Loch Ness, Ben Nevis and Mallaig

Loch Ness was beautiful and full of 'Nessie' memorabilia. We did discover the reason she may not have been seen for many years .... very sad!

The Loch Ness monster trophy!

The legend of the Loch Ness monster began in 1933 with a sighting of a large creature in the loch. The story is now very famous and many people travel from all over the world to try to see Nessie. All the shops, bars and cafes along Loch Ness have souvenirs of this much loved monster.

Did we see her ... well I think so, look closely at the water disturbance on the left of my photo..... by the way it's a stunning view isn't it

Loch Ness - looking from its southern edge towards Inverness

Here's a better picture in case you missed her!

We toured all the way round the loch which is 23 miles long. The main A road on the west side is greener with tall pine trees so the loch is not always visible, but travelling up the east side the views change. At a higher altitude we discovered a vast area of moorland hills, a very different but equally as stunning view.

High above Loch Ness

Beautiful drive through the moor

Leaving Drumnadrochit we travelled through Fort Augustus which is a small village at the southern point of Loch Ness, the first loch along the Great Glen, a natural fault in the earth almost splitting Scotland in half. Thomas Telford in the 18th century built the Caledonian Canal joining the lochs to enable boats to travel through this fault from the east to west coast saving many sailing hours as previously the only route was to sail around the top of Scotland. 

Fort Augutus is where the canal starts its journey south, no mean journey in such mountainous country. The flight of locks in the centre of the village shows just how clever Telford's idea was, it must have caused wonder when built.

The river Lossie as it leaves Loch Ness
at Fort Augustus 

Staircase lochs at Fort Augustus 

A large steam house boat travelled up the locks whilst
we were there .... it shows how big the transport boats
would have been, quite a sight

Of course Nessie was there to say
goodbye!

Our drive down the Great Glen weaved through lovely countryside glimpsing the water through the trees. The whole area is full of interest especially with the swing bridges for the road to cross the canal.

The second loch is Loch Oich, just off the modern road is an old bridge. In 1849 floods swept through the Great Glen beaching the canal and destroying the bridge. It took 5 years to rebuild. It's a cantilever bridge so does move slightly and has a weight limit of 50 people.

Bridge of Oich

Just before Fort William is Neptune's Staircase built by Thomas Telford between 1803 and 1822. It's a staircase lock comprising of 8 locks each 180 feet long. It takes a boat 90 minutes to pass through changing altitude by 64 feet. At the southern end of the blocks boats have to then pass through a road and a rail swing bridge.

Road bridge opening

Road bridge closed 

Ben Nevis stands tall above Fort William, the tallest mountain in the UK at 1345 metres above sea level. Although in cloud on the day we arrived it still looked amazing.

Ben Nevis 

Glen Nevis winds it's way around the mountain and you can drive some of the way up this valley all be it on very narrow roads with passing places. Superb scenery including a fast flowing waterfall.

As part of our stay in Fort William we decided to take a road trip to Mallaig on the Scottish coast,  a trip there and back as the only other destination is the Isle of Skye by ferry. This is also the route of the Jacobite Steam train, very popular with tourists especially as it crosses the Glenfinnan viaduct, famously used in the Harry Potter films. We only caught a glimpse of it as the small carparks were full but we did see many other superb bridges on the way.

The scenery on the coast was amazing, turquoise blue water, white sandy beaches, huge islands rising out of the sea. The weather was very mixed but we avoided any rain, it actually added to the spectacular landscape.

One of the many viaducts on the way 

The Island of Eigg

The island of Rùm

Clear blue waters

Video from west to east looking over the Isle of Skye
the change in weather is quite dramatic

Scotland has such varied scenery, changeable within a few miles and certainly changeable with the weather. Our journey to Mallaig was filled with beautiful views, none more amazing than Ben Nevis in the sun on our return to Fort William.

Ben Nevis