The Road to the Isles - Part I
My blog will be slightly different for the next two months and will be more of a travelogue. The reason for this is that we went on holiday to Scotland in May and had such an enjoyable and interesting trip that I thought I would share it with you.
For years, we have gone on coach holidays. The advantages are that you are picked up locally and do not have to drive yourself (which I hate) and that everything is organised. The drawbacks are that you do not always have enough time to explore when you visit places and that meals are at set times. However, to me these are only minor inconveniences.
Recently we have been travelling with Lochs and Glens, a Scottish firm who own their own hotels and organise the holidays from scratch. The day excursions are a mixture of scenery, historic places and towns/cities, depending on the hotel where the holiday is based and the time of year.
In May we stayed at their hotel in Fort William, partly because we had already visited their other hotels and also as the excursions were so inviting. But more about that later.
It’s a long way from West Sussex to Fort William, so an early start is inevitable. At 4.30 on a Saturday morning the streets of Bognor Regis are almost deserted, apart from the odd person on their way to work and the other passengers heading for the railway station, which is our local pick-up point. It didn’t take long for everyone to board and for the driver to stow the luggage away and then we were on our way to the next two stops. After that the journey begins in earnest, although I have to admit that by then most of the passengers are asleep. In reality the first day of the holiday is spent dozing off and then waking up again when halts are made for meals and toilet facilities. One of the most attractive service stops is at Tebay, just north of Shap Fell. It began as a farm shop and has now developed into an award winning combination of restaurant, shop, delicatessen and petrol station. The views are superb, as this photograph will show.
We finally arrived at Fort William in time for dinner, which was followed by Scottish country dancing and bagpipe playing by some young local performers. Then to bed and a long awaited sleep.
Here are a shot of the hotel itself and the view across Loch Linhe.
On the following day, we spent the morning cruising on the Caledonian Canal from Fort William to Laggan. The Great Glen runs across Scotland from north-east to south west from Inverness to Fort William and follows the line of a geological fault. The valley contains several lochs, which were united by the Caledonian Canal, which opened in 1822. The aim was to create a shorter route from east to west (or vice versa depending on which side of the country is your starting point) for transporting goods and people. Unfortunately, by the time construction was completed the canal was already obsolete because advances in shipbuilding meant that the draft of the canal was too shallow to accommodate modern vessels. In addition, the possible threat to Naval traffic posed by Napoleon had evaporated following his defeat in 1815. Following Queen Victoria’s visit in 1873, tourists began discovering the area.
Now the canal is used mainly by pleasure craft, which negotiate the lochs and locks either for the full distance or for smaller stretches. The scenery is magnificent and the part that we followed included views of Ben Nevis.
The afternoon was originally going to be a free time in Fort William, although I am not sure how much there is to do there on a Sunday. However, as the weather was warm and clear, with virtually no wind, our driver, Tony, asked if we would like to take the gondola trip to the summer of Aonach Mor. This is the mountain two miles north east Ben Nevis and the majority of the passengers eagerly accepted the offer. So we found ourselves eating Sunday lunch on the top of a mountain, watching a mountain bike race. It was one of the rounds in the British championship and we watched the riders hurtling down the mountainside with a mixture of awe and disbelief. We later discovered that the winning rider completed the course in five minutes twelve seconds, compared to the fifteen minutes or so that the gondola took. Rather him than me!
On the following day (Monday) we travelled further along the Great Glen and then followed the shores of Loch Ness to Inverness. We made a short break on the way at Fort Augustus. A fort was built here by General Wade following the Jacobite Uprising in 1715 and was named after the Duke of Cumberland. Ironically, the fort was then captured by the Jacobites in 1745, before the Battle of Culloden. Now it is another spot where the Caledonian Canal changes levels and the locks are a tourist attraction.
We passed the Loch Ness Centre at Drumnadrochit, without seeing and without catching a glimpse of the monster and continued on to Inverness. Here we had free time for lunch and a quick look round the town, before returning to Fort William via Aviemore. Hopefully we’ll return one day with enough time to visit the castle.
On Tuesday, Tony had a day off and a local driver, Bobby, took us on a scenic tour of the Lochaber area, with a stop for lunch at Mallaig. The trip had an unusual start for us, with the A830 or “Road to the Isles” being opened at the point where it crosses the Caledonian Canal to allow a vessel to pass through. Once it was on its way, the road swung back into place and we continued our journey. The A830 has rightly been described as one of the most scenic roads in the country, as it meanders along the shore and through the countryside, passing through picture postcard villages. Bobby made a slight diversion at one point to show us the village of Arisaig and the Sands of Morar, which is one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. We passed the Glenfinnan Viaduct, which has been made famous by its appearance in the Harry Potter movies and we were lucky enough to see the Jacobite Steam Train in Mallaig Station, which is another star of the films.
Mallaig itself is the main fishing port on the west coast of Scotland and also the departure/arrival point for Caledonian MacBrayne Ferries when they sail to the Hebrides. I spent some time wander round the harbour, taking photos.
Bobby drove us back to Fort William along a different route, via Strontian and Sunart. Again, the route was very picturesque, with more small hamlets, sandy beaches and rocky outcrops. We finally reached Corran and crossed Loch Linhe on the Corran Ferry, before driving the final few miles back to Fort William.
That brings us to the midway point of the holiday. My next blog will cover the remaining days, which include a boat trip to the Isle of Rum ad a visit to Glencoe.
