The race starts outside Brodie's store (grid ref NN328306).
Registration will take place within the Green Welly Complex.

Stage 1 - Tyndrum to Bridge of Orchy

Tyndrum (ty an droma) house of the ridge, was chosen as a starting point simply because it adequately reflects the changes in the countryside. It tends to open out more after Tyndrum affording distant views of the mountains ahead.

Tyndrum to Bridge of Orchy :- 10.75km/6.75miles. (Grid Ref NN296396)

This is definitely the easiest section of the whole race making for good running. After climbing out of the village on the old military road the route turns off the road, climbs slightly up hill before diving down under the railway line to rejoin the road that dips down towards Allt Chonoghlais at Auch and the bridge built by Major Caulfield in the eighteenth century. A sharp left turn then over a style and the mighty Ben Dorain (The mountain of the otter) 3524ft/1074m keeps you company on your right as you head for the railway underpass approximately 3m/5km distant that denotes the entrance to Bridge Of Orchy. Cross the busy A82 then down a minor road and over the single span Bridge of Orchy (built around 1750) to the first checkpoint.

Stage 2 - Bridge of Orchy to Kingshouse

Bridge of Orchy to Inveroran (4km/2.5miles)

An initially meandering muddy climb over the ridge (the Mam Carraigh)(1000ft/308metres approx) Heralds the beginning of rougher country underfoot that continues more or less unabated until the end of the race.

From the top, the white buildings of the Inveroran Hotel can be seen with beautiful Loch Tulla (loch of hillochs) on the right and the wild Rannoch moor reaching into the distance beyond. Looking back can be seen several of the highest peaks in the district: Beinn a Chreachain(The mountain of the plunderers) 3540ft/1081m;Beinn an Dothaidh(The mountain of scorching ) 3289ft/1002m; and Beinn Dorain.
The going underfoot can be treacherous here and many a stumble occurs on this downhill zigzag stretch as runners strive to find a pebble free part of the track a run on.

Inveroran to Kingshouse (16.1km/10miles)

Passing the hotel the route crosses a bridge over the Allt Tollaghan then heads onwards to Victoria Bridge and over Abhainn Shira (river Shira) before passing Forest Lodge to a style leading onto the Old Drovers Road.

Ahead lies Rannoch Moor (Magadan na Noine, the plain of the moss-lands, or moor of bracken,) and the Black Mount. This is possibly the remotest part of the whole race with the only cover available being Ba Bridge some 10km/6miles distant from Inveroran.
A short distance after Ba Bridge the ruins of Ba Cottage appear on the left followed by a long climb to the top of a ridge opposite the Peter Fleming cairn on the left. The path then swings around the flanks of Meall a' Bhuiridh (hill of the roaring) to reveal the head of Glen Coe with Beinn a Chrulaiste (rocky hill) and the Buachaille Etive Mor in the distance. Roughly 3.2km/2miles down the hill past Blackrock cottage (the second checkpoint )and the newer White Coirres ski lifts, the route crosses the busy A82 Glen Coe road before dropping down a minor pot-holed road to King's House Hotel.

Stage 3 - Kingshouse to Kinlochleven

Kingshouse to Kinlochleven (14.5km/9miles)

Cross the bridge after Kingshouse and follow the minor road as it turns to the left where it once again meets the A82. However, before it does a Way marker points the runner to the right and over a style and up the lower slopes of Beinn a' Chrulaiste. After a fair climb the path drops down again to cross a few burns (streams) before another style offers a safe path along the side of the busy A82.

A short distance on the shoulder of the A82 takes the route to Altnafeadh crossing the Allt na Feithe (burn of the deer) by means of a wooden footbridge which is beside a stand of birch trees and the beginning of The Devils Staircase (849ft/259m).
The Staircase climbs gently at first culminating in some steep zigzags as the top is reached near a cairn situated between the gap created by Beinn Bheag (little hill) and Stob Mhic Mhartuin (son of martins peak), which is the highest point of the whole route at 1798ft/549m.
Views from here are quite spectacular, Straight across is the famous Lairig Gartain (Pass of the ticks) that runs through to Glen Etive with the two buachailles, Etive Mor (The big herdsman of Etive), and Etive Beag (little Etive Herdsman) on either side.
Looking down Glen Coe (the glen of weeping), can be seen the three sisters of Glen Coe: Beinn Fhada (long hill); Gearr Aonoch (short ridge); and Aonoch Dhubh (black ridge), with Stob Coire Nan Lochan (peak of the corrie of the small loch) and Bidean Nam Bian (Pinnacle of the bens) in the background.

The Lairig Gartain is reputed to be the escape route used by Lady Glen Coe and the weaker members of her clan MacDonald as they fled from the Campbells after the massacre of Glen Coe. She died of her wounds in the snow before reaching safety.
Around the shoulder of the hill distant views of Ben Nevis (venomous or malicious mountain, or mountain with it's head in the clouds) Carn Mor Dearg (red mountain) and the Mamore mountain range appears.

Soon to the East come views of the 12.87km/8miles long reservoir created when Blackwaterfoot Dam was manually built by 3000 navvies between 1905 and 1909 with pick & shovel at sixpence an hour - - - at least twenty are still there in the little graveyard below the dam.
The dam almost a km long and more than 25metres high was built to produce a constant head of pressure for the hydro-electric turbines in Kinlochleven below, These produced the enormous amounts of electricity required to convert bauxite to aluminum oxide( alumina) then into pure aluminium using electrolytic reduction.

The track meanders its way down around the back of the hills that border Glen Coe, crosses a footbridge over Allt a' Choire Odhair-bhig and twists its way around the contours of the next hillside before dropping down through a series of hairpin bends in a S.W. direction to cross the Allt Choire Mhorair by means of a stone bridge over a gorge.
From the bridge there is a short steep climb and the track drops more deliberately in a further series of steep bends bringing close views of the half a dozen large pipes that convey the water to the aluminum smelter and Kinlochleven.
The route crosses the bridge over the river Leven and travels along Wade's Road with a housing estate on your right. Half-way along this road a signpost indicates a left turn through some woodland by the river, before passing by the outflow pipe to rise onto a pathway on the right. Follow this and it joins onto the main road.
Turn right here in Kinlochleven and follow the road to checkpoint three which is situated near a bench and phone-box.

Stage 4 - Kinlochleven to Fort William

Kinlochleven to Lundavra(12km/7.5miles)

The route follows the road (on the right) to the N.W. end of Kinlochleven before a sharp right turn opposite a school and a wooden sign (with a thistle emblem) pointing upwards towards the Lairig Mor (the high pass), which climbs approx 330m/1100ft.
The path is well sign-posted although it falters a couple of times as it climbs steeply through birch and mountain ash, crosses streams and a motor-road which services Mamore Lodge, before finally reaching the Lairig-mor track.

The route seems a steeper climb than The Devil's Staircase though the height gained is similar in both cases. Below lies Kinlochleven and to the west, the Pap of Glen Coe (Sgorr na Ciche) with Loch Leven glittering brightly beneath it. To the south the Aonach Eagach (notched ridge) an exciting and at times airy ridge walk not recommended for the timid.

From here to Fort William is a long isolated jog through an empty valley.
There is only the sound of sheep and the occasional roar of low-flying jets for company. The track is rough underfoot and the runner is surrounded on both sides by towering hills.
To the south the cone of Beinn na Callich (old woman's mountain) and Mam na Gualainn (rounded hill of the shoulders), and to the north the challenging Mamore hills, known to all Munroe enthusiasts.
The track undulates slightly, first rising towards a high point beyond the Allt Nathrach then falling as it reaches the ruined Tigh-na-sleubhaich (the house by the gullied slope) on your right. A little farther on to your left are the ruins of Lairigmor, once a sheiling (temporary shepherd's shelter), now little more than a pile of rubble since the walls have caved in.

The track wends around the southern flanks of the western Mamores and around the southern flanks of Mullach nan Coirean (summit of the corries)and Meall a'Chaorainn (hill of the rowans) finally dropping down towards woodlands and some more old abandoned sheilings. The route detours around some sheep folds before dropping down through a pine forest.
At the end of the forest the Lochan Lunn Da Bhra can be glimpsed on the left, supposed one-time home of Macbeth, King of the Scots, who lived in a castle or crannog on a island there.

Lundavra to Fort William (10.5km/6.5miles)