This is the first trip of the year,
FORT WILLIAM, SCOTLAND, U.K.
FEBRUARY 2-9, 2016
02- TUESDAY
And so we’re off! I do hate these herds of Italians and their mobile phones - they keep them on until the very last minute before take off and they turn them full swing back as soon as the wheels touch tarmac! I’d confiscate them all upon boarding and give ‘em back on leaving the aircraft… I mean, how can you be so bloody dependent that you can’t switch it bloody well off for an hour or two! They must have implemented some sort of screening, though, for you don’t even hate to turn them off now, it’s enough you leave ‘em in flight mode…
We flew from Turin to Paris and from there on to Aberdeen - the flights were pretty uneventful, except some very strong winds in Aberdeen that caused the plane to have two attempts on landing…
Once in Aberdeen, we rented a car… and we got a flippin’ Fiat 500X! A car so uncomfortable we could hardly fit our baggage in… [the “we” is my wife and I, plus our 2 friends Pat & Renzo] Anyway, we managed to get ourselves all the way down to Fort William, stopping for lunch along the way in a pretty bistro. I had smoked fish soup - an excellent choice!
We passed a lot of flooded land while coming here, a result of the recent heavy rain that’s been falling in the past weeks. At 5.30pm we finally arrived to Achintee Farm, our self-catering hostel for the week. As soon as we un-puzzled our luggage from the car, we went to buy some supplies and we finally called it a night. Although I didn’t do any driving, it’s been all very tiring… I’m sure I’m gonna get a good night sleep. The rooms in the hostel are great, the bathroom is a bit small but pretty, and the kitchen is well equipped of all essentials. I posted a positive review on TripAdvisor :-)
03- WEDNESDAY
It’s been a nice day, so this morning I decided to take a walk on a path to Dun Deardail, an old fort not far from here. I slept really well last night, the place here is ever so quiet. The farm is in the Nevis valley surrounded by mountains with the river Nevis close by.
DUN DEARDAIL WALK [5.7km one way / 3.5mi]
A nice walk on a clear path facing Ben Nevis. I can tell I’m out of shape because my back started hurting soon after starting on the trail, in spite of my backpack being really light - I don’t think it was more that 3kgs - anyway, 11+km [7mi] for the first day I don’t consider bad at all. I took a lot of pix, but down-points of pictures are: •you never manage to catch all the eyes can see; •you cannot record feelings, smells, sound, wind, temperatures… all a picture can do is actually take you back to that moment in time. Which is not bad for yourself, but you cannot really take anyone there with you - you have to live it to feel it ;-)
I thoroughly enjoyed the forest smells, the pure air, the chirping birds, the snow on the final part of the trail.
The DUH! moment was when I reached the fort - totally covered in snow. Good job I had taken a picture of the description board just at the bottom of the steps to the fort. As for vitrified walls, we’ll just have to take their word for it!
Not happy with the walk I walked another 4km [2.5mi] to the local shop to get some food for my late lunch - 3.30pm.
Meanwhile Rosie and the other two have climbed Ben Nevis and reached the top! They were back by 6.30pm - very good dinner-timing! They’re having … pasta, again! Ha ha, there’s no way I’m having pasta over here when I can finally have some proper British food. I’ll have pasta when I’ll have to be back to Italy.
04- THURSDAY
I woke up in quite a good shape, considering… this morning was windy, but not raining (at first), so I started off to Inverlochy Castle and Corpach and the Treasures of the Earth Museum.
INVERLOCHY OLD CASTLE AND CORPACH [10km one way / 6mi]
I started across the river Nevis and followed Glen Nevis Rd into town, passed through Inverlochy and reached the old castle ruins. A quick tour inside the walls as a light drizzle started to fall.
I passed the footbridge over the Nevis and followed along the Caledonian Canal to Corpach, where I visited the Treasure of the Earth Exhibition. A fantastic collection of gems, stones and fossils - I thoroughly enjoyed it!!!
I had lunch at the Corpach Hotel, with broccoli and cauliflower soup and 1/2 pt of bitter. I had never been one much for soups, but I’m really enjoying their creamy texture now - a perfect light lunch that will allow me to have a late tea with a piece of cake.
Coming back, I didn’t really fancy another 10km walk in the rain, so I took the bus into Fort William. As I was enjoying my ride back, Rosie texted me saying she was coming down from her climb, for her hips were hurting too much - so I met her in town and we grabbed a bite at Morrison’s Cafe’.
Today’s not been as tiring as yesterday, but there wasn’t any snow [it had also disappeared from the mountains around the hostel], and virtually no elevation. It’s been a good walk as the weather held, for it started to rain a bit more seriously only towards the end of the afternoon. Temperatures have been mild throughout the day.
At the end of the day Pat came back with a badly sprained ankle - climbing’s over for her… We could thus experience first hand the efficiency of the NHS and Fort William Hospital’s A&E - in one hour we were out with x-rays, crutches and tutoring boot, all thanks to the great nurses and doctors there.
So… it’s gonna be sight-seeing for all of us from now on, I guess. It’ll save me walking to town
everyday, unless the others are up to it… all except Pat, of course. :-/
05- FRIDAY
Heavy rain and wind this morning! Real heavy showers and powerful guts of wind, so we’re all home-bound. We went to Fort William in the afternoon for a bit of shopping and a look of the town, for the rain stopped. We did some shopping around and I ended up with a Scotland cap, perfect do keep the rain off my glasses and 6 new pairs of hiking socks - now I’m just missing the HIKING!!!
Poor Pat is pretty low about her injury - it was her first time in Scotland and she managed but 2 days of climbing…
In spite of it all, I quite like this weather, I’d sign up for windy days any day! The rain, I’m not too keen on, but it’s alright every now and again. ;-)
06- SATURDAY
CAR TOURING DAY
Being quite a nice day, this morning we decided to take the car for a tour of the area. We went to Eilean Donan Castle - we got there at low tide, but they’re having repair works done, so you can only visit the castle on a guided tour… none of us really fancied it, so we took a few pictures and headed to Urqwart Castle on the Loch Ness. Alas! the blowing icy gale and the fact you had to pay an£8.50 entrance before doing anything else, didn’t even let us reach the visitors’ centre. We headed to Drummadrochit where we stopped for a nice bowl of soup at Glen Cafe’, then we continued to Inverness where we spent 2 hours walking around town. Poor Rosie had to do all the driving, as the other “eligible” driver was crippled, and I really don’t know how she did it…
In spite of not having physically done much, it’s been quite a tiring day - being car-bound so much is not really my cup of tea… Tonight the wind is fiercely blowing again - I hope tomorrow we can manage a walk of sorts ‘cos otherwise I’m not doing much of what I had set out to do…
07- SUNDAY
Er… not much of a SUN-day… :-/
The day started pouring down in a fierce wind… a definite no-no for walking. Rosie and Renzo had a fry-up, but the weather eased up a bit in the afternoon, so Rosie and I decided to go out anyway and follow the path to Steal Falls - we reached the furthest point of the road in the car, then walked along the beautiful path to the waterfalls. A total of just 4km [2.5mi] altogether, but the trail is really beautiful and well marked. Upon reaching an opening in the glen, all water previously sheltered by the mountain face just broke loose and showered us completely! We got totally drenched! -I was wet to my underpants- but the views were well worth it!!!
Before returning to the hostel, we stopped for a quick lunch at the Ben Nevis Inn, just above Achintee, where I had a superb vegetarian haggis washed down by a pint of cider - an excellent end to this wet day. As soon as I set foot back to our room, I changed into something dry and put the kettle on.
08- MONDAY
COW HILL WALK [6.5km one way / 4mi]
This morning I took advantage of the SUN for the whole half hour that it shone, and headed to Fort William via Cow Hill. A beautiful walk through forest and hills - great views all around and a very nice path.
Once in Fort William, I met with my holiday mates at the train station, and we left in the car for Ardnamurchan Point lighthouse - a very nice scenic route throughout. We just caught a bit of rain on our way back, once all the sightseeing was done. :-)
Along the way, we had lunch in the only establishment open in the area, the Kilchoan Hotel, where I had a nice leek and potato soup and I shared an apple crumble with Rosie.
… And so this holiday draws to a close. I managed to do 4 out of the 6 walks I had planned, which, all considered, it’s not bad. I counted on a bit more independence, but with Pat’s sprained ankle it all worked out pretty fine. I really enjoyed my stay - shame that, when you start getting the hang of the place, it’s time to leave…
Before dinner we packed our bags, so we can leave nice and early for Aberdeen tomorrow morning, just after breakfast.
09- TUESDAY
The journey to the airport was pretty smooth, and when we got the car back, we managed to have the dent on the windscreen not counted for. At Rosie’s statement “I’m an engineer” and threatening a lawsuit for the dent was OUT of the driver’s line of vision and just about INSIDE the damage measurement circle, they let us off “just for this one time…” [as if we’d EVER rent from them again - first, we’ve been flogged a (crappy) car that was different from what we had booked, then they tried to charge us for a dent in the windscreen that was really tiny and barely visible…]. Anyway, it all went well. 
At the airport, a wheelchair service was arranged for all the flights up to Turin for our friend Pat, crutches-bound. For once I had a window seat on the plane - it’s nice to see the world from a new perspective, seeing the clouds from above always amazes me!
all the pictures here: http://bit.ly/2481BVr
No comments:
Post a Comment