Glenfinnan and Fort William Views

Friday 9th June 2017

I had felt rather cut off during my second week in Scotland as I was staying in valleys where there isn’t a radio signal so except for brief moments at the tops of the hills I had no way of knowing what was happening in the wider world. I had thought it would be a good idea to get away from everything as I would be able to forget about the General Election, but in the event I found that I really missed the radio. I can cope with being cut off from other people (I even like it), but don’t cut me off from my radio. I enjoy listening to the radio when walking and miss it when I don’t have a signal. On this last full day of my holiday I had a choice whether to catch the train from Glenfinnan at eleven o’clock or five o’clock (there are no choices in between); I decided to catch the earlier train. I could have climbed another hill, maybe Braigh nan Uamhachan on the other side of the valley from Streap or venture further afield to the Munro Gulvain. However, when I got up it was raining which rather made up my mind for me so I packed up and left the lovely Gleann Dubh Lighe bothy where I had just spent two nights during which I never saw a single soul.

Descending the valley I retraced my steps of two days previously emerging onto the road and leaving the road again after passing underneath a railway bridge. On that previous occasion I had noticed signs directing short paths to viewpoints in the Callop Valley and now I had a good opportunity to explore them. In the event there was not really much to see as the clouds were still low in the sky even though it had stopped raining, but there was only one thing I wanted to look at. After taking a few pictures of the valley and the head of Loch Shiel with the village of Glenfinnan beyond I headed back to the main road and along the private road into Glen Finnan. Just before reaching the viaduct I took a path that climbs underneath and up the hillside to afford great views of the viaduct and any trains that may be passing over the top. Unfortunately I couldn’t wait for the train to come as I wanted to catch the train myself so I had to content myself with getting views of the empty viaduct in its majestic position near the bottom of the valley with its spellbinding view down the length of Loch Shiel.

With still some time until the train was due I slowly made my along the well-made path that hugs the hillside while taking loads of pictures every couple of steps. At first these were just of the viaduct, but as this passed out of sight my camera turned towards the views down Loch Shiel that are truly the great selling point of the Glenfinnan Viaduct and really the reason why it is world famous. Although there was still a lot of low cloud on the hills the sun was attempting to peak through as I walked along this fabulously well-made path while taking many photographs and admiring the views over Loch Shiel. Eventually I reached the railway station where I waited for the Jacobite steam train to come over the viaduct and into the station closely followed by my train coming in the other direction. There was a great sight when the modern train came into the station while the vintage steam train sat waiting for it in the other platform. The swarms of midges plaguing everyone on the station failed to diminish the sight.

When I got back to Fort William I found a newspaper and discovered the result of the General Election (though I wasn’t surprised unlike seemingly everyone else). Now that I could finally listen to the radio I listened to news commentators talking about the election while I wandered around the town. Eventually I decided that I should do another walk especially as the weather around Fort William was a lot brighter than it was just a few short miles away in Glenfinnan, so I headed down the Glen Nevis road until I reached the Braveheart car park. The Munros of the Mamore Forest were looking fantastic at the bottom of the valley and made me wish that I had made better use of my time and been climbing those mountains instead. There had been several moments on this holiday when I had not used my time wisely to make the most of the good weather to climb mountains and I felt that this was one of them. Rather than trying any half-hearted attempt to go up a mountain at this late hour, I decided that I would continue the viewpoints theme started in Glenfinnan by talking a path from the Braveheart car park marked Cow Hill Circuit.

Following yellow ringed posts I walked around the side of the hill with extensive views opening out as I slowly made my way round. At first the views were over the grassland to the east of Fort William and extending into the Great Glen, but as I passed round to the northern slopes of the hill the view shifted to start looking over the northern end of Loch Linnhe and Fort William began to open up in the foreground. By now it was becoming quite warm under the sunshine, but a short distance away on the hills to the north where I had just spent the week dark clouds remained. As I had found out: those hills like their rain. They must be among the wettest places in Scotland. Meanwhile I was enjoying this relaxing walk along a good, well-made path with good views developing over the town of Fort William as I slowly made my way along the path. Although I love wild country I do prefer to enjoy it from the ease of a well-made, and most importantly, dry path. Often the best, wildest looking places are man-made and have been deliberately designed to look wild and this path was just such an example as it passes through delightful landscape with great views of town and loch.

The Cow Hill Circuit path took me around the hill to the south-western corner where a wide track with extensive views south towards Blarmachfoldach took me up the heather covered slopes to the col behind Cow Hill. The track swings round towards the top of Cow Hill so I decided to come off the circuit and follow the track all the way up to the transmitter that sits at the top of the hill and looks out over Fort William. The views were not as good as I had seen earlier so I headed back to the col and rejoined the circuit path as it enters the Glen Nevis Wood and descends steeply down into the valley heading towards the Braveheart car park. Before reaching the car park I turned right to follow forest roads that would take me back to the Glen Nevis Youth Hostel. I rather enjoyed this short walk, and the earlier walk around Glenfinnan, as they were on good, dry paths that were a welcome change from the boggy paths that I had endured earlier in the holiday. I’m not fond of walking through bogs and prefer a well-made path that keeps my boots dry. This holiday had a lot of ups and downs with the weather making a significant impact on my enjoyment, but I also didn’t make the most of the weather I did get. I really do need to learn to make better use of the weather whenever I am in Scotland.