June 30, 2018 — Stage 10: South Laggan to Fort Augustus [Invermoriston] (22 km—25 deg. C)

The trail was misty when we left Forest Grove Guesthouse and headed toward Fort Augustus along the Caledonian Canal.   Thirty minutes after joining the trail, we passed the Well of Seven Heads (on the other side of narrow Loch Oich).  The gruesome title belies a gruesome tale that is intertwined with the MacDonald's history (see a description at the end of this entry).  The level trail along the canal gave way to a level trail along the line of the old railway from Spean Bridge to Fort Augustus.  The construction of the line began in 1896 but was never finished and now provides a level grade for walking.

The cool morning air and a flat trail should have given us a quick pace but Laurel's feet were sore and changing shoes was not fixing the problem.   After a couple of hours the mist lifted and clear blue skies and bright sunshine framed our views of swing bridges, lochs and locks.  

Fort Augustus was buzzing with activity—boats navigating the 5 locks and tourists jostling to get the perfect picture or best table for a cup of tea.  We popped in at a bakery to get directions to the pharmacy (to buy some orthotics for Laurel' shoes) but stayed for the tea, espresso, and carrot cake.  The pharmacy had a number of options and we purchased a few of them. We explored the town to see how Laurel's feet would react to the shoe inserts.  Bagpipes, cricket, tartan shops, and fish and chips filled our Scottish BINGO CARDS and so we caught an afternoon bus to Invermoriston, the neighbouring village and our home for the evening.

Invermoriston is a tidy small village on the Moriston River, which boasts two beautiful old stone bridges and a waterfall.  After a walk around town and a shower, we went for a tasty supper at the Glenmoriston Hotel Pub, then retreated to the Bracarina House B&B for an early evening.

Well of The Seven Heads 

South of Invergarry along the west shore of Loch Oich sits an obelisk to mark the location of a well and portrays its story.  It's a carving of a hand holding a dagger and seven severed heads, and commemorates an incident which took place in September 1663. The accounts of this event are many and varied. Alasdair and Ranald MacDonald of Keppoch were murdered by their uncle, Alasdair Buidhe of Inverlair, 'apparently to no great grief in the district'. On learning this, Ian Lom, the Keppoch Bard, borrowed 50 men from MacDonald of Sleat in order to bring the murderers to justice. On arriving at Inverlair and, finding the house barricaded, they set it on fire, forcing out the seven men inside who they then killed. Their heads were severed and washed in the well before being presented to the Chief of Glengarry. However, it is not known whether any of these seven were involved in the murders. The remains of seven bodies were later discovered in a mound nearby.

June 29, 2018 — Stage 9: Gairlochy (Spean Bridge) to South Laggan (26 km—25 deg. C)

Haggis for breakfast is actually very tasty! After a gourmet meal, our B&B host drove us and some other guests from their location in the small town of Spean Bridge back to rejoin our trail at Gairlochy Locks. Shortly thereafter, pretty Loch Lochy was to our right and our route followed its shore. Unlike the shoreline of Loch Lomond, this one was (thankfully) not rocky; rather, our path was smooth, shady, and tempered by a cool breeze. Our pace was our quickest yet, at 5 km/ hour for the first three hours (haggis — the breakfast of champions?!) After that, Laurel's feet were tiring and we slowed down until we reached "The Eagle Barge" at Laggan Locks — here we gratefully stopped for a drink and a bowl of soup in the unique floating bar (a converted old Dutch barge). Re-energized, we continued on down the trail, through shady woods three kms to our B&B for tonight.

June 28, 2018–Stage 8: Fort William to Spean Bridge (24.3km—31 deg. C)

Today we began the first leg of the Great Glen Way, a 130 km walk from Fort William to Inverness.  Elevation is no longer an issue as most of this trek follows canals or Loch shorelines, however heat is becoming a problem as temperature keep rising towards the thirties.

We hit the trail at 7:45 and made a good pace over the flat hard packed surface.  The path quickly left the urban trailhead and followed a green corridor along the shore of Loch Linnhe passing parks, fields and a Shinty pitch (field hockey—rugby hybrid game).  After an hour we made a wrong turn and walked under a railway bridge to discover the wonderful ruins of Interlochy Castle.  This 13th century fortification has stood up well and provided us with a welcomed detour.

Two hours into our walk we arrived at Neptune's Staircase, a series of 8 locks that connect the Caledonian Canal to Loch Linnhe, just in time to see both the train and car swing bridges open for passing sailboats and then locks lift the boats.  The sun was brutal so we did not wait around and headed down the trail that now followed the Caledonian Canal.  We reached Gairlochy by 12:30 and began a detour down the road towards our accommodation in Spean Bridge 5km away.  The heat was unbearable, so we found a cool, shady spot along the Spean River and had a siesta for an hour.  

Back on the road the heat was worse; the rest and hydration did not seem to matter.  We had just decided to push on towards a caravan park, when a car stopped and offered us a ride to our destination.  We gladly accepted and finished up the journey in air conditioned comfort!

A shower and a second siesta revived us enough to walk downtown and buy a picnic supper from the local shop. We finished up the evening watching England lose to Belgium in World Cup Soccer.

June 26 (train ride) and June 27, 2018 — Rest Day in Fort William (27 & 29 deg. C)

Having walked for the past several days, riding on the Jacobite Steam Train was a nice change in mode of travel.  The train was full of people of all ages and nationalities; we were seated with a couple from London.  The kids on board were especially excited about the Harry Potter aspect.  The train chugged along, sending bits of cinder in through the open windows, as we crossed the Caledonian Canal and then travelled through pretty countryside.  Soon, we approached the Glenfinnan Aqueduct and everyone rushed to one side of the car to see it and take pictures.  On we rode, past beautiful lochs and mountains, until to the West, we saw the silhouettes of islands of the Inner Hebrides.  The end of the line is the picturesque port town of Mallaig, where we stopped for two hours to wander about, watch fishing boats unload their catch at the harbour, and eat supper (fish and chips, of course!)  On the return trip back to Fort William, we were fortunate to see two deer grazing not far from the tracks. We walked from the station back to Myrtlebank Guesthouse and toasted our completion of the West Highland Way.  We felt good and it reminded us of completing the Camino de Santiago with Betty.

We awoke on June 27 realizing that we did not have to hike anywhere today if we didn't want to.  Back in Canada, when we planned this trek, we thought we would like to climb Ben Nevis on our rest day. But as we lay in bed drinking our first cups of coffee and looking out over the glassy Loch Linnhe, we both knew that was not going to happen.  I think we knew it yesterday when we stopped at the Ben Nevis trailhead for a cold drink and saw the hikers returning from their sweaty trek up and down the treeless mountain in the blazing sun.

Today would be a day for laundry, exploring, shopping, reading, and picnics in The Parade (Fort William's Central Park).  Even so we still managed to clock more than 14 kms.

June 26, 2018–Stage 7: Kinlochleven to Fort William 24 km—27 deg.C

Woo hoo!  Today we completed the West Highland Way—over 150 kms and only one blister!

We decided to hit the trail extra early at 5:45 am, in order to ensure that we would arrive in Fort William in time to catch the Jacobite Steam Train at 2:30 pm (this meant that we had to forego our nice hot Scottish breakfast, but we did manage to grab cold cereal on the way out, at least).  Initially, the going was slower, due to a steep up-hill grade for the first two kms, but then thankfully the path levelled off.  The early morning light was gorgeous, and the air was fresh and invigorating; the trail belonged exclusively to us and the occasional sheep. At mid-morning, we came to a ruined stone farmhouse, where we stopped to eat some snacks.  Who had lived there and what had their lives been like in such a picturesque but secluded setting?

Further along, we walked through a forest of tree stumps and then came to a cairn of stones with a historical description beside it.  This is "Clach nan Caimbeulach," or "Stone of the Campbells," where the MacDonalds broke off their pursuit of the fleeing Campbells after the Battle of Inverlochy in 1645.  The MacDonalds raised a large stone there to mark the spot, which was later replaced by the cairn we see up until this day.  Tradition has it that MacDonalds and their sympathisers should add a stone as they pass (Laurel did!), whereas Campbells (and their sympathisers) should take one away.  Clearly, there are more MacDonald supporters, as the cairn is quite large!

We continued on as Ben Nevis came into view.  Our map showed more forests, yet alas, they had been cut down, so no shade for us as the sun heated up. After a couple hours of tough hot hiking, we made it to the trees and found a shady spot beside Dun Deardail, a fort built 2,000 years ago—a grassy hilltop today.

Steep forestry roads took us down towards Fort William until we found a path that brought us to the Ben Nevis trailhead and interpretative centre. From there we rushed to the Myrtlebank Guesthouse, showered, and made a beeline to the railway station to catch the Jacobite Steam Train. (aka Hogwarts Express).  As we passed the trail end, we asked another hiker to take our picture and prove that we made it!

June 25, 2018 — Glencoe to Kingshouse to Kinlochleven 11km—23 deg. C

Short trek today, so short synopsis . . .

After a delicious breakfast (kippers), the taxi driver picked us up at our B&B along with a Norwegian couple who were also staying there and we were treated once again to the spectacular scenery of Glen Coe, as we were transported back up the valley to near where we had left off hiking yesterday.  The sky was blue, the valley and mountainsides lush and green, and the sun shone brilliantly — all promising signs for a great day's hike.

Our route began with the climb up the "Devil's Staircase," a stone and gravel path switchbacking back and forth up the first hillside.  It was, indeed, devilish but not as hellish as we had feared.  The view from the top showed us mountains, moors, and valleys for miles around, with nary a town, farm, or sign of civilization to be seen.  From there, our path continued along a treeless ridge and then more gradually up and down until we reached a lower and shadier part of the valley, which led us to Kinlochleven, our destination for the night.  When we checked in to Allt Na Leven Guest House, our hostess looked at Jim and said, "there's something you don't see often in Scotland—a sunburn"!  Sunscreen tomorrow!

Siesta and then a tour of the town which included the local Co-op store, Grey Mare Waterfalls, rock climbing school and then off to supper with the Norwegian hikers.

June 24, 2018–Stage 5: Bridge of Orchy to Kingshouse 19km—16 deg.C

We awoke in Tyndrum, where our landlady fixed us a delicious breakfast of smoked salmon and scrambled eggs.  Today's stage was supposed to be 30km of hiking but we decided to catch a taxi to Bridge of Orchy and save 11km.  This shortened stage would help ensure that we'd finish up in time to meet a prearranged ride to Glencoe (location of our night's accommodation).

The walk from Bridge of Orchy was a moderate grade up to the top of a ridge that we followed for an hour under sunny skies and then descended to the Inveroran Hotel.  From there, and for the rest of the day's trek, we followed an ancient drover road (cattle-driving road) that was later cobbled, in 1803, for military and commercial use.  The grade gently guided us along a valley and across a wide moor. We both felt great and made good time, arriving nearly 3 hours before our ride (I guess we could have walked to Bridge of Orchy, after all!)

The beautiful blue skies displayed the Scottish Highlands at their best and we both snapped many photos, but I'm not sure they do reality justice.  

Our trip into Glencoe (17km) was necessitated by the recent closure of the Kingshouse Hostel, up at the top of the glen, where we had originally been booked. We were feeling disappointed about not being able to stay at Kingshouse and, therefore, we were not looking forward to the drive into Glencoe.  As it turned out, the trip was a silver lining as the Glencoe Valley is truly spectacular—one of the most scenic drives we have ever experienced!