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Published: April 14th 2010
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The weather gods were really in a good mood as we headed towards Fort William and Ben Nevis. There was hardly a cloud in the sky and the deep blue lochs looked like flat mirrors in the morning light. What a day - we could hardly believe our luck!
We bypassed the haphazardly built town of Fort William and headed into the Valley of Glen Nevis. Stopping to check the weather forecast at the Ben Nevis visitor information centre, we were just in time to hear about conditions at the top of the mountain over the past few days. Even though the forecast and visibility was beautiful, we knew that Scotland’s highest mountain would have to wait for another visit - it was completely covered in snow and ice and totally off limits without crampons and a guide. We both had our hearts set on the Nevis Glen walk which the ranger assured us would be a bit icy but stunningly beautiful in today’s conditions.
With Brian-not-sexy-but-good being over the three ton weight limit, we couldn’t risk driving over the two wooden bridges on the Nevis Glen road so we parked him in a forestry car park and walked
about three kilometres up the valley. The track follows a river and then the road until you reach a car park from where the walk properly begins. Even if your car is less than three tons, we found it worth the extra walk as the valley is beautiful and we didn’t pass a single person on this part of the walk.
Once on the main path, you follow an icy track up through a river gorge that narrows next to some smooth rock formations that have been carved by the flowing river. After a few kilometres the track turns a corner and opens up on a stunningly beautiful valley flanked by high snow covered mountains. Down one side, the third highest waterfall in Scotland plummets down into the river. The path continues on for miles and miles so it was tempting to just keep walking but we finally managed to tear ourselves away and head back down the valley where Brian was parked.
For prettiness factor, this walk definitely sits up in our top ten short walk list. Unfortunately the photos just don’t do it justice at all but I have tried!
Our drive on from Nevis
Glen took us out on a beautiful route towards the bridge linking the mainland to the Isle of Skye. This was a stunning drive through some fantastic scenery. At one stage we drove alongside a dam that had the most amazing reflections of the mountains above. Scotland is turning out to be a bit of a photographers paradise - they certainly make it easy with loads of parking space next to the best photo stops.
Once we made it to the Isle of Skye, it became clear why it’s also known as the Isle of Mist. The clouds had descended and that’s where they generally stayed for most of our visit. On the first night we actually free camped in a camp ground that hadn’t yet opened. I’m not sure why they hadn’t opened the site yet, because they would have made a lot of money judging by the numbers of vans and tents that sprang up during the evening!
Making the most of the dry weather, we joined the thongs on the walk up to see ‘The Old Man of Storr’ which is a crazy rock formation on the side of the hill. The drive around Tottinish
Penninusular felt a little bit like being on a amusement ride with all the cars full of tourists driving in the same direction and stopping at the same sights such as a couple of waterfalls and coastal viewpoints.
We had heard such good things about Skye but I have to admit that we felt a bit disappointed in it. I’m sure the weather probably played a bit part in and the fact that we had seen so many beautiful places on the mainland. I guess to really appreciate Skye you need to be up hiking the mountains - something that wouldn’t have been much fun in such low cloud anyway. So with the promise of good conditions further North, we decided to pack up and head up to the Wester Ross area.
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