The Great Glen Way

In the customary early morning drizzle we departed Fort William eagerly anticipating our first day on the Great Glen Way. We soon joined the Caledonian Canal at Neptune's Staircase, a flight of locks which allowed shipping access to Loch Lochy and the lochs further north. At Gairlochy the Canal issued out into the Loch and we began a traverse along the loch on a series of forest rides not far from the waterside and for once relatively flat walking. Some 34km later we arrived in South Laggan where an accommodation mixup (2 Laggans in Scotland!!) saw us homeless but we were rescued by Isabel at Invergarry where we spent the night.

We departed Laggan the following morning through the Great Glen Water Park to follow the route of an old railway along the southern side of lovely Loch Oich to Aberchalder visiting the Bridge of Oich's old suspension bridge on route. In fact most of the locks and bridges on the Canal have been refurbished and nowhere do they look so neat and attractive than at Fort Augustus, the next stopping place, a busy tourist destination where we were able to see a number of ocean-going yachts and deep-sea trawlers as well as pleasure cruisers lining up to pass through the locks. Beyond Fort Augustus the walking route took to the north shore of Loch Ness which with the weather closing in looked dark and sinister but no sign of the monster!! A short descent about 12 km along the loch brought us into Invermoriston for the night apparently famous for being the place where Bonnie Prince Charlie sought safe haven after the Battle of Culloden in 1746.

A strenuous day's walking followed starting with a steep climb above the loch but with sun shining one which gave us glorious and sweeping views over both it and the surrounding highlands. At Grotaig we spotted large wood ant nests constructed from pine needles but little other wildlife. We are constantly reminded from signage along the way that the toxic pine plantations are gradually being felled to make way for native species more thinly planted to allow both plants and wildlife to thrive within them. Not long after Grotaig we deviated inland to head across the hillside before dropping down to West Lewiston a village close to Drumnadrochit.
The town now appears to survive on the commercial industry surrounding the monster sightings of whjich go back to the 6th century. At Strone Point a nearby vantage point on the loch itself we had a quick look at the much visited but overrated ruins of Urquhart Castle which seems to have been the focus of numerous battles over the centuries.

After a couple of kilometres along the terrifying A82 the following morning we again climbed up the hillside of Creag Nay. After tracking for some time through forests which contained reminders of an industry which during the construction of had attracted some thousands of lumberjacks from Canada we emerged into an area of new forest at Abriachan where the local community became the forst to buy their own forest from Forest Enterprise. It was here that we were attracted by an invitation to have a coffee at the up@cafe. A track through the trees led us to Rory and the cafe - a dilapidated marquis over a trestle table and 4 chairs. Despite its humble nature, Rory's appearance and Frances having a sandwich snatched out of her hand by one of the "free range" hens we enjoyed a well-brewed coffee while we listened to Rory talk about the 40,000 tress which he had planted on his 80 acres of forest!! We then joined a minor road north eastwards before the trail took us through soft forest and a descent past an old but magnificent building which used to be a mental hospital on the outskirts of Inverness. A very attractive canal-side walk then brought us into the centre of the town and the conclusion of the Great Glen Way. That evening we celebrated what had been a fabulous 4-day experience at a local restaurant called the Mustard Seed. 7 walking days to go!!