afterwards. It works equally well as an out-and-back from Altnafeadh to the pass, a self-contained half-day with no transport to arrange, and either way this is open, weather-exposed ground, however well trodden the path. Scotland’s Best Walks With Children gives the out-and-back to the pass as 3.6km with 250m of ascent, allowing two to three and a half hours, and Countryfile gives Altnafeadh to Kinlochleven as 8.5km and four hours one way. Walkhighlands’ larger figures, 14km and a 305m climb to the pass, are measured from the Kings House hotel, where its stage of the Way begins. The walker it suits wants a hill day’s exposure on a path that needs no navigation, or simply to stand on the West Highland Way’s highest point without walking the rest. It is not a walk for a visitor after shelter or a short, flat outing, because the pass is reached by a 250m climb across open moorland. For Glen Coe scenery from the roadside with none of the climb, the pull-in at the Study is back down the A82.