Premier Inn Fort William

... sightings were in the 1930's by visiting professional man, many didn't believe him until 3 months later their own doctor took the now famous black and white shot of the monster.

We passed the wells of the seven heads, legend has it that the chief of the Macdonal clan died, his sons, twins currently overseas studying, in their absence the elders ruled. They ruled quite ruthlessly and killed the sons on ...

Liz & Alec, who gave me a lift last night, turn out to be heading back to Kingshouse this morning so offer me a lift straight back to the start of my walk through the winding valley of Glencoe. The sky is already looking ominously dark so it's on with the waterproofs and I batten down the hatches with my rucksack cover before venturing out across Rannoch Moor.

The rain starts almost as soon as I hit the moor. It ...

The final stage of the Great Glen Way runs down Loch Lochy and back onto the Caledonian Canal all the way to Fort William and Loch Linnhe. The Caledonian Canal is another feat of 19th century engineering, where rather than use specialist "navvies", the local Highlanders were pressed into service in between their ordinary droving and crofting activities.

It ...

... so I collect a big bag for dessert/breakfast.

My lodging for tonight is the Great Glen Hostel at South Laggan, which has free internet on computers in the rooms and where I'm writing this now! Must go, the blackberries await!

What made me smile today:

The glorious sunshine

The Coldstream Guards flautists' who sponsor me in return for my donation

... streets and t-junctions, we eventually found the main motorways out of Edinburgh.... and finally on the way to Oban. It was special to be back beside the sea after so long.... the smell, the water and the sounds of birds. The seagulls here were huge!.... about twice the size of those at home. It had the lazy atmosphere so consistent with seaside towns, even with a busy metropolis so close by.

... s a pretty good gig. You just keep on walking and doing stuff and time flys by. I don't think I'll be doing KP stuff though and I'm not sure if that is a good or bad thing.

Today me and my new budd Andrew had the day off so we decided to go for a walk around the country side. I've attached a few videos. When we got to following the river, the vally was so steep that at times it probably was potentially life threatening with the fall. really great fun. I'm ...

... 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.

... to the hotel at close to 10:30 and checked out, hailing a taxi to Queen Anne Station. My train wasn't until 12:21 so I had over an hour to kill which I spent reading movie magazines. My train to Ft. Williams left on time and I thoroughly enjoyed the scenery along the way. Stunning! I caught up on my journalling as well. I arrived at 4 PM and easily found my first night's lodging, St. Andrew's Guest House, an old house ...

Our next stop was Fort William. Sue was REALLY excited about it because of some theme park they had there. Unfortunately, it had not yet opened for the season. The only place we could find to stay was some big hotel up on the hill. We got a room, we left our bags there, we went for a cocktail. The one thing we noticed is there was no one ...