Blogs from Fort William, Inverness-shire, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe

Sitting in a campground overlooking the Firth of Forth is an inspirational setting for writing Blog #4. We spent almost a full day driving through the North York National Moor Park and enjoying the rolling and barren landscape, so different from what we've experienced in England and now in Scotland. Daily showers keep everything green and lush. Rather than tour Durham, we headed straight for Stirling, Scotland, where we were assured our MH issues could be diagnosed and cured. While under the care of George of M-Line, we had a loaner ITCHY FEET SERVICE TRUCK at our disposal and boogied up to the Stirling Castle for a thorough tour of the most critically placed stronghold in Scotland. The Scottish/English history of control of Scotland over the centuries depended on which army held control of this castle ... read more

Had made a reservation in the restaurant of the Alexandra Hotel where I stayed a few years ago. First I took half pint Foster for the waiter saaid they don t have bad scottish beer and Foster, Australian, brewed in Glasgow, is the best. probably he means the margin. The glas was special with the text Half Pint CE MO9. This means that one of the certifying companies started to make standards for beerglasses. Certainly a good business for a thing you don t have to do. Than I ordered an Ovenbaked pie case with char grilled fillet stonaway black pudding & marmelade with mashed potato cake. I dont know what s inside the Black Pudding and perhaps better keep it that way. Food was not bad and there was life music An old couple, really ... read more

Oban So we set off from Glasgow to Fort William, via Oban on the west coast. The road isn't exactly straight to Oban from Glasgow, and it took us winding around the countryside following the coastline for most of it. Along the way we found a church - a very old church (the name of which has escaped us - bad tourists!) - which we were able to walk in and check out its great architecture. It appeared to still be in regular use, though with stone floors and walls, it would be a pretty cold service and this is summer... I hope it still gets a hearty attendance during the winter months! :S Before getting into Oban, there was a castle ruin on a peninsula which we also went to investigate (when in Scotland...). It ... read more

Well, the tallest mountain in the UK is deserving of it's title. Having not climbed Snowdon or 'The Pike' as the pros call it, I had no idea what to expect from Ben Nevis. Always wanting a challenge and seeing it as valuable training for peaks 'to be climbed' in the near future we planned out trip with a three day window to allow for bad weather. We booked into the dorm rooms of the local Glen Nevis youth hostel which is placed very close to the start of the 'tourist trail'. The proximity to the path is pretty much all that can be said for the Glen Nevis Youth Hostel, in all other respects it is a bog standard youth hostel and having not stayed in one for some years, it was an interesting reminder.... ... read more