Wigtwizzle - Norman Smith's Travel Blog.: fort william

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Homeward Bound

Time to head back down again. As usual I first went down Glen Nevis and for my endeavour, got a very nice cloud clearance,especially at the head of the glen.

I also stopped on the edge of Rannoch Moor and took a couple of photos looking back towards The Three Sisters of Glencoe. Unfortunately I had to make do with roadside compositions as the ground was very wet and I only had trainers on.

This was my last visit until I go up to Gairloch with Sal in September. I would have liked it to have been a bit longer and maybe include a visit to The Isle Of Skye but the following week I was due to start my course of radiotherapy. Hopefully the after effects of my treatment won't affect that trip.

The highlight of my break was, without doubt my first introduction to Glen Orchy and I can't wait to go back there.

Low cloud, Glen Nevis

River Nevis

Lagangarbh, Glen Nevis

Alltnafeadh, Glen Nevis

River Nevis

Woodland Path

Glen Coe

Early Morning visit to Glen Nevis and The Nevis Gorge

I paid an early morning final visit to Glen Nevis before heading back to Cumbria. The light was amazing and it was so calm. I drove up to the parking area for The Nevis Gorge and had a short walk from there. I didn't completely go through the gorge as I only had trainers on and the ground was quite rocky but what I walked, I enjoyed. There was some lovely waterfalls lower down from the car park which just cried out to be photographed.

I eventually dragged myself away and set off back. On the way down I called in at The Glencoe Visitor Centre for a coffee and a bit of lunch and also stopped off at Loch Lubhair where I took some photos of the amazing reflections in the still loch.

I'd had a great few days away but the journey back was marred by the worry of what lay in store on my return. As it turned out the tests on my prostate had come out positive but on a positive note, the cancer hadn't spread to any onther parts of my body.

Writing this blog two months after the diagnosis, I am now having hormone therepy which I will have for the next three years, plus I will be going through a course of radiotherepy sometime over the coming months. The side effects of the therepy have knocked me for six a bit. I get tired so easy and have lost a lot of muscle power but apart from that, I don't feel poorly in anyway, shape or form.

My side effects do seem to be slowly easing and I have been on a few walks in the past week so there are positive signs. I have also been on a two week holiday to Somerset which I will blog later and also been up to my caravan in The Lakes where I have recieved incredible support from my friends. So I'm feeling pretty positive and will hopefully be blogging for many years to come.

Glen Nevis

Lower Falls

Nevis Gorge

Waterfall, Nevis Gorge

Loch Lobhair

Loch Lochy, Eas Chia-aig and The Mile Dorcha

What a day of two halves. A morning spent watching the cloud breaking over Loch Lochy, revealing the Nevis Range in its full glory, plus a visit to Eas Chia-aig waterfall and The Mile Dorcha near Loch Arkaig and then a frustrating afternoon trying to visit the beautiful Silver Sands of Morar and Arisaig.

When I left the hotel, Loch Linnhe and Fort William were shrouded in mist, but the forecast was good, so I revisited an old favourite, Eas Chia-aig near Loch Arkaig. The two lower falls of Eas Chia-aig can be viewed quite easily from the roadside, but for the more adventurous, a path climbs up through the forest to the upper falls. There wasn't too much water coming down, so I just took the easy option, parking up and walking along the road to see the lower falls.

I had an unexpected political rant with a young couple parked up in an old VW camper van, regarding the state of the country and the shower who are trying to govern it. I would hasten to add that we were all on the same side, but it felt good, albeit quite surreal, getting things off one's chest in the middle of nowhere whilst being surrounded by such beautiful scenery. You would have though politics would have been the last thing on our minds, but I think it was me asking them if they lived in their camper van permanently or were just holidaying which started it all off, as this led to the homelessness issue and progressed to the current situation in general.

After viewing the waterfall, I walked back along the road to the Mile Dorcha, or Dark Mile. This is a deeply wooded section of road in the steep-sided valley, flanked by walls and trees carrying an incredible thickness of moss. Obviously, the place sees very little sunshine and is consequently very damp, which allows the moss to take over. This area's other claim to fame is as the alleged hiding place of a consignment of gold landed by the French at Arisaig for the Jacobites in 1746. It was reportedly hidden somewhere near Loch Arkaig, but the hiding place, it is said, has never been found.

By now the sun had burnt the clouds off, so I got some fabulous photos of Loch Lochy, looking across to The Ben Nevis range of hills.

The afternoon was spent on a fruitless drive along The Road To The Isles, which runs from Fort William to Mallaig. I had wanted to visit the coastal sands which are normally very peaceful and beautiful, but I think that this year, due to the travel restrictions, everyone has flocked to the area so it was absolute chaos. The one narrow coastal road was gridlocked at one point due to inconsiderate parking.

I eventually managed to squeeze through but couldn't stop, so I headed back towards Fort William, having a short drive along the Ardnamurchan road to a small village called Glenuig where I called for a pint and sat in the beer garden adjacent to Loch Ailort.

It was a complete contrast to the earlier shenanigans, so for the foreseeable future, I think I'll leave the Morar coastline for out of season visits.