Chapter 11 - Fort William and Day One on the Isle of Skye with Andy

Chapter 11 – Fort William and Day One on the Isle of Skye with Andy

Tuesday, September 27, 2022

We had a quick breakfast sandwich from Garnish, a little take-away breakfast and lunch spot around the corner from our Inverness apartment and walked to the bus station in a light drizzle. It’s about a 15-minute walk but seems longer pulling our luggage. The bus to Fort William was full and left about 11:04 am. We followed the same route we had taken with Andy along the Caledonian Canal and the Loch Ness to Fort Augustus. Along the way the bus cleared out as people got off at various stops, many at Urquhart Castle. It’s a very scenic ride but on a very curvy road made worse by a bumpy and swaying bus. The mountains were wreathed in mist (Photo 11 – 1).

From Fort Augustus we continued to follow the various waterways – the Caledonian Canal, Loch Oich, the Canal again, Loch Lochy, and the River Lochy to Fort William. This

area is known as the Great Glen, a 62-mile traveling route from Inverness to Fort William. It follows a geological fault and divides the Scottish Highlands into the Grampian Mountains to the southeast and the Northwest Highlands to the northwest.

The Grampian Mountains occupies almost half of the land area of Scotland and includes the Cairngorms and the Lochaber hills as well as many of the highest mountains in the British Isles. Ben Nevis is the highest point in the British Isles at 4,413 feet above sea level. Fort William, a town of around 10,000, is known as the gateway to Ben Nevis.

We arrived in Fort William about 1:15 pm and walked about 10 minutes to our accommodations. We are staying in the Guest House attached to the Parade House about a block from the downtown area (Photos 11 – 2 and 11 - 3). The Guest House is a nice-sized studio apartment and very comfortable. There is a lovely park is located just in front of the Parade House with several statues (Photo 11 – 4). If you look closely at the church behind Bruce in Photo 11 – 4 you can see a bagpiper near the door. There was a funeral going on and he was ready to play.

We walked through town center which is very tourist and hiker oriented. Everyone seemed to have on hiking boots and/or be carrying hiking poles except us. Fort William sits on the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland. Farther west are the Hebrides – a series of island which are divided into the Inner Hebrides (sixteen in all including the Isle of Skye) and the Outer Hebrides (five islands). Many of these are only accessible by boat.

Sarah continued to walk a bit longer and get some good pictures of the harbor (Photo 11 – 5) and St. Andrews Church (Photo 11 - 6).

We had dinner at the Stables Grill, a short walk from our apartment. Bruce had steak fajitas and Sarah had a hamburger with fries.

Wednesday, September 28, 2022

After a good night sleep, we walked to The Old Deli for

breakfast. We had pancakes on our mind but alas, they didn’t have pancakes (although the menu listed them). We both had eggs and toast with raspberry jam. As we were eating, we spied Andy walking by with a group of clients. Sarah ran out to say hello, and Andy popped in to say hi to Bruce.

After breakfast, we checked out the local hardware store which was the neatest we’ve ever seen. Bruce said it was because it was run by two women. We also stopped in Boots (local pharmacy) and Tesco (local grocery). We’ve found these useful stores within walking distance of every place we’ve stayed. On the way back we got a good picture of the park (Photo 11 – 7).

We spent a quiet morning and headed to the train station for our trip on the Jacobite Steam train over the Glenfinnan Viaduct to Mallaig (Photo 11 – 8). This is considered one of the most scenic rail journeys in the world. We stopped in Glenfinnan (population 169) for about 20 minutes where Sarah sampled Bailey’s ice cream (Photo 11 – 9). We sat across from two couples who have apparently traveled together for years. We commented to them about their “picnic” – sandwiches, fruit, drinks, desserts – and were told they used to do more elaborate picnics in the past. One couple was from near Edinburgh and the other from Cheshire. One gentleman had been to Nashville for a conference.

As we went across the viaduct, we saw people on both sides who had gathered just to watch the train cross the viaduct. Our neighbors commented it was all because of Harry Potter!

We spent a couple of hours in Mallaig before our return trip and had a late lunch at The Fishmarket. Bruce had mussels and Sarah had Cullen Skink. We found a cute little shop called Haggard Alley devoted to all things Harry Potter. You can see the sign “Muggles Welcome” (Photo 11 – 10).

It was difficult to get a great picture of the train going over the viaduct so this one is taken from the internet (Photo 11 – 11).

We arrived back at Fort William a little before 7:00 pm.

Thursday, September 29, 2022

We had breakfast at The Old Deli again – the only place really

that opened at 8:00 am. Sarah had eggs and toast again. Bruce had toast with avocado and tomato. We finished packing and Andy picked us up at 9:15 am.

The drive to the bridge to the Isle of Skye was gorgeous. If I could, I would have had Andy stop about every 15 minutes to get another spectacular picture. But we had places to go so we just soaked in the beauty. We stopped along the road at the Commando Memorial, a monument of three bronze commandos dressed in typical World War Two uniforms. They are on a small knoll and are looking south to Ben Nevis

(Photos 11 -12 and 11 – 13). The sign reads “In memory of the officers and men of the commandos who died in the Second World War 1939 – 1945. This country was their training ground.”

Just a few miles before reaching the bridge, we stopped at Eilean Donan Castle which sits on a small tidal island at the confluence of three sea lochs. It is connected to the mainland by a stone footbridge. The original castle was built in the thirteenth century but was destroyed in the seventeen hundreds. The current castle was reconstructed in the

twentieth century. It is a beautiful location and castle and is said to be one of the most photographed castles in Scotland (Photos 11 – 14 and 11 – 15).

We stopped for lunch at Hectors Bothy just before crossing the bridge to the Isle of Skye. Bruce and Sarah had fish and chips. Andy had the cheeseburger.

Andy played the Skye Boat Song, the theme song for Outlander, as we drove across the bridge – song by Bear McCreary. The chorus is:

Sing me a song of a lass that is gone
Say, could that lass be I?
Merry of soul, she sailed on a day
Over the sea to Skye

Skye is the largest island in the Inner Hebrides archipelago. It is very rugged and picturesque with tall mountains lost in the mist, frequent waterfalls, and small fishing villages. It has about 400 miles of coastline. We drove along multiple winding roads to the entrance for the Fairy Pools in the Black Cuillin mountains. Many tributaries of the River Brittle run

down from the mountains into a stream with multiple waterfalls (Photos 11 – 16 and 11 – 17). The water of the pools is crystal clear. It even enticed a couple of men we saw who stripped down to their boxers to take a quick dip. We were not so brave.

Andy dropped us off at our hotel in Portree, the Marmalade Hotel. We relaxed a bit and had dinner in the hotel restaurant, The Chargrill. Sarah had celery and apple soup with homemade bread. Bruce had grilled watermelon (yep, he really did) with sauteed mushrooms and onions, roasted potatoes, and heirloom tomatoes with pesto and goat’s cheese. We have final two days with Andy coming up but we'll save that for Chapter 12.