When we wake up, it’s raining but Ann-Marie, our host at Burnbank, reassures us that the weather will improve once we leave Fort William. She is, of course, right. We leave Fort William and Burnbank with heavy hearts as we’ve really enjoyed our stay and, in any case, are both feeling homesick.
There are two different starts to the Cape Wrath trail, and we have chosen to take the Great Glen route as it is the most direct. The Great Glen, also known as Glen Albym or Glen More, is the valley formed by a fault line that runs north east from the head of Loch Linnhe at Fort William to Inverness on the edge of the Moray Firth. It consists of Loch Lochy, Loch Oich and Loch Ness linked throughout by the Caledonian canal. Needless to say, the canal was built by the indomitable Thomas Telford.
The Great Glen Way officially starts at the old Fort. It then passes to the station via a 1970s underpass and on through Morrisons car park! It then passes the underwater centre, past the ruined Inverlochy Castle, to reach the suburb of Caol. Once you have passed through Caol, you reach the canal and Neptune’s Staircase, Scotland’s longest staircase lock built (obviously) by Thomas Telford. We walk past this then follow the canal.
There are several ravens, swallows, goldfinches, a mallard and a heron along the way but, even so, it is not the most interesting walk. In addition, the wind is north easterly and increasingly brisk. This wind persists all day. We have a break at Moy Bridge then arrive at Gairlochy. This was our original planned stop, but there was no available accommodation, so we continue along the shores of Loch Lochy, Scotland’s third deepest Loch with a mean depth of 70 metres (230 feet). Loch Ness and Loch Morar are both deeper.
We continue beside the loch, having lunch on a shingle beach with a view of the Ben Nevis range. Until recently, Ben Nevis had almost permanent summit snow fields, but these have now melted. There are forestry works by the path and then a diversion as a new hydroelectric plant is being constructed here. At last, we come to the head of the loch and Laggan Locks.
It’s a mile or so further on to the Great Glen Hostel, where we are staying. It’s cheap and basic, but clean, has wonderful showers and freshly cooked burger and chips for dinner. It’s just what we needed.
Total distance so far: 696 miles
PS wild camping tomorrow, so don’t know if I can blog