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Published: July 28th 2022
Tuesday, 19 July 2022, Day 3 Great Glen Way, Glengarry Castle Hotel to Loch Ness Guest House, Fort Augustus. 9.55 miles 560 elevation gain. 4 hours walking
Today is a beautiful sunny clear day. We have breakfast in the Hotel and then start our walk about 0935. Since it promises to be a good day with not much elevation gain and a much shorter distance we are all walking. From the hotel we walked into the village of Invergarry, past the hotel and then climbed on a trail through the forest to a path that paralleled the west and south side of Loch Oich. Again the main route of the GGW is on the other side of Loch Oich.
At the Bridge of Oich we crossed over the River Oich and join the main GGW track. We got some photos of the old iron cable foot bridge named Bridge of Oich. From here we are on the Caledonian Canal alternately walking on one bank or the other for various distances. At the bridge there is also a lock. Our elevation gain for the day was now over. We are alongside the river and the canal. Four guys with canoes
Jo, Sandy and Norma charge ahead
while Karen and I lag farther behindwere portaging around each lock. They are progressing at about the same rate as we are walking. We are walking in the open sunshine and it is getting quite warm at over 85 degrees.
I talked with a couple on one of the boats going through the locks at Fort Augustus. They pay 250 GBP for a month of usage of the canal. This covers all the locks.
There are five or six locks here at Ft Augustus. Loch Oich is the highest point on the canal. So the water from it goes both ways for the canal.
We have a rest day in Fort Augustus on Wednesday the 20th of July.
There are a few restaurants that have tables beside the locks to watch the boats coming up to the canal from Loch Ness. The only grocery and general store other than souvenir shops is the Londis which has the post office and pharmacy for the area.
I explore the paths around town and follow the river down to the shore of Loch Ness. A momma duck with several little ones is also having a morning walk. I return and pick up Karen to
walk to the Pepperpot lighthouse. The Caledonian Canal Pepperpot marks the entrance to the canal from South Loch Ness. We visit the Boathouse Cafe and have a mocha.
Our walk continues to the Highland Club hotel and resort. This used to be a Benedictine Abbey and is a mix of beautiful old stone and ugly, unimaginative new construction for the new rooms and flats here. We visited the old cemetery for the monks and other deceased individuals who were part of this place until it was closed in 1998.
The Caledonian Canal runs northeast/southwest so we refer to the sides as south or west and north or east. European Waterways has cruises as do some other companies. We also see some LeBoat from the leboat.co.uk which we also saw on the Thames Path walk.
Silvertoes notes: Full Complement Walking — Midges and the wet forest — Loch Ness Guest House
All five of us leave the castle hotel using the farm road. Retracing our steps from the day before, we cross the bridge and past by the Invergarry Hotel where the kindly lady had given us such good advice the day before. Up a narrow, fairly
steep path we navigate.
It is a day of few people and trees and more trees. For the first time the midges are out in full force. We are fine if we keep moving. However, I am getting a ‘hot spot’ on one heel and we decide it is best to put a Compeed blister patch on the spot. We find a wet log to sit on. Now we started lifting off poncho, undoing boot laces, and taking off socks to get access to the hot spot. We immediately, after being attacked by midges, decide to first, stop, rip open a packet of high power insect repellent wipes and apply before proceeding. We are in a wet, wet otherworldly atmosphere; think Hobbit land.
The Loch Ness Guest House in Fort Augustus is a little different from previous lodgings. There is the usual sideboard of cold cereal, milk, juice. Here is also located the toaster and fresh fruit. The first morning there are slices of cheese and cold cut ham. There is no mention of a hot meal. We have finished our pale imitation of a Continental English Breakfast when I see passing by me a hot stuffed roll.
The second morning there is no cheese or ham; Harlan asks why it is on the table the first morning but not on the second day. The lady supplying the table acts surprised and says, “Oh, you should have asked for it!” However, there is a real plus and that is we have access to the kitchen, refrigerator, dishes etc. The first evening we have very good tostadas that we bring back to the kitchen and warm up for lunch the next day.
Our second evening meal is at the Bothy Restaurant and Bar. Bothy is a new word for us. It refers to rough, basic shelters found in rough, mountainous areas of Scotland, Wales and northern England. It is usually left unlocked and anyone can use it free of charge. Some bothys are quite basic and others have been decorated by walkers and campers.
We visit the Caledonian Canal Centre that, in a very small space, gives an excellent history of the town and canal. Kilcumein was renamed by General Wade in 1729. He established the fort as a center of his network of military roads that he constructed. The new name honored Prince William Augustus, Duke
of Cumberland. A young, celebrated military leader, he would later command the Goverment forces that defeated the Jacobites at Culloden in 1746. Cumberland’s tactics in defeating and wiping out the Jacobite followers in the highlands was so brutal he became known as ‘Butcher Cumberland.’ Today, many would use the word, ’genocide,’ in describing his desire to wipe out any Jacobite supporting clan or any of their sympathizers.
We have found a shortcut from the canal street up to our lodging. It is like the old-fashion alley from my childhood days, only this is just a footpath. We walk along, viewing the minuscule spaces behind each little house, and marveling at how some demonstrate the belief, “the more flowers of different varieties and colors—the better!” We pass the big, red door that opens onto the spacious backyard of the beautiful, little Church of Scotland and its manse.
Time for some sleep as tomorrow is another walking day.
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