Today we left Fort William and headed for Invergarry
Today Ben (Ken) was walking with us and Mike and Lynn were walking and taking care of transport logistics.
As we left Fort William the weather forecast was cloudy, warm and mainly dry for the day. We crossed the River Nevis and then the River Lochy, which flows southwest along the Great Glen from Loch Lochy to Loch Linnhe at Fort William. We then got to the Caledonian Canal at the start of Neptune’s Staircase and followed the footpath right up to the start of Loch Lochy.
As we walked along, Ben Nevis was doing its best to peek out from the clouds (but not really succeeding). The tow path was very quiet, we only had a handful of runners and cyclists coming towards us all morning. A large family of ducks were enjoying the peace and quiet. We are then passed the Moy Bridge (a two part small traffic swing bridge) and then came to the Gairlochy Swing Bridge (last year we had to wait while it was in operation).
We were passed by a troop of commandos out on a training run – one of them managed to gasp that they had to run 6.7 miles (10.72 km) uphill in an hour, wearing boots and carrying a 36 lb (16.3 kg) pack. They all looked completely shot as they passed us!
We met Mike at the Laggan Lochs (between Loch Lochy and Loch Oich) to collect our lunch and then he joined for another spell before heading back to the car to meet us in Invergarry. Our path then took us up into the forests above Loch Oich and keeping us away from the A82. A few surprise hills awaited us in the forest before long descent down to Invergarry.
The rain mostly kept away for the day, every time it started and we put coats on – it stopped! Overall an enjoyable day, the views from the paths high above the lochs are wonderful (more of those tomorrow over Loch Ness).
Tomorrow we head to Drumnadrochit on the banks of Loch Ness.
Here is this week’s map of how far we have come – only 6 more walking days
