Editor’s note: Mark Lorenzoni is writing about his eight-day hike on the West Highland Way, a 96-mile path that runs along the lochs and Highlands of Scotland.

Editor’s note: Over the next several Saturdays, Mark Lorenzoni will be writing about his eight-day hike on the West Highland Way, a 96-mile path that runs along the lochs and Highlands of Scotland.

I’d packed minimally for the nine-day hike, but still had to get used to the extra 15kg on my back. Friendly cows licked the sweat off my hands along the way and I gloried in the blooming hedgerows.

Experts on the West Highland Way say Robert's achievement is "unparalleled". "I'm always learning things about the landscape," the retired police officer from Gourock, Inverclyde, said.