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| CALEDONIAN CANAL AT FORT AUGUSTUS |
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| BY LOCH NESS |
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| COMMANDO MEMORIAL AT SPEAN BRIDGE |
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| GLEN NEVIS |
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| ABOVE HALFWAY LOCH ON BEN NEVIS |
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| BEN NEVIS SUMMIT |
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| THE OTHER SIDE OF BEN NEVIS |
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| BEN NEVIS SUMMITEER OR IS THERE SUMMAT 'ERE? |
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| A WELCOME INN ON OUR RETURN |
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| POSER |
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| ANOTHER POSER |
Monday 8th of August, and we awoke from our loch-side slumber to find that the wind
and dropped and the rain had ceased, just as hoped.
A short drive took us back to Fort Augustus. This picturesque small town is
located at the southern end of Loch Ness. A section of the Caledonian Canal,
which links Loch Ness to Loch Lochy, also passes through here. We watched boats
progressing slowly through the five locks, then wandered about for a while
until it was time for lunch. Rubi made some delicious fried egg and onion
sandwiches.
Annoyingly,my smartphone had started to misbehave so I hoped there might be a shop where
it could be repaired in Fort William, the largest town in the area and our next
destination. When we set off to get there, we found our progress impeded
somewhat by three bridges over the Caledonian Canal which were open to allow
boats through when we reached them, and a car accident that blocked one lane.
We also stopped briefly at the Commando Memorial near Spean Bridge.
We eventually parked in Fort William and headed for the busy High Street. There
was a mobile phone repair shop in the town, but alas, it was closed when we got
there. We consoled ourselves with supper and a drink at the first Wetherspoon's
we had seen for a while.
We did consider booking a room at the nearby Travelodge, but when they told us
that the price was more than £130 per night we went off the idea. Scotland
seems to be so popular at this time of year that they can clearly charge what
they like. We found ourselves
a quiet lay-by along Glen Nevis instead, with glorious views of the mountains.
We intended to rise at 7.00am, but somehow it ended up 9.00am instead. It was our
intention to walk to the 1,344m summit of Ben Nevis, so we packed up quickly
and drove to the Ben Nevis Visitor Centre to check the latest weather forecast.
Confirming that it was satisfactory, we prepared a packed lunch, grabbed our walking
poles and set off. Lots of other people were also climbing the mountain today.
The path to the top was obvious and well-trodden, but quite rocky. As we climbed we
were treated to great views along Glen Nevis. Then we reached Lochan Meall an
t-Suidhe, also known as the 'Halfway Lochan', although it is actually a little
less than that. After this, the climbing, though not technically difficult,
became increasingly tiring and relentless.
As we neared the top we found ourselves in thickening fog, although we did get
views when it cleared for brief moments. At last we could see the trig point
marking the summit, where we took the mandatory photographs.
It was minus one degree Centigrade on the top and our fingers were hurting so it
wasn't long before we were heading down again. Not until we had descended by
about 500m did we consider it warm enough to stop and have our picnic lunch -
rather late in the day as it was past 4.00pm by now.
The remainder of the descent was as long and relentless as the ascent, just a
little less tiring. Around 6.00pm we reached the Ben Nevis Inn, just before the
Visitor Centre, where we stopped for a drink.
Back at the car, we drove to our previous night's parking spot to find another
camper already there in a German registered Volkswagen. There was still room
for us too, so we parked up and made supper. Shortly afterwards, another car
stopped alongside us, the driver got out and he politely told us that we had to
move on as we were not allowed to camp in the Glen. We had obviously got away
with it the previous evening. The other camper was also told to move on, but
before she departed she suggested to us that we might want to consider parking
near Old Inverlochy Castle, where she had done for several days running. We thanked
her, took her advice, and had an undisturbed night.
In the morning we walked around Old Inverlochy Castle, which was quite small and a
bit of a ruin, although there was clearly some restoration going on. Then we
drove to the local Leisure Centre where, for a small fee, they let us use their
showers. We left the car in their car park while we had a last look around the
shops in Fort William and bought some food supplies. We found the mobile phone
repair shop open this time, but all they offered to do was reset the phone to
factory settings, which would delete the directory and all the photographs.
This was a bit too drastic so I declined in the hope that I could find a better
solution when I got home.
It was raining again, and this was expected to be the case for the rest of the day
and tomorrow. It was time to continue our journey south so we drove on to
Glencoe. We stopped at the Glencoe Visitor Centre where they had huge amounts
of information about the local geology, history and wildlife. There was also
much about the development of rock climbing techniques, and the personalities
involved, and they had a film presentation about the 1692 massacre of the
MacDonalds at Glencoe.
Back in the car, we drove further south on increasingly busy roads, passing by or
through many places I had visited a decade ago when I walked the West Highland
Way, such as Bridge of Orchy, Tyndrum, Crianlarich and Loch Lomond. Before long
we crossed the Erskine Bridge and joined the fast moving traffic on the M8 and
M74. It was a real change of pace from the easy-going motoring, often on
single-lane roads, that we had enjoyed over the past two weeks.
It was starting to get dark so we needed to find somewhere to park for the night. We chose to turn off the motorway at Gretna Green
and, after a little driving around, found a suitable place. This would be our
last night in Scotland, but the holiday wasn't quite over yet.