A few weeks ago Katharina and I walked the Great Glen Way from Fort William to Inverness. Well actually, I started a few miles in, in Banavie instead of Fort William, and we didn’t actually walk the last leg to Inverness because it was very long and we needed to pick up a rental car by 4 pm.
Walkhighlands says these things about the Great Glen Way (
click):
The Great Glen Way stretches for 117km from coast to coast across the Highlands, linking the main centres of Fort William and the regional capital of Inverness. The route follows the major natural faultline of the Great Glen which divides Scotland from coast to coast. Most of the route keeps to lower levels and offers a good introduction to the Highlands and to long distance walking; from August 2014 there are also higher options between Fort Augustus and Drumnadrochit which offer more dramatic views but are a little more strenuous. The Way runs along the complete lengths of Loch Linnhe, Loch Oich and the forests above Loch Ness, as well as along the towpath of the Caledonian Canal, an engineering marvel built by Thomas Telford that links these lochs and creates a through route from the western seaboard to the Moray Firth.
The first day started in Banavie where there are eight locks to get boats up to the Caledonian Canal. The series of locks is calles Neptune’s Staircase and is quite picturesque, especially when the old steam train crosses the canal in the background.
The weather was cloudy but mostly dry, and after a day’s walk along the canal we arrived at Gairlochy, the first stop. However, there’s no accommodation (or anything really) in Gairlochy and we had booked a hotel in Spean Bridge instead. This meant another 5 km on a road, but we were lucky and found a tea room on the way that had beautiful views over Glen Spean.
P.S.: Read also Kat’s blog (
click) - turns out she remembers very different things!
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Neptune’s Staircase and steam train
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Caledonian Canal
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Downtown Gairlochy
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Views over Glen Spean from Old Pines Hotel
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