Nevis Bank Hotel Fort William

This was our last day of our Scotish tour. We headed out of Portree and off the Isle of Skye. We stopped in at Eilean Donan Castle, place where they filmed the Highlander movie.. woo hoo one of my favourites.. 'there can be only one!' Lots of clans associated with this castle, the Mcleods the McRae's etc.. some lovely scenery of the Loch's and the castle.. and the weather was a bit kinder to us today. My only ...

... my chances and stop for a quick snack, revelling in the chance to dry out a little! Heading over the hill towards Bridge of Orchy I turn around and am rewarded with stunning views of Loch Tulla and the hills behind it.

By Bridge of Orchy I'm pretty tired but there are a still a few miles to go. It's 3pm but I pop into the hotel bar, grab a sandwich to fuel me to Tyndrum and meet three walkers heading the other way ...

... 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 ...

... walk is sponsored too). Last year they raised over £20,000 on a similar event.

Fort Augustus is at the junction of the Caledonian Canal and there's quite a crowd when I arrive as the swing bridge in and out of the locks is about to be opened to allow the boats out into the Loch. The sun is shining and the hills look stunning. I could quite happily sit by the canal eating ...

... 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 ...

... about 40 hour weeks, I useually start at 7 for breakfast finish inbetween 10.30 and 12 then I'm back on for tea where i start at 6 and finish around 10 to 11. Every employee gets two days off. I'm looking forward to the snow and the times when the hotel is really quite and empty, almost reminisent of the shining.

I apologize again for taking so long between posts and I'll try to stop it from happening in the future.

I hope all is well.

Julian

... I've seen. Apparently it was rebuilt in 1932 from the original plans as it had been totally demolished earlier.

Later in the afternoon we went through Fort Augustus and gave the boat ride on Loch Ness a go. To be honest it's probably best missed unless you enjoy sitting on a boat looking at pine trees or black water for a while. But then what else would you expect to see :)

... up taking a little ferry back across Loch Linhe at Ardgour. Six pounds and 40 pence for a 3 minute crossing - daylight robbery but it was 8.30pm, almost dark, and with about 15miles around the side of a Loch on a single track road it seemed like a bargain.

We have continued with great weather and it was topped off tonight with the most wonderful sunset... fingers crossed for a repeat performance tomorrow.

... a Glenfinnan, vía Fort William. Hemos podido ver el famoso viaducto de Glenfinnan (que sale en la peli de Harry Potter). En la estación del mismo nombre, hemos podido ver el tren de vapor. Después, caminando por un sendero lleno de barro, que partía desde la propia estación, a unos 45 minutos andando, hemos llegado a un mirador desde el cual se veía tanto el viaducto como el Loch Shiel. No ...

... an earlier ferry so we would have more time for our connections when we got to the mainland. The ferry was actually a cargo ship with no where to sit but the crossing was really smooth and warm and you could get a good view all around you. We saw a lot of porpoises this time, some shags, and also some black Guillemots (which were white) and some normal guillemots (which ...