Ninety-five of the prettiest miles you’ll ever walk will take you from just north of Glasgow to the heart of the Scottish Highlands.

Well, I can only personally vouch for the first 45 miles of the West Highland Way, as that was how far I got before I hit the pretty little village of Tyndrum, found an appealing pub, and spent the rest of my vacation exchanging a sore knee for a sore elbow, but I’m sure it’s stunning.

The route starts in Milngavie (pronounced “Mullguy” in one of those British place names designed to allow them to laugh at foreigners), which is a short train ride from Glasgow, but you soon leave urban Scotland behind. The whole things takes about seven days of steady walking, and ends up at the foot of Ben Nevis, the highest of the Highlands.

Into your second day, you’ll be coming round the mountain (well, Conic Hill) to get your first view of Loch Lomand. There is even a stone chair built on the side of the hill for you to sit in and enjoy the scenary. In my seven years of exploring Scotland, this is the prettiest of all the lochs I saw – way better than Loch Ness, which, apart from the monster, doesn’t have a whole lot to say for itself.

For the next couple of days the path sticks pretty close to lochside, giving you a chance to admire its shifting beauty through morning and night, sun and rain.

As you wander the open fields of the Highlands, you will hear a strange sound – like waterfalls, only more energetic. It took me a while to track down the source: sheep, standing stock-still, peeing for all they’re worth. I have no idea what series of evolutionary events led them to this strategy. I tried to explain to them that I am a vegetarian, and meant them no harm, but this submissive urination continued to echo through the glens and bens.

Walking in the Highlands, you get very familiar with the lives of sheep. You will see lambs dancing and leaping about, crazy with a mamoth love of life. Sometimes they just sproing straight up into the air. You will see adult sheep, eating grass like it’s heroin. Sit down on a rock and philosophize on how this sad change is reflected in humans.

You may observe a sheep lying on its back, wiggling its pointy legs in the air. When sheep fall over, they stay over. Unless a farmer (or good-spirited hiker) returns it to its feet, it will starve to death, even as the other sheep continue grazing right by it. You will see plenty of disintegrated sheep – reduced to bones and wool.

Whether you keep on walking from Tyndrum, or return later via train, the West Highland Way ends at Ben Nevis (‘ben’ being the Scottish word for mountain).

Ben Nevis is an astounding sight. It also makes Canadians snicker, because it’s the highest mountain in all of Britain, and you can walk up it in three hours.

But don’t chortle too loudly, as people die every year on the mountain - almost always tourists who set out on a sunny hike, wearing sneakers and a T-shirt, find themselves surprised by a fierce storm, and fall off the mountain. I tried to climb the ben twice in bad weather, and have the scar to prove it. With a little bit of planning (tell your accommodation when you are going and when you expect to be back, check the weather, and dress for the worst Scotland can throw at you), this is a fine hike.

Britain chopped down most of its trees to build ships to beat the Spanish Armada, and the sheep keep chewing down any budding forests, so where ever you pause to catch your breath on the ben, you’ll have a stunning view. In fact, you can see the hostel at the bottom most of the way up.

At the summit, take a moment to have a look down. Not over awe-inspring mountain ranges, but at your feet. Last year, a cleanup crew found a piano up there. After a national search, a man called Kenny Campbell came forward. A woodcutter from Bonar Bridge in the Highlands, he didn’t understand all the fuss. He explained that he carried it up the summit to raise money for a cancer charity in 1971.

“It took me four days to get the organ to the top,” he told a newspaper, “and when I did I played Scotland the Brave.”

First published in the Daily News Saturday July 7 2007.