Was a pretty *meh* night. My mattress had big lumps in it from springs poking through, and was lopsided. This morning I flipped the mattress and told them they might want to replace it. Also the internet was pretty much dead on our floor, not giving out ip addresses. We rebooted the router we found in the hallway on the way to breakfast but it didn't help much (at least with the laptop - the phones were ok).
Breakfast was ok, nothing to write home about. The waitress staff needed to be told to friggen *smile* as they didn't seem that happy to be there. We actually got a much nicer good morning from one of the cleaning staff.
So the plan for the day was to head out in about four different directions from Fort William. We ended up in three.
So the first stop was Loch Ness. Which turned out to be an epic waste of time. There's a small visitors centre at Fort Augustus (complete with pay and display car park). Skipped that cause there was no Nessie. Then drove and drove along the northwest side of the lake looking for one of the Nessies my parents found, or at the very least a parking area with a decent view of the lake. No such luck. The was absolutely nothing. And it was a pretty boring loch anyway. And you couldn't even see it for the entire drive because it was all behind trees. We went way past our turnoff trying to find a Nessie but never found one. We stopped to take a photo at Urqhart Castle (a ruin, but they still wanted £7 entry). And continued to the visitors centre. But still no Nessie. Have no idea where the parents found all the Nessies they did. So declared that mission a failure and headed back.
Commando Memorial near Spean Bridge
Loch Lochy
Hills next to Loch Lochy
Loch Lochy
Loch Ness
Loch Ness
Urquhart Castle
Urquhart Castle
This photo taken at Drumnadrochit is the furthest north I've been on the planet
Next headed out west to Eilean Donan Castle. The drive between Loch Cluanie and Loch Duich was really pretty, but of course it rained for most of it, so little documentation. Didn't go into Eilean Donan either, but I mainly wanted to see the exterior, which was used in Highlander and The World is Not Enough. So that was pretty cool.
Dam creating Loch Cluanie
Hills around Loch Cluanie
Hills on the A87
Hills on the A87
Loch Duich near Invershiel
Loch Duich near Invershiel
Eilean Donan Castle
Eilean Donan Castle
Eilean Donan Castle
The MacLeod clan went to battle across this bridge
Came back via Fort William and then west out to Glen Finnan. Found the viaduct (was a bit bummed that you can't drive up the road that goes underneath it, so had to walk). Found some people that said there was a train coming at 3pm (it was 2:40), so we walked up to the far side of the viaduct for some crappy back-lit photos then came back to wait. In the meantime it went from sunny to rainy to rainbows to sunny again. The train came along (twenty minutes late) and it was very squee, but the loco was going backwards ;) Then went back to the visitors centre to have some lunch. I climbed the little hill behind the visitors centre to see where they filmed a cut scene from Chamber of Secrets and also get a better view of the viaduct and the loch. Was pretty cool.
Loch Garry
Coal
Coal was a pretty depressing little town
Fort William from Caol
Glenfinnan viaduct
Glenfinnan viaduct
Glenfinnan viaduct
The Hogwarts Express? Not quite!
Train going over the Glenfinnan viaduct
Glenfinnan viaduct
Loch Shiel from the lookout
Glenfinnan Monument to the Jacobites
Kept heading west to find Loch Eilt. A little island of trees there was used in Prisoner of Azkaban. Found a little path of sorts next a pullout, so it's obvious other Potterphiles have been there before. Got my photos, and even some of a train going by right next to the loch.
Island in Loch Eilt featured in Prisoner of Azkaban
Loch Eilt
Harry and Lupin came down here and talked
Train near Loch Eilt
We thought we might just head back to the hotel at that point, but Ben Nevis was all shiny in the setting sun, so we headed up the Glen Nevis road. Was a cool little road full of bumps and bends. And a nice view of the mountains too. Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in the British Isles, at 1344m. Of course, the base is at sea level, so the whole thing just goes straight up in front of you - very cool!
Hills near Loch Linnhe
Street in Fort William
Hills in Glen Nevis
Hills in Glen Nevis
Hills in Glen Nevis, featured as backdrops for Quidditch in Philosopher's Stone
Got back to the hotel then headed out for dinner. Decided to eat at the "Grog and Gruel" for some very nice beer, an Angus burger for me and curly fries. The angus burger was a little odd - just meat and cheese on a fairly doughy bun. Added the supplied relish and a bit of the salad and it was a bit better.
Street in Fort William
Then hotel and crashing time :)
addition:
Heading north east first up, as we were driving by Loch Lochy, this jet flew down the valley at low altitude making a lot of noise. I actually had the camera out so got a couple of pictures of it. As we came back along the same loch, another jet flew by in the opposite direction. Unfortunately too many trees obscured it. Just now (9:42 pm) I heard another one fly by Fort William! I'd read in one of the Highlander film location pages (a jet does a flyby at the end of that movie) that there's an airbase or something near here, will have to try and figure out where it is.
Military jet flying over Loch Lochy
Geotagging - Day 20
Photos on the Canon: 378
Photos on the Sony: 25
Photos on the iPhone: 3
Photos on the Blackberry: 2
Photos on the Video: 16
Videos on the Video: 14
Steps walked: 8575
Pounds Spent: ?
Aquila
Sounds like you had as much fun at Loch Ness as we did in 1997. And no, we didn't see any Nessies either.
Kazza the Blank One
Stu said maybe they were on drugs.. except I saw photographic evidence!! hehe