Saturday, June 9, 2012

Day 62 (June 3): Oban to Fort William

Sunday morning was bright and sunny, another beautiful crisp day!  In the morning we took a walk up to McCaig's Tower, a "folly" built overlooking Oban harbour, and enjoyed the views.


unfinished but interesting nonetheless

looking to the left towards the ferry dock

and to the right (St. Columba's Cathedral is that tower on the far right)

Our train tour continued with a ride back to Crianlarich where we picked up the Fort William train. This part of the journey takes the traveller along lochs, around mountains and hills, over bridges and up into the Scottish Highlands.  We arrived in Fort William, a rather humble loch-side town, in the late afternoon.  The town is popular with backpackers, climbers, and walkers as it's the endpoint of the West Highland Way and is very close to Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the British Isles at 4,409 ft.

before dinner we took a walk along the loch

We had a yummy dinner in a pub called the Grog and Gruel (I had an extremely yummy mushroom quesadilla) and then embarked on an impossibly long walk into Glen Nevis to see what we could see.
 


Ben Nevis is behind this hill, not visible, and about twice as high, apparently

Our lodging for the night was rather humble as rooms were scarce in Fort William this weekend.  I shared a bunk room with two pleasant Japanese students while everyone else was together in a four-person bunkroom next door.  Shared bathrooms down the hall...  I felt very backpacker-y and student-ish.