West Highland Way walking holiday, Scotland

Planet

The natural landscapes we explore are some of the richest, often most challenging, yet at the same time some of the most fragile environments on earth. For us, it is critically important that such wilderness travel experiences do not diminish the natural values of the environment.

Where possible, we engage in partnerships with local environmental groups and/or land managers to actively campaign for conservation or promote environmental protection and/or rehabilitation.

Information that we provide contains details on minimum impact walking. This includes when in the countryside be mindful that you are walking in National Parks, farmers fields and villages. This information includes to stay on the trails, avoid short cuts and to avoid paths widening if you need to walk through the mud do so. You need to be mindful that you may be walking through fragile environments that are enjoyed by many.

Never pick wildflowers, break branches or damage trees. Keep your distance from wildlife especially in Spring when young are around as this causes great distress.

Anything you take with you for the days walk, must be taken out. Even if it is biodegradable it can take months to decompose and will in turn encourage flies and wasps. Never throw rubbish and dispose in the bins of the next village you come to.

When you make your booking, your pre-departure information is provided by email. Our office uses recycled paper and we recycle our bottles, paper and other items. Office staff travel by public transport to/from work.

Global Warming and Carbon Balancing: The root cause of Global Warming is society's dependence on emission creating fossil fuel. Planting trees is not going to reverse this trend or cancel our carbon emissions very quickly or effectively. We believe the way to reduce these dependencies is to create clean energy production. Therefore, we support renewable energy projects like wind and solar power, and we are aligned with Climate Friendly, the gold standard setter in effective, meaningful action addressing climate change. So, while we believe that tree planting can play a small role in greenhouse gas abatement, we have gone the extra mile in promoting a longer term solution. Is this cheap? No. Is it responsible? Absolutely!

People

Over the years of organising walks on the West Highland Way we have built relationships with local accommodation providers and work with them to operate responsibly.

After a thoroughly rewarding day’s walking you will be warmly welcomed into a locally owned hotel, B&B or guesthouse which has been chosen for its charm. Where possible within the same village we use a variety of accommodation to ensure that we are supporting many within the community.

A lovely aspect of the West Highland Way are the locally run guesthouses & B&B's. Jim at Alison at The Glenalva provide homemade jams, marmalade and locally sourced free range eggs for breakfast. The Ardlui Hotel is owned and operated by the Squires Family who have been in residence since 1959. Their continued dedication and passion to the property and surrounding area provides a welcoming and relaxing end to your days walk.

We encourage you to purchase lunch, dinners and snacks from the local shops, village farmers markets, pubs and cafes along the way which in turn helps employment within the community.

Friendly local staff are ideally placed to give you a knowledgeable insight into the local terrain, flora and fauna and an authentic account of the history of the region.

No local payments policy: Local cash payments are becoming increasingly popular with many operators in the adventure travel industry. This policy seems to benefit the tour operators more than the local economies or the travellers, as it avoids local taxes and transfers the costs and risks of cash handling onto the travellers. In accordance with our Responsible Travel practices, we have chosen a policy of not asking for such payments.