Fort William
22 to 25 July 2024
On Monday, 22 July, Julie and Anthony drove from Glasgow to Fort William. On the way, Julie found a boat ride (really a ferry) on Loch Lomond from the town of Luss. We had beautiful views of the Loch and the 3,196 ft Ben Lomond mountain.
Ben Lomond
Julie with Ben Lomond
Seen in Luss
The drive into the Scottish Highlands was amazingly pretty. Here are some photos we took along the way.
We stopped at the Glencoe Visitors Center, where the Scottish Heritage folks have reproduced a 17th century Turf House.
The visitor center is located near the site of the 13 February 1692 Glencoe massacre. In the aftermath of the 1689 Jacobite uprising, King William III demanded the Scottish Clans swear and oath of loyalty. The Glencoe MacDonalds missed the deadline to sign, and William III dispatched a group from the Campbell Clan to teach the MacDonalds a lesson. The Campbells were caught up in a viscous winter storm, and the MacDonalds rescued them from the storm. The MacDonalds gave the Campbells food, drink and lodging for two weeks. Eventually, the orders came from the king to the Campbells and they slaughtered 30 members of the MacDonalds clan. This gave rise to the saying, “You canna trust a Campbell”.
Jacobite Train
We got an early look at the Jacobite train we would ride on Wednesday.
Ben Nevis from our Air B and B
Tuesday morning Julie and Anthony walked down to Neptune’s Staircase, a series of 8 locks on the Caledonian canal. Built from 1803 to 1822 by Thomas Telford, the locks lift a boat 64 feet. The locks were created as part of an effort to establish a route from Northern Scotland to England. Unfortunately, the size of boats changed and the canals became obsolete before the route was opened.
Later, Julie and Anthony drove into cute the little touristy town of Fort William for lunch.
Highland Books, also the name of Anthony's favorite bookshop as a kid back in Brevard, NC.
Steall Waterfall
After lunch Julie and Anthony hiked out to the Steall Waterfall. On the way back, Julie tripped on a rocky bit and had a tumble. Anthony gallantly saved her from going over the edge. That night, she couldn’t put any weight on it (this time OTHER foot, Julie was/is very tired of this crap happening to her), but luckily it was all good the next day.
On the drive out, Julie and Anthony stopped off at another waterfall. Anthony hiked down to check it out and take some photos.
Cannot have enough cow pictures!!!
Highland Coos, on the way out of the Steall Waterfall park.
On Wednesday, Julie and Anthony took the Jacobite Train to Maillaig. We got down to the train station early so we walked down to the site of Fort William whilst waiting to catch the train.
You may recall Fort William from the Outlander tour. It was represented in the TV show by Castle Blackness. Only the walls are left of the fort at it’s original site.
The Hogwarts Express in the Harry Potter books (and movies) was fashioned after the Jacobite Express. The Jacobite express passes over the Glenfinnan viaduct, a curved stone bridge.
We purchased the champagne and tea package for our train ride. This was one of the first tours we booked when planning our UK and Ireland trip.
Neptune's Steps, from the Jacobite Train
Glenfinnan viaduct
Photos of the viaduct were not great from the train. The best pictures are from a viewing point near the Glenfinnan Train station.
Island used for Dumbledore’s final resting place in the Harry Potter movies.
On Thursday, Julie and Anthony started on their drive to the Isle of Skye.
Maps: 1) Drive from Glasgow to Fort William 2) Giant Steps and Steall Waterfall 3) Jacobite Train to Maillaig 4) Fort William to Isle of Skye
