Highland Tour Pt. 2

Highland tour Pt. 2

As promised, the second part of weekend…

We woke up on Sunday morning and had breakfast. We all laughed at the photos/videos from the previous night and enjoyed breakfast. Some people were a little under the weather from a busy Saturday, but everyone was keen to get going. Once breakfast was done we all piled in the cars (there were now three since Iain’s friend Stewart and his girlfriend Megan were going to be coming along too). We headed off for Fort William.

Now, I really wasn’t aware how far away Fort William was. In a straight line it looks to be about the distance between Ottawa and Brockville…but that’s assuming that the roads are straight…which of course they aren’t. Sheesh…these are the highlands…nothing’s straight. So, what looked to be an hour worth of driving resulted in a solid 2 hour drive. Perfect. To make matters better it rained. It rained lots and lots. You get the idea. However, we headed off and our first stop was in the valley at the base of Ben Nevis where many scenes from Braveheart were filmed. For those of you who don’t know, Ben Nevis is the tallest mountain in the British Isles and is much smaller than, say, Everest or the biggest mountains in BC or Alberta. However, whereas most of those mountains are huge, their bases are at an altitude that is much higher as well. Ben Nevis’s base is at sea level and climbs straight up which makes it very dramatic. We stayed around for about 15 minutes before we all got soaked and then headed for the cars. Jaime insisted on showing us the wonder of single track roads to which I simply said ‘boy, am I glad I’m not the one driving’. It was tight.

After the stop at Ben Nevis we headed to Fort William and the town of Ballachulish (I hope I spelled it right) where Jaime introduced us to his parents Gordon and Morag. They were super friendly and invited us all in for lunch. They had prepared a fabulous lunch for us of cold meats, cheeses, bacon, sausage, egg, fruit, and some Welsh cakes (very much like a scone) and some tea. It was much appreciated. Jaime and his parents still insist that we can’t possibly do justice to the highlands in a two day span and so perhaps the next time I make my way North I’ll swing by Fort William again...

Once lunch was finished we thanked Jaime’s parents for lunch and headed off for the town of Glen Coe. It wasn’t much of a drive and the town is very cute, but we kept going and ended up on single track road again. We continued on until we came to a wee pub set in a valley. Apparently the valley was the site for most of the filming for the first two Harry Potter movies. It was very cool and I could almost imagine Hogwart’s castle set against the backdrop of the mountains. When you get a moment have a look at the movies and see if you can’t spot any of the mountains from these pictures.

Mark and I decided to go for a hike up the mountain in order to get a better view and in the process got soaked once again. We eventually headed back down and sat down with the rest of the crew in the pub. It was nice to get in from the rain and have a hot cup of coffee. We all sat around and just soaked in the atmosphere. However, around 4pm we had to hit the road again or else we were going to miss the bus home. We left Glenn Coe and drove the 2 hours back to Inverness…and then climbed on the bus and made the same 3 ½ bus ride home. We arrived back in Glasgow exhausted, but very pleased. The weekend had been amazing and I’ll happily go make another tour of the Highlands.

Anyway, that’s it for now. Take care from Scotland,

Bruce