Day 67: Fort William

Distance: 15.5 miles
Ben Nevis Height: 4409 feet (highest in the British Isles)
The blog has taken a nonlinear turn. Today will be about today, but tomorrow will be about yesterday. It's all because yesterday was our longest day, and we had no time to blog. There would have been a gap in the blog, except that we were lucky enough to have Michael come through with a guest post. I hope everyone enjoyed it!




Today we walked the north most segment of the West Highland Way from Kinlochleven up over highland passes and down into Fort William. The clouds were low enough to obscure the very tops of the high mountains, but high enough that we stayed under them. It hardly rained at all. It was a really beautiful walk; Jan told us that this was her favorite of all the days on the West Highland Way.




We are now in the heart of the highlands, surrounded by the mountains called Munros - the 283 Peaks in Scotland that are over 3000 feet. Three thousand feet doesn't sound like much by Oregon standards, but these mountains feel as rugged as anything I've seen. And they have crazy names, like "Sgurr a Mhaim" and "Stob Ban". Near the end of the day, we came to the most famous Munro of all, the normally named Ben Nevis. Even, or maybe especially, with it's summit in clouds, it's a big bear of a mountain.




The day started at sea level at Kinlochleven, then climbed up and up till we had this nice view of the town. If you look carefully, you can see the big pipes we walked by yesterday. They bring water to turn the generators to make the electricity to smelt the aluminum that used to be what this town was all about. The aluminum industry is gone now, but the big pipes still carry water down - not sure what it's used for now.




Once we made our initial climb, the trail proceeded gently up and down between the mountains. It was mostly barren terrain, but there was this old ruin of a farmhouse - I guess somebody must have tried to live here once. They must have been pretty tough.




The map showed that we'd have a half dozen or so miles in forest. While there was some forest, most of it now looks like this.




Finally, we made it through the remnants of forest, and a little actual forest, and started out descent into Fort William.




In the valley, we came across an outdoor curling rink, and, next to it, a super cool curling sculpture. At least, I think it's sculpture. Either that, or people here are so strong they can curl without ice!




Here we are at the official end of the West Highland Way. You can see that Michael is a little stiff due to the blisters. He had to take a bus today, but he has a new pair of shoes, and the feet are feeling better, and he's planning to be back walking with us by day after tomorrow.




Tomorrow is a short walk for us along the Caledonian canal to Glen Loy Lodge. Michael and Jan are taking the day off and will be joining us again day after tomorrow for the trip along the Great Glen to Inverness. And finally, one last view of Ben Nevis.

Location:Belford Rd,Fort William,United Kingdom