At breakfast, we met a New Zealand family. The grandparents live in Dunedin and their daughter and her family live in Singapore.
When we left the B&B at 10am, the sky was blue and the sun was shining and so when we reached Loch Ness, the lake was a delightful blue colour. We weren’t the only ones who had stopped at the “viewpoint” overlooking the lake because it was a great spot for photos.
The first planned stop was at Urquhart Castle which is located on a headland on Loch Ness. Once again, it is a ruin with a visitors centre run by Historic Scotland.
We watched a film giving background information about the castle and then we walked through the ruins. As you might expect, it had a spiral staircase made with stone but it wasn’t as tall as some of the other spiral staircases we’ve seen.
By the time we’d finished looking through the castle, the blue sky had been replaced by a cover of grey clouds.
From the castle, we continued south along the A82. We passed through a town called Fort Augustus and decided to stop because it looked attractive and seemed to be popular. In the centre of town, there was one bridge over the river and another bridge over a canal next to the river.
There was a lot of activity on the canal because several boats had just entered a lock (yes “lock” not “loch”). On closer inspection, there were a series of six or seven locks in a row. They refer to it as a staircase of locks - each of which raises the boats by 2.4m to reach the next loch.
On visiting the tourist information centre, we discovered that it was part of the Caledonian Canal built in the early 1800s to provide a navigation path from the sea through the lochs in the highlands. The locks reminded us of our canal trip a few years ago in southern France. These locks were bigger than the ones in France and seemed to be better organised.
We pressed on and stopped for lunch at Fort William – another town next to the loch. The main street was a typical shopping centre for the region with stone buildings and cobblestone roads. There were several pubs but we had lunch at the one and only coffee shop we could find.
Jo from the B&B at Inverness had suggested that we should drive along the A82 near Glen Coe. She said it was one of her favourite places because of the natural beauty. When we got there, we could see why.
The road runs through a green valley with huge hills on either side. The tops of the hills were shrouded in clouds and some hilltops seemed to still have some snow. It was worth the detour – although it might have been even better on a sunny day.
We arrived in Oban by 6pm. The B&B (Dunheanish Guest House) is perched on the hill overlooking the town. The owners helped cart our bags up the steep stairs to the house and up to our room on the first floor.
When we left the B&B at 10am, the sky was blue and the sun was shining and so when we reached Loch Ness, the lake was a delightful blue colour. We weren’t the only ones who had stopped at the “viewpoint” overlooking the lake because it was a great spot for photos.
The first planned stop was at Urquhart Castle which is located on a headland on Loch Ness. Once again, it is a ruin with a visitors centre run by Historic Scotland.
We watched a film giving background information about the castle and then we walked through the ruins. As you might expect, it had a spiral staircase made with stone but it wasn’t as tall as some of the other spiral staircases we’ve seen.
By the time we’d finished looking through the castle, the blue sky had been replaced by a cover of grey clouds.
From the castle, we continued south along the A82. We passed through a town called Fort Augustus and decided to stop because it looked attractive and seemed to be popular. In the centre of town, there was one bridge over the river and another bridge over a canal next to the river.
There was a lot of activity on the canal because several boats had just entered a lock (yes “lock” not “loch”). On closer inspection, there were a series of six or seven locks in a row. They refer to it as a staircase of locks - each of which raises the boats by 2.4m to reach the next loch.
On visiting the tourist information centre, we discovered that it was part of the Caledonian Canal built in the early 1800s to provide a navigation path from the sea through the lochs in the highlands. The locks reminded us of our canal trip a few years ago in southern France. These locks were bigger than the ones in France and seemed to be better organised.
We pressed on and stopped for lunch at Fort William – another town next to the loch. The main street was a typical shopping centre for the region with stone buildings and cobblestone roads. There were several pubs but we had lunch at the one and only coffee shop we could find.
Jo from the B&B at Inverness had suggested that we should drive along the A82 near Glen Coe. She said it was one of her favourite places because of the natural beauty. When we got there, we could see why.
The road runs through a green valley with huge hills on either side. The tops of the hills were shrouded in clouds and some hilltops seemed to still have some snow. It was worth the detour – although it might have been even better on a sunny day.
We arrived in Oban by 6pm. The B&B (Dunheanish Guest House) is perched on the hill overlooking the town. The owners helped cart our bags up the steep stairs to the house and up to our room on the first floor.
Our room has a spectacular view of the town and the harbour. The owners, William and Linda, say they acquired the house about 12 months ago. The B&B is well decorated and nicely restored.
For dinner, we walked down the hill to the town and found a nice restaurant for dinner. By this time, the rain had become heavier.
This B&B has WiFi internet access but we were unable to connect to it from our laptop. I tried taking the laptop downstairs but it still didn't work and we were still having problems with the USB modem.
Click here to see my photos for this day.
For dinner, we walked down the hill to the town and found a nice restaurant for dinner. By this time, the rain had become heavier.
This B&B has WiFi internet access but we were unable to connect to it from our laptop. I tried taking the laptop downstairs but it still didn't work and we were still having problems with the USB modem.
Click here to see my photos for this day.
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