Day 19 Monday 28th April
Had the best day today! Stopped at the Commando Memorial. This is to the commandos who trained in this area for WW11. It is a fantastic memorial and any British commando is remembered here. Quite a few young guys who were killed in action in Afghanistan- we’ve come such a long way over the years in regards to useless wars - not!
The actual memorial, it was a great one.
Popped into Inverlochy Castle, just to the east of Fort William. It’s a remarkably well preserved 13th century castle. It looked like it would have been great to explore but it’s all closed off for renovations! Very disappointed but obviously its age is starting to show! Like us all!
Decided then to explore the area around Fort William. First stop was Neptune’s Staircase. It is the longest staircase lock in Britain. Boats are lifted up to 20 metres through 8 locks in only 90 minutes. Completed in 1822 the Caledonian Canal connects the west coast of Scotland with the east and allows boats to by-pass the dangerous waters of Pentland Firth. We just couldn’t believe it when a boat turned up to go through the staircase! It was just fascinating in light of the fact that we’re going on a canal boat through locks on this trip! Made sense of it all, was wonderful to watch.
While we were there watching that happen, the Jacobite Steam train took off from the station. It is an old steam train used as the Hogwarts Express in Harry Potter - just couldn’t believe it! So off to the Glenfinnan Viaduct which is where the train travels over! Unfortunately we weren’t there in time to see the train travel over the viaduct, but the viaduct was amazing! So high and tall! Built in 1901 by Concrete Bob MacAlpine, it is an outstanding feat of concrete engineering and the first and longest mass concrete viaduct in Britain! You would relate to this Dan!
Whilst here we also popped over to the Glenfinnan Monument. It’s a tribute to Bonnie Prince Charlie and the 1745 Jacobite Rising. This is where he landed and got together his army to travel over to Culloden Battlefield to be defeated! We climbed to the very top of the monument, the views were just amazing!
Then up to Ben Nevis, bit covered by cloud but it is the highest mountain in Britain. The gondolas were working heading up to the top but we didn’t do it, too much rain and cloud! Maybe tomorrow weather might be better. We are heading off to Oban which is only 1.5 hours away so plenty of time
Honestly one of our best days - seeing the boat in the locks and the steam train was just wonderful! No photos as yet but hoping accommodation tomorrow has wifi which enables me to do the photos! 🤞🤞
You sound like you’re back in the saddle after a slow relaxing couple of days, can’t wait for the photos!! It’s going to take about three large dark ales to see you through uploading a thousand photos??
ReplyDeleteBack on track now! Photos uploaded and only 1 dark ale needed!
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