Adventure · Fastpacking
The middle ground between backpacking and trail running. A 25-litre pack, alpine speeds, and — because this is a Big Trail Adventures trip — a small hotel, refuge or guesthouse at the end of every day. All the ground you'd cover with a tent, none of the pitching in the rain — on trails from the Scottish Highlands to the Alps.
Why fastpack
Traditional fastpacking is trail running with a bivvy — sleep light, move light, wake up in a slightly damp sleeping bag. Great for the hard core, brutal for the rest of us, and it rules out a hot shower for the entire week.
Our version drops the bivvy and keeps everything else. You carry a genuinely light pack — 4 to 6 kg with water — because you never need a tent, stove, sleeping bag or five days of food. You cover ground at fastpacking pace: 30 to 45 km days, walking the ups, jogging the downs, running the flats. And you sleep in a warm room, eat a hot dinner, and drink a beer.
It's the format most people don't know exists. It works on the Scottish long trails, on the great Alpine circuits, and on the pilgrim routes of southern Europe — anywhere with a bed roughly a marathon apart.
Trails to fastpack
Every trail is walked and re-walked before we open it. We'd rather do four brilliantly than forty badly.
Book nowScotland
137 km · 3 days
A three-day fastpack with beach stops and seafood pubs. The gentlest introduction to the format on any UK long trail.
Book nowScotland
154 km · 3–4 days
The classic UK fastpack. Three big days from Milngavie to Fort William, with hotels booked in Rowardennan, Bridge of Orchy and Kinlochleven.
Book nowScotland
80 km · 2 days
A two-day fastpack through the wildest half of the West Highland Way. One bed at Kingshouse, one at the finish.
Book nowScotland
127 km · 3 days
Three neat 40-km days with a bed each night. The best of the format — genuinely quick, genuinely comfortable.
Book nowScotland
126 km · 3 days
Underrated as a fastpack. Quiet drove roads, forest tracks, and beds in Aberfoyle, Killin and Pitlochry — a proper week of eating and moving.
Book nowScotland → England
100 km · 2–3 days
Melrose to Lindisfarne in two long days. A pilgrim's fastpack finishing across the tidal sands to Holy Island.
Book nowEngland
309 km · 6–7 days
England's iconic crossing in a week. Six or seven long days, three national parks, a bed booked in every village.
Book nowEngland
135 km · 3 days
Three 45-km days along the wall. Fast underfoot, big views over the whin sill, and a Roman fort every afternoon.
Book nowEngland
164 km · 3–4 days
The escarpment in a long weekend. Ridge-line running, honey-stone villages for lunch, and a Bath finish.
Book nowEngland
130 km · 3 days
Riverside singletrack in three fast days. Ilkley to Windermere with beds in Kettlewell and Dent.
Book nowEngland
116 km · 3 days
The Lake District valley traverse in three days. Long runnable sections between the fells, with beds in Coniston, Rosthwaite and Caldbeck.
Book nowEngland
139 km · 3 days
Chalk downland at fastpacking pace. Open, fast, ancient — three big days from Avebury to Ivinghoe Beacon.
Book nowWales
200 km · 4–5 days
A four-day loop of Ynys Môn. Sea cliffs and beach singletrack, with beds in Beaumaris, Amlwch and Rhosneigr.
Book nowMallorca, Spain
138 km · 3–4 days
The Tramuntana at fastpacking pace. Refuges each night, dry-stone mule paths, and a Mediterranean plunge at the finish.
Coming 2026France · Italy · Switzerland
170 km · 5–6 days
The Alpine fastpack. Big cols, glacier views, and a refuge bunk with a three-course dinner at the end of every day.
Coming 2026France · Spain
220 km · 7–9 days
Wilder and quieter than the Alps. A high traverse of the central Pyrenees, refuge to refuge, at fastpacking pace.
Coming 2026Swedish Lapland
110 km · 4–5 days
Boardwalk, tundra and Sami wilderness above the Arctic Circle. Mountain huts every 15–20 km — a fastpacker's dream layout.
Where to fastpack
Lines follow each trail's waypoints — live trail pages draw the full GPX route. Tap a line to see the trail.
How to fastpack
Pack
A 20–25 litre running-cut pack with soft flasks on the shoulder straps. If you can't fit your kit in it, your kit is too much. Ours: shell, insulator, spare socks, running poles, first aid, phone, wallet, snacks. That's the list.
Feet
Waterproof trail shoes with a rock plate and a genuine tread — think Speedgoat, Cascadia, Lone Peak. Boots are overkill and slow. Two pairs of merino socks, rotated. Leukotape on the arch of each foot from day one.
Pace
The fastpacking rhythm. Nobody runs up 300 m of ascent with a pack on and enjoys it. Nobody walks a runnable descent either. Split your day roughly 40% walk, 40% run, 20% eating.
Recovery
Long soak, big dinner, real bed — whether that's a Highland inn, an Alpine refuge or a Lapland fjällstuga. This is why the format works: running-pace mileage with backpacking-tier recovery.
From the journal
Richard Newsome has been looking after bothies on the West Highland Way for 12 years. This once meant carrying 42 glass bottles four and a half miles back to his car. He moved to Scotland because of the West Highland Way and has never once walked into a bothy and thought about quitting.
Sara and Marco walked the West Highland Way in June — their first long trail, seven days, almost nobody else around. On day two, by a quiet stretch of Loch Lomond, Marco said he couldn't really kneel on the rocks, and showed her the ring anyway.
A slow afternoon between Elie and Crail, where the wind drops and the coastline lets you catch up with yourself.
