Saturday 10 August – Loch Ness to Glencoe
Loch Ness … the mystery …
The house was like stepping back in time, comfy four poster bed, bathroom with everything you need, including (the softest towels ever) a two seater couch in the room and a view of the mountains really relaxing, being so close to nature we didn’t turn on the TV and feel asleep. After the late arrival the night before, the breakfast spread that they had put on was fantastic. It was all in our room so we didn’t have to leave. We had tea, coffee, croissants, fruit scones, yoghurt, juice etc. Great way to start the day.
I took the Mozzie (drone) down to the bottom of the road so I could get some footage and photos of the area. It was secluded so there was no other houses or people nearby and I got some video ‘driving’ up the driveway.
We left the accommodation and headed to the Loch Ness Experience Centre. We had driven down Loch Ness quite a distance the night earlier and passed the centre and knew it was only about 5 minutes up the road. We arrived early-ish, around 10:15 – too early for a lot of people travelling from Inverness etc. This gave us plenty of space and time to have a look around. Especially in the Nessie shop – Gift shops my favourite pastime.
We then continued on our journey, pulling over in one of the many layby’s (parking spots on side of the road) to see how the drone went. It only picked up 7 satellites when it needs 8 to have a good connection. Therefore it only let me go up a few metres. We would try again later. But there was lots of power lines along most of the road so we didn’t worry about it.
The next major point of interest was Fort Augustus. We saw some people on the left hand side of the road in the town and thought it wasn’t too bad and that we might stop and have a look around. But then we saw the right – there were lots of people and no parking spots, so we forged on – next stop Fort William!
Fort William is a charming little town. Walking along the Main Street we came across a tavern to have some lunch. Both of us had fish and chips and they were fantastic. After lunch we made our way to Glenfinnan Viaduct to see if we could take any photos. Again, it was so busy and you need to walk a mile just to get a car park. Not for us, not today anyway. I read a few days later on Facebook about somebody who was able to fly their drone nearby – from somebody’s “estate” – it cost them 10 pounds (about $17) for the privilege. Will have to remember that one for next time.
We passed through Fort William on the way to Glencoe. Our accommodation was just outside of Glencoe at an area called Ballachulish. Wow – what a nightmare in finding the place. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and it was in fact really easy in the end!
The instructions said that they had a red phone box at the end of their driveway and it was next door to another B&B (called OBan B&B) and there is a layby there out the front (about a mile away from the Ballachulish pub). Easy enough. We came across a red post box (mistake 1) and turned left and into the layby. Ros asked if the B&B was called Oban I said yes I think so (mistake 2) and we turned. It wasn’t a driveway, but it was a road. 3rd hint that we were not in the right spot. We did try to ring the owners, per instructions, to let them know we had arrived but there was no answer. We drove up the road, not realising that we were horribly lost. Lots and lots of places went by until I asked what the place looked like. The photos showed views of the water – these places didn’t look like it and Ros said we are not close to the water. We went up one final hill in the road and I decided to turn around in someone’s driveway – well, reverse.
This is where things got worse, much worse! I was reversing, using the camera on the back of the car but didn’t notice the rocks so close to the car. By the time I did it was too late, the car was stuck! Really stuck! Really really stuck! I tried to drive forward, but the tyres wouldn’t grip on the winter grass. I couldn’t reverse because the back wheel was wedged against a rock. Oh shit! What else could I do … Ros wasn’t much help because she was laughing too much. I decided to move the rocks, that’s what! They were heavy bastards too and not easy to move by yourself. Ros was laughing uncontrollably at this point, and being helpful by taking photos. But it worked, I moved the two rocks out of the way and continued reversing. Then I had to put the rocks back where I got them. Rolling them up a bit of an incline is even harder!
We then drove back down to the main road. Ros asked me if I was sure that building on the opposite side of the road that I had said earlier was the B&B OBan in fact, I said nope. We drove up the road another km or so and came across an area with 4 houses and RED PHONE box at the bottom plus a layby and it had a driveway not a road. This had to be the place (the previous red thing we saw was actually a post box, whoops!).
We waited a while for the people to arrive, but when they did we were glad. The place they showed us into was stunning. The building was split into two and we had the bottom all to ourselves. It was relatively new – built in July 2018 – and everything you needed was there. We went to the local shop to get some stuff for dinner rather than going out.
On the way there we went down a side road to take some photos of the loch. Another beautiful place. On the way there we came across this lady on a mobility scooter, on a blind corner. She was coming towards us on our side of the road. That wasn’t the scary part – the scary part was that she had a fly swat and was trying to use it on the car. We let her pass and continued on our way. Ros and I pissed ourselves laughing as we were getting abused by a lady trying to hit us with a fly swat…. it was one of those “you had to be there moments”.
For dinner we had some Prosecco beforehand just watching the water view, followed up by dinner of lamb chop and veggies. A great dinner.
After dinner I went down to the walking track and over to the edge of the loch to get some photos of the sunset. Ros joined me after a short while and we stayed for about 30 minutes before the midges got too bad. One of them bit Ros in the eye and that was the end of it, we got back to the house and the midgy was still stuck in her eye.
Tomorrow we are off to see my aunt and uncle, Louise and David.
