The Loch District

What's the difference between Scotland's Loch District and England's Lake District? Other than better weather, better roads, fewer people, and more distilleries...

We started our morning in Oban with a bracing climb at dawn to McHaigs Tower. This mini-Colloseum was intended by Mr McHaig partly to be a monument to his family, and partly to be a philanthropic exercise to provide work for local stonemasons who would otherwise be underemployed. Only Stage 1 was completed but it does afford excellent views of the Oban harbour.

Having coped with such a steep and vigorous start to the day, we headed back down for an extremely good yet amazingly cheap breakfast at the Corryvreckan restaurant on the Oban waterfront, and then an early departure for Fort William.

We had hoped to ride on the Jacobite, i.e. the Harry Potter train. Sadly, it was booked out weeks in advance, so the best we could expect was to look at the exterior immediately prior to departure and to get a few nice photos.

We duly arrived at the train station, hopped out of the car, turned around and watched the train depart from behind a high fence. No photos...

No worries, time to consider the other highlights of the area. 

Granny Goat clearly wished to consider earning her new nickname, so suggested it would be cool to ascend at least part of Ben Nevis. After all, there's no point being in the Highlands if one doesn't experience the high lands, and  it would continue our training regime for the Camino in June. I thought that was an excellent idea!

At this point you may be wondering at our optimistic expectation of being able to climb the tallest mountain in the UK with no other equipment than lightweight trekking boots and warm clothes.

Well, we never expected to be able to climb the difficult, technical routes, and it is not that high - only 1345m. By alpine standards, that is barely a 'hill'. I am not underestimating the skill required to climb the hard bits, not at all, it's just that we wouldn't go anywhere near them. We're keen, not stupid... 

So, how best to tackle this challenge? 

Full marks again to my keen-eyed navigator: 

"Let's ask a local. And where better to find a local who might know about Ben Nevis than at the Ben Nevis Distillery, which we are driving past, right now. And while we're there, we might as well sample their local product. It'd be rude not to". 

And some people wonder about the secret to our being married for 40 years... 

Suitably fortified for the ascent on the summit, we took the advice of the lovely distillery bar staff to head to the ski field to take the cable car as far as it goes. "Excellent views" , she said, "and saves the tedious lower section". Perfect! Off we went.

In a reprise of the Jacobite Incident an hour earlier, just as we arrived the cable car closed for the day due to dangerously high winds that were forecast to further strengthen throughout the day.

Damn.

Not surprisingly, this also dissuaded us from considering a more traditional climb entirely on foot. We had to make do with photos from the road...

Onwards to Skye.

The overwhelming impression of the drive today was the overwhelming number of lochs, some fresh water and some tidal, and the lack of traffic. Most of the accommodation in the area was booked,  so there were people around, but the size of the area meant that we hardly ever saw them except in the evening in the pubs and restaurants.

So all in all, a good, restful day, setting us up nicely to try again to go climbing tomorrow...