We were on the road by 8am, rain was falling and there were lots of heavy clouds around but not much traffic. Deb spent the first hour of our drive taking wet weather photos from the passenger seat as we drove through some spectacular valleys.
It was still raining and overcast when we left Skye via the very high arch bridge, a pity as the views from up there would be brilliant in sunshine. Not too far along the road we pulled over a couple of times to get some photos of Eilean Donan Castle, a very photogenic castle that has been used in many films and tv shows. It sits on a point at the confluence of Lochs Duich and Alsh. It was destroyed in 1719 for its involvement in the Jacobite rebellions. It was rebuilt in the 1900’s and is now open to the public, but we were too early.
Onwards we went to Loch Ness, keeping a keen eye on the waters as we drove to the Loch Ness Information Centre. In the centre you learn about the history of sighting of creatures in the Loch dating back centuries, with the more recent reports beginning in 1930’s. In the end it basically says that there is no scientific evidence for the existence of the Loch Ness Monster, and while almost all reported sightings are unfabricated and truthful in the eyes of those that made the reports, all the reports and sightings can be accounted for by common occurrences in and around the Loch.
We then drove down to Fort Augustus for lunch. Deb found a restaurant called The Boatshed, sitting on the banks of Loch Ness. A magical spot to sit back and relax, such a great view up the Loch from its southern shore. Once again there was no siting of the monster!
We left Loch Ness and headed south, our next stop was to see Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the UK at 1345m. We stopped at The Commando Memorial on Spean Bridge, a memorial to those who gave their lives in WWII. An interesting statue of 3 bronze soldiers. The memorial is also a good place to see Ben Nevis, with a compass plaque showing and naming the surrounding peaks. It was our first glimpse of Ben Nevis, more was to come later.
We then drove on down to Fort William and spent some time over looking Loch Eil, and watched a few boats access the local canal system from here.
From there we drove up to have a look at the Glenfinnan Viaduct, the “Hogwarts Express” was due to cross the viaduct at 3:13pm. We were close to it by 2:55pm, but hadn’t counted on the number of Potter fans in the area. I would guess that cars were parked on the side of the road and any space big enough to fit a car for at least 500m either side of the Visitor Centre, the centres car park was full and blocked off to traffic. We made it to the viewing area with minutes to spare! And there right on time was “The Hogwarts Express” steaming its way over the viaduct, a great sight. There were 100’s of people there, we were quite surprised, but on reflection we should have known better and got there a bit earlier.
We then drove to our BnB, we have the Nevis Room, looking out towards the hills, the rear of the property looks down over the Loch, a very pretty view.
For dinner Deb had booked us into the Ben Nevis Inn, located at the base of the trail to the top of the mountain. We took the opportunity to walk/climb up the trail a few 100 metres to get a closer photo of the snow dusted peak of Ben Nevis. For dinner we both went a bit Scottish, Deb had Cullen Skink and I had Chicken Breast with Haggis and Rumbledethumps. We both enjoyed our meals very much.
And as the clouds descended on Ben Nevis our day ended.
