Day Eight

25 July 2014

Balmaha, Loch Lomond – Fort William, Argyll

Accommodation - Westhaven B&B

Weather – hot and sunny

Temperature – 30 degrees

Scotland is really turning on the weather for us.  By the time we left our B&B it was already in the early 20’s.

Our hosts at Balmaha wake up to this every day!

 

It was a day of following lochs over to the coastline to Oban.  As the day was perfect weather wise we had glimpses of mirror-like reflections in the lochs.  We stopped for a bit of a break at Inverarary on Loch Fyne which was bustling with tourists.  The town is as neat as a pin, floral arrangements everywhere and many quality tourist shops.  There is a great little gallery, The Stable Gallery, with lots of work by local artists.  It’s well worth a visit.

The Stable Gallery at Inveraray

 

Traffic into Oban was slow however with the one way system now in place it took us directly to a Park and Pay just a street behind the waterfront.  It was time for lunch and we chose a fish and chip shop.  My meal was delicious and I was going to share with David however when mine arrived I knew mine was the best choice….not to worry, David ate what I couldn’t!

Adding sun to a beautiful harbour makes a perfect photo of Oban.

 

A creamy sauce accompanied the mussels from the Isle of Seil.....yum!

 

Oban was at its prettiest in the wonderful weather and it was hot as we walked to the pier.

The route to Fort William is via the Argyll Coastal Route and we followed Loch Clevens to Loch Linnhe which Fort William nestles on.  The B&B we chose looks over the loch with views to die for. 

As there is always lots of daylight we set off to find out information about Ben Nevis and some walks.  The information centre had already shut but some locals gave us the good advice to see the north face of Ben Nevis while the sun was out as a large portion of the year the mountain top is in cloud.

How lucky were we to see Ben Nevis like this!

 

Boats on the canal just above the locks of Neptune's Staircase.

Looking down on the eight locks.

We headed to Neptune’s Staircase which is just out of town and forms part of the Caledonian Canal.  The North Face was very clear and even though there have been high temperatures there was still a little snow on the sides.

There are eight locks on this part of the canal and it’s a wide canal which takes one and a half hours to traverse.  The difference in height is 19 metres at the staircase and there are 29 locks on the 96.5km canal.

It was dinner time and we found a park above the wide mall on High Street.  There were a lot of people thinking the same thing but we eventually found a pub, The Grog and Gruel, which took a booking for a table while we sat downstairs and enjoyed a refreshing drink.  The  pub was very warm but most buildings don’t cater for the heat here.

On our late evening walk the sun was setting and a Scotsman came up and asked if we had a plastic bag which I did (be prepared!). We walked on to the pier restaurant to make a booking for late dinner tomorrow evening and when we next saw him he had walked down into the loch and was tying his possessions into the bag.  He then set off swimming across the loch!  As the night darkened we could see the silver stream of his wake as he neared the shore on the other side.  I hope he made it....I think we've met our first mad Scotsman!

Darkness descends on Loch Linnhe....somewhere out there is a mad Scotsman!

As we have two nights here we are off to do a little exploring of the area tomorrow.