Scotland - Day 5 Waterfalls

Today was another wet day with light rain falling constantly. So today's headline of "waterfalls" I think is quite appropriate. We started out about 9:30am and decided that we'd take smaller walks and tour in between. So rather than head off into the heart of Glencoe we set out to circle Loch Leven. The B863 follows the Loch contours so provides a good view. With the rain comes the low lying clouds so most of the Fells and Paps were partially obscured. However, you can still appreciate the steep valley walls that were carved by glaciers.

The circuit complete we rejoined the A82 and headed north about 5 miles until we hit a small hamlet called Inchree. Located there is an impressive waterfall. Its not signposted (we find that a lot here in the UK) but our B&B hosts Mike and Chris had given us a tip together with a walking book. Parking the car we all donned out wet weather kit. James included.

We've got in the habit of using the stroller most places we go. So James of course lets us know he's not altogether happy when he has to walk. We've decided that we have to be a little more encouraging of his walking so for this walk we all set off on foot. It starts of a little steep carving through a Scottish Pine forest. The path the heads up a ridge towards the falls. At this point James wanted a ride so it was up on my shoulders. There is naturally a lot of run-off in the highlands and as we walked we past numerous waterfalls cascading down the side of the path. There they were routed underneath to re-emerge to continue their downward journey.

Continuing on about 30 minutes we came to the Inchree Falls. These falls drop over 8 rocky steps and empties into Loch Lynnhe.

Returning James was now fascinated with falls. When we passed a small trickle over rocks by the side of the road he sat down and wanted them to be "turned on". We explained that they were already on but he wasn't convinced. Not more than 50 metres along was another waterfall; this one with much more water. "Look", he said, "the mountain has turned it on". We had fun playing hide & seek on the way back to the car.

We headed north to Fort William for lunch and then stopped by Neptune's Staircase near by. This is a series of locks (I think I counted about 8 of them). Thinking of how James was fascinated with the locks at Goring we thought this would be fun. Of course, it was still raining but nonetheless we walked to the top lock to see whether there were any boats at all. Getting to the top we found that it wasn't operating.

Continuing west we passed Loch Shiel. Unfortunately the mist and low clouds obscured most of the view. But we still got a sense of the grandeur of this part of the world. I've never seen so many waterfalls. Some faces had half a dozen. And they are flowing with large volumes of water.

We continued along the A861 which becomes a single lane road. There are many points that have a built out shoulder that allow cars to pass. And the traffic was very light so it was enjoyable. Particularly with the relaxing Jazz playing on the CD.

Passing through Ardnamurchan we skirted along Loch Sunart and yet more waterfalls. As there was virtually no traffic we frequently pulled over with the hazards flashing and let James enjoy them. Some came were so close that we all got splashed when we opened the car windows!

At about 4:30pm we caught a ferry that makes the short trip from Ardgour to Corran that cuts out about 1.5hrs driving.

We arrived back at our B&B and have now made ourselves home in the guest lounge. James is busy playing with new toys and we're chatting to our hosts about Scottish castles, clans, and history.

As a postscript we were talking about the weather as we hung our wet kit in the drying room. Apparently, our hosts said pointing to Beinn Bhan hat towers above the B&B, that if you can't see it it must be raining. And if you can, its about to rain!