It's the best way to walk from Mallaig to Lochailort, but has a lot of walking along busy and dangerous-looking roads. Would be two stars, except it's the only realistic route from Mallaig to Lochailort. The route leaves Mallaig on the old main road and has some good views to Skye and the Small Isles. Then there is a dull section along the main A830, but it has a foot/cycle path, so is safe. You can also cycle or walk the main A830, which has a foot/cycle path for the entire section from Mallaig to Arisaig, and is therefore bizarrely safer than the B-road. This is a circular walk (known to the locals as Round the Glen); the route plotted in Slow Ways goes through a farmyard and there are often livestock. It's perfectly acceptable and safe, but nonetheless I prefer to walk on down the Rhu Road and take the main drive into the farm house (marked Glen Cott in OS Maps) instead. The route from Glen Cott follows a burn and is a lovely walk through a wooded valley on a rough farm track, but perfectly easy to follow. The plotted route takes you through the grounds of Arisaig House and Borrodale House, but there are forbidding notices which I decided to obey, so I took the main A830 instead. At first, there is a foot/cycle path, but that stops after a while and you have to walk unprotected along a road which gets very busy in summer. The plotted route shows two turnouts off the A830, but I found both pretty off-putting. Just before leaving the main road, you pass under the Glen Mama railway viaduct, not as well known as its cousin at Glenfinnan, but equally a marvel of late Victorian concrete engineering. It's definitely hard walking though - if you're cycling or have restricted mobility, stick to the A830 - there is a separate foot/cycle path for much of this last section. The end of the walk in Lochailort is problematic, I simply couldn't find the path despite searching for a good half hour. A day later, I passed through Lochailort station by train - to the North of the station, I could see the path across the moor, but I still couldn't see a way to reach it from the road....

MartinF

Absolutely lovely short ferry ride between Inverie and Mallaig, with scenic views as you go. A great way to start or finish walking on Knoydart....

Voggyrogers