Fort William, Scotland
Fri, 18 Oct 2019
It was a late autumn getaway for us as we missed the summer season window due to work commitments. The Scottish Highlands was our choice this time around for its nature beauty and hiking activities.
We booked our flight to Glasgow via British Airways about 1 month before the trip (bought during Matta fair in September 2019 through the BA website) for RM 2886 per person, transiting at Heathrow. This was our second time flying long haul with British Airways, and we had a pleasant experience although the flight was full (no empty seats to lie down and stretch the legs). The immigration check was done at Heathrow, so at Glasgow we only had to collect our luggage.
For our flight from KUL-LHR, we requested for a Moslem meal, which turned out to be an advantage as our meals were served first before the others and they tasted good. We were given 2 meals, i.e. supper (11.10 pm flight) and breakfast. There was no complimentary in-flight meals for the domestic flight from Heathrow to Glasgow. Since the transit time was too short, we didn't have time to grab breakfast at the airport, so we ordered a toastie on board. But it turned out that the domestic flight was also so short (1.5 hours) that when we received our toastie (the flight attended went to heat it first), it was time to land already. We landed at Glasgow at around 8.30 am.
We then bought a Vodafone sim card from Glasgow airport for GBP 25 (20 GB data and 100 minutes call time) valid for 30 days. Next we went to the car rental building which is just next to the airport to pick up our rental car from Sixt. We got a Skoda car for 9 days with total cost of GBP 456 with unlimited mileage and full coverage. We would be returning our car at the same place i.e. at Glasgow airport. Our Skoda car came with carplay, so we could display our navigation app such as Googlemaps or Waze on the car display.
Our first destination today was Loch Lomond and The Trossachs national park which is en route to Fort William, our final destination for today. Since there are many entrances to the national park, we weren't sure which one to head to, so we just randomly picked from the suggested locations from googlemap. We chose the Balmaha Visitor Centre, on the east side of the Loch Lomon, in the village of Balmaha. We ate our sandwich bought from the airport by the loch at the picnic area near Tom Weir statue, had a bit of stroll and then drove on to our next stop. We didn't hike here as we had just arrived from a 12 hour flight and was still jetlagged. The ferry to Inchcailloch island wasn't operating today as well due to the high water level.
Our next stop was the James Bond Skyfall shooting location in Ballachulish, about 2 hours away driving. It was a scenic drive from Balmaha as we drove along the Loch Lomond, with a few stops to take pictures.
It was indeed worthy of a movie shot location - it is a single track, unnamed road with only few passers by with views of the mountain and river. After 're-enacting' some scenes from Skyfall, we drove to Fort William, about 1 more hour away where we would be spending 3 nights.
We stayed at the Balcarres Self Catering, booked from Booking.com for GBP 63.5 per night, overlooking Loch Linnhe. We bought our groceries from Lidl and Morrison's supermarket nearby for our 3 day supply and would be cooking ourselves for all our meals. We had an early night tonight as we still hadn't had a proper sleep since our departure from the day before. Tomorrow we would be hiking Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain in the Britain at 1345m above sea level.
Sat, 19 Oct 2019
Ben Nevis
Ben Nevis Visitor Centre is the starting point for our hike up the mountain today , which is just a 10 minute drive from our apartment, arriving there at 8.30am. The parking rate is GBP 4 for the whole day. We only planned to hike up halfway around the Meall An T-Suidhe loch, via the "Tourist Route", starting at Achintee farm . Well, the halfway point is a bit further after the loch, at a stream crossing, called 'The Red Burn'. We hiked a bit more after the Red Burn, until the Zig Zags. Initially I thought I could push further to the peak, but my legs had already felt tired, plus the rocks here were quite loose and slippery. There were strong winds as well, especially at the open area at the Meall loch. So we decided to turn back at the Zig Zag point. After all, we'd already exceeded our target of hiking until the loch. We took the same route down back to the Visitor Centre.
We had our lunch of packed sandwich by the Nevis river at the riverside path. After our lunch, we headed back to the car park and drove to the Steall waterfall, about minutes away. We didn't hike here, just took some pictures of the beautiful nature. Mission accomplished for today, we headed back to our apartment, had a bit of rest, cooked dinner and retired for the night. Tomorrow we would just be taking it free and easy around Fort William.
Sun, 20 Oct 2019
Fort William
After we had our self made breakfast, we walked to the town centre of Fort William, about 20 minute walk in pleasant weather conditions by the scenic Loch Linnhe. Since it was a Sunday, most of the shops were closed, but luckily some of the souvenir shops were open. We bought some souvenirs of Fort William from here. Walking around in the cool weather (around 10 Celsius) made us quite hungry, so we walked back to our apartment and had a quick self made lunch. After that, we walked back to the to take the Crannog Cruise at 1pm around Loch Linhe for GBP 17.50 for a 1.5 hour trip.
Our boat captain was bubbly, giving information on the geology and wildlife of the area surrounding Fort William. Loch Linnhe follows the line of the Great Glen fault, and is the only sea loch along the fault (from Wikipedia). The water is black in colour due to its great depth, so deep that it became a training ground for ROVs (remote operated vehicles) for the oil and gas industry. We were also brought near to a group of seals, basking on the rocks of a little island on the loch. We didn't get to see any eagles though today. We were also told that today was the first snowfall on the peak of Ben Nevis which we climbed yesterday (although not to the peak).
After the cruise, we drove to Inverlochy castle ruins, a 13th-century castle, located by the river Lochy. Next stop was the Commando Memorial, which actually have scenic views of Ben Nevis and Aonach Mor mountains. On the way back to our apartment, we stopped a by a spot by the road the get a view of the Aonach Mor mountain. We then retired for the day. Tomorrow we would be venturing to the Isle of Skye, another excellent place for hiking and nature views.
It was a late autumn getaway for us as we missed the summer season window due to work commitments. The Scottish Highlands was our choice this time around for its nature beauty and hiking activities.
We booked our flight to Glasgow via British Airways about 1 month before the trip (bought during Matta fair in September 2019 through the BA website) for RM 2886 per person, transiting at Heathrow. This was our second time flying long haul with British Airways, and we had a pleasant experience although the flight was full (no empty seats to lie down and stretch the legs). The immigration check was done at Heathrow, so at Glasgow we only had to collect our luggage.
For our flight from KUL-LHR, we requested for a Moslem meal, which turned out to be an advantage as our meals were served first before the others and they tasted good. We were given 2 meals, i.e. supper (11.10 pm flight) and breakfast. There was no complimentary in-flight meals for the domestic flight from Heathrow to Glasgow. Since the transit time was too short, we didn't have time to grab breakfast at the airport, so we ordered a toastie on board. But it turned out that the domestic flight was also so short (1.5 hours) that when we received our toastie (the flight attended went to heat it first), it was time to land already. We landed at Glasgow at around 8.30 am.
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| steak for breakfast |
We then bought a Vodafone sim card from Glasgow airport for GBP 25 (20 GB data and 100 minutes call time) valid for 30 days. Next we went to the car rental building which is just next to the airport to pick up our rental car from Sixt. We got a Skoda car for 9 days with total cost of GBP 456 with unlimited mileage and full coverage. We would be returning our car at the same place i.e. at Glasgow airport. Our Skoda car came with carplay, so we could display our navigation app such as Googlemaps or Waze on the car display.
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| our Skoda rental car |
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| our Skoda came with Carplay |
Our first destination today was Loch Lomond and The Trossachs national park which is en route to Fort William, our final destination for today. Since there are many entrances to the national park, we weren't sure which one to head to, so we just randomly picked from the suggested locations from googlemap. We chose the Balmaha Visitor Centre, on the east side of the Loch Lomon, in the village of Balmaha. We ate our sandwich bought from the airport by the loch at the picnic area near Tom Weir statue, had a bit of stroll and then drove on to our next stop. We didn't hike here as we had just arrived from a 12 hour flight and was still jetlagged. The ferry to Inchcailloch island wasn't operating today as well due to the high water level.
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| Balmaha Visitor Centre |
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| Loch Lomond by Balmaha village |
Our next stop was the James Bond Skyfall shooting location in Ballachulish, about 2 hours away driving. It was a scenic drive from Balmaha as we drove along the Loch Lomond, with a few stops to take pictures.
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| driving by Loch Lomond |
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| scenic drive |
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| scenic drive by the mountain |
It was indeed worthy of a movie shot location - it is a single track, unnamed road with only few passers by with views of the mountain and river. After 're-enacting' some scenes from Skyfall, we drove to Fort William, about 1 more hour away where we would be spending 3 nights.
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| river and mountains at Ballachulish |
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| the single track road to James Bond Skyfall location |
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| river and mountains at Ballachulish |
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| re-enacting scenes from Skyfall |
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| re-enacting scenes from Skyfall |
We stayed at the Balcarres Self Catering, booked from Booking.com for GBP 63.5 per night, overlooking Loch Linnhe. We bought our groceries from Lidl and Morrison's supermarket nearby for our 3 day supply and would be cooking ourselves for all our meals. We had an early night tonight as we still hadn't had a proper sleep since our departure from the day before. Tomorrow we would be hiking Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain in the Britain at 1345m above sea level.
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| our apartment |
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| our apartment |
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| the kitchen |
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| view of Loch Linnhe from our apartment |
Sat, 19 Oct 2019
Ben Nevis
Ben Nevis Visitor Centre is the starting point for our hike up the mountain today , which is just a 10 minute drive from our apartment, arriving there at 8.30am. The parking rate is GBP 4 for the whole day. We only planned to hike up halfway around the Meall An T-Suidhe loch, via the "Tourist Route", starting at Achintee farm . Well, the halfway point is a bit further after the loch, at a stream crossing, called 'The Red Burn'. We hiked a bit more after the Red Burn, until the Zig Zags. Initially I thought I could push further to the peak, but my legs had already felt tired, plus the rocks here were quite loose and slippery. There were strong winds as well, especially at the open area at the Meall loch. So we decided to turn back at the Zig Zag point. After all, we'd already exceeded our target of hiking until the loch. We took the same route down back to the Visitor Centre.
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| river Nevis at the starting point |
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| cross the bridge over river Nevis |
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| at the start of the 'Tourist route'. sheeps on the right at Achintee farm. That's Meall An T-Suidhe mountain |
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| view of the mountains |
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| part of the 'Tourist route' of Ben Nevis |
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| hiking path to Ben Nevis |
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| Meall An T-Suidhe loch, about halfway to the peak |
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| 'The Red Burn' stream |
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| The halfway point - 'The Red Burn' |
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| the Zig Zag rocky path |
We had our lunch of packed sandwich by the Nevis river at the riverside path. After our lunch, we headed back to the car park and drove to the Steall waterfall, about minutes away. We didn't hike here, just took some pictures of the beautiful nature. Mission accomplished for today, we headed back to our apartment, had a bit of rest, cooked dinner and retired for the night. Tomorrow we would just be taking it free and easy around Fort William.
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| the stream from Steall waterfall |
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| Steall waterfall |
Sun, 20 Oct 2019
Fort William
After we had our self made breakfast, we walked to the town centre of Fort William, about 20 minute walk in pleasant weather conditions by the scenic Loch Linnhe. Since it was a Sunday, most of the shops were closed, but luckily some of the souvenir shops were open. We bought some souvenirs of Fort William from here. Walking around in the cool weather (around 10 Celsius) made us quite hungry, so we walked back to our apartment and had a quick self made lunch. After that, we walked back to the to take the Crannog Cruise at 1pm around Loch Linhe for GBP 17.50 for a 1.5 hour trip.
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| strolling along Loch Linnhe at Fort William |
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| strolling along Loch Linnhe at Fort William |
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| the deserted Fort William town early Sunday morning |
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| St Andrew church at Fort William |
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| Church of Scotland and Fort William statue |
Our boat captain was bubbly, giving information on the geology and wildlife of the area surrounding Fort William. Loch Linnhe follows the line of the Great Glen fault, and is the only sea loch along the fault (from Wikipedia). The water is black in colour due to its great depth, so deep that it became a training ground for ROVs (remote operated vehicles) for the oil and gas industry. We were also brought near to a group of seals, basking on the rocks of a little island on the loch. We didn't get to see any eagles though today. We were also told that today was the first snowfall on the peak of Ben Nevis which we climbed yesterday (although not to the peak).
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| jetty for the cruise |
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| On the Loch Linnhe |
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| view of Fort William town from the boat |
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| Ben Nevis view from Loch Linnhe |
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| Loch Linnhe |
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| seal island |
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| seals on Loch Linnhe |
After the cruise, we drove to Inverlochy castle ruins, a 13th-century castle, located by the river Lochy. Next stop was the Commando Memorial, which actually have scenic views of Ben Nevis and Aonach Mor mountains. On the way back to our apartment, we stopped a by a spot by the road the get a view of the Aonach Mor mountain. We then retired for the day. Tomorrow we would be venturing to the Isle of Skye, another excellent place for hiking and nature views.
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| Inverlochy castle ruins |
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| Inverlochy castle ruins |
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| Commando Memorial |
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| scenic view from Commando Memorial |
Labels: Travelogue
posted by aiyda at 10:48 PM
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