Camus House Lochside Lodge Fort William

... I've also booked my first couple of hostels too. I've decided to stay just outside Auckland, in Mt Eden, for my first few nights. It's a quiet part of the city but still within a bus journey from all the shops of course:) So after some sight-seeing and shopping, I'll be heading north to Paihia in the Bay of Islands, where I'm thinking of staying for a week. It looks like an amazing place to be, with plenty to do! I ...

... onwards to the hostel in Oban, a little fishing village.

Josh and I believe it or not had Chinese for dinner! Which was very nice i might add. Then we all went to the local Ceilidh House (pronounced Cay-Lee) where there was a traditional band, singers and Highland dancers. Everyone even got up during the dances too!

So tonight is our official night in Scotland. Tomorrow down the West coast, then back to Edinburgh. Then bus back to Luton overnight!

XO

... is at about 10m and we have to make sure we don't get too close to the wrong edge as there is a 2000 foot drop on the north side of the mountain. Up at the top I get out my stove and make a very welcomed hot chocolate for the two of us and we quickly get a couple of photos taken and the get our asses off the summit as quickly as we could.

The walk down which we though would be a lot quicker and ...

I've made it to Fort William, checked into the SYHA Glen Nevis and decided to go for a walk in to town to get some dinner. Little did I know that it was 3.5 miles each way in the pouring rain to Morrisons.

Gone to far to turn around and I am wet now.

... that I'm taking it face on. I'm frustrated that everyone I meet coming the other way looks almost dry! Still, my waterproofs and boots are doing an excellent job and underneath I'm not really wet. The moor seems bleak in this weather but on a clear day there are obviously stunning views to be had.

Heading down to Inverornan, the clouds suddenly roll away and the sun comes out. I take my chances and stop for a quick snack, revelling in the chance ...

... Ways (and was totally lost!) and a couple out picking blackberries.

Fort William wasn't what I expected - it's certainly not a beautiful town and the '60s and '70s housing developments above the town don't exactly blend in with Ben Nevis and the stunning hills behind. The Great Glen Way takes walkers all the way to the end of the Caledonian Canal and ...

... brake on the manual hire car consisted of a small button on the dashboard - and the car snuffed out very easily . We were lucky not to roll into one of the cars which insist on following so closely on slopes. Others were patient, if not confused, at our attempts to move off a round-about where it seemed we were going to stay - as we tried to work out the co-ordination of gears, the dashboard ...

The rest of the drive up has been lovely but it's all been a bit of a warm up to this .. it's stunning up here. We took a roundabout scenic route up from Callander to Fort William which was beautiful..up through Glencoe etc.. We topped it off by popping out for a 'quick' drive out for an hour or so after we checked in at 5.30. Well we ended up taking a slightly bigger drive than anticipated all around the A861and ...

... Fort William to Mallaig it is one of the best train journeys in the world. You might remember the viaduct from such films as Harry Potter. That's right we went on the Harry Potter train! It was a great journey and we glad that we did it. We had a great time up in Mallaig and climbed to the top of a hill above the town and looked over towards the Isles of Skye, Rum and Eigg. The train trip back was nice. The ...

... on around the corner to Urquart Castle. We looked at the ruins from the car park but did not go in. Further on we stopped at the Commando Memorial which was mounted on a plateau with a 360° panorama of the highlands. The round trip was about 190 miles and by the time we got back I was a tired little vegemite. D, E and O had gone out for a walk up one of the many Munros around here. They returned about 8 o'clock tired and hungry. They ...