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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 3071 |
16th July 2013 Hiking - Walking: Corrieshalloch and Steall Gorge Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: cloudy Max Speed: Distance Covered: Tuesday 16th July – Walks **** Corrieshalloch and Steall Gorge - cloudy After breakfast we walked down the road to the Corrieshalloch Gorge and the falls of Measach. We were quite shocked at the number of people who were there and also that they were nearly all European. German, Dutch, a coach full of Spanish and more. Where we are parked is near the junction of a tourist route so it is camper and coach heaven! It was quite a walk round a circular path taking us on a wobbly bridge over the Gorge which was quite spectacular. Very narrow and deep with the waterfall coming in at the end and falling from top to bottom. There was a viewing platform a little further on but there were only 6 people allowed at any one time so to get the whole thing to ourselves meant we had to wait for the whole coach to have their turn. Nice watching them really, they were having a good laugh. Walked back along the gorge and up through lots of ferns and bracken. We left our spot about 11.30 but were soon stopping again to look at another really lovely waterfall. We drove down towards Inverness, turning off just short to travel along the side of Loch Ness. The main road in the area goes right alongside the loch and is, therefore, quite busy with both local traffic and tourists. There are a few lay-bys to park in but the trees have really grown up and blocked the view. We eventually found the perfect one for lunch overlooking some moored boats and with a walk to Cherry Island which was apparently inhabited 2000 years ago. The loch is 1.8 metres higher now than in those days so it is now just a few trees on a very small island but it was good to look at the board and see illustrations of what it could have looked like. Divers have found a cobbled causeway out to it and all sorts, very interesting. Drove on to Fort Augustus where the Loch turns into the Caledonian Canal. It was a lovely little place, full of tourists but it didn’t seem to spoil it. There are five locks for the canal boats and yachts to negotiate and we arrived just as the boats wanting to go downstream were filling up the top lock. We watched them for a while then went for a walk to where the canal flows out into the Loch. Very nice. Next we saw the turning to the Ben Nevis range ski area gondola. We went to have a look and it is amazing to see a full on ski resort here, it was just like being in the alps with the piste maps up on the boards. The gondola was working taking sightseers and cyclists up - not up actual Ben Nevis, but the mountain nearby. There is big business in mountain biking in the summer. Headed towards Fort William and found the turning to the beginning of the footpath up Ben Nevis. We visited the Visitors Centre and I was very tempted for us to have a go but after listening to the man explaining how tough it is (if you can’t see the way markers use your compass and map!!!!!!!!!!), hearing how prepared you have to be and that the weather won’t be right for it until Friday we decided against. It is pointless doing it with such low cloud. We are seriously thinking we will get very organised, get fitter, do lots of hill walking on the way up and do it this time next year!! Had a good chat with the couple who were getting the explanation and they told us about a good , quite tough, walk just up the road at Glen Nevis so we headed up there and had a great time doing the hike up to the An Steall gorge and waterfall. We didn’t leave until 6.30 and got back about 7.45. We are staying in the car park tonight right under Ben Nevis :) Great day. Weather still dull and cloudy but lots to do so didn’t seem to matter so much. We had chaffinch’s feeding their babies with pieces of bread we had thrown out right by the van door while we were eating tea :) Wednesday 17th July – travelling – sunny periods Enjoyed waking up in our lovely spot – the sun and Ben Nevis’ summit even popped out! We took some photos and had a good look at the waterfalls on the road back to Fort William and picked up a bag full of rubbish people had just left in such a beautiful place!! Disgusting! Driving through Fort William we had a look at the B & B’s along the loch side to see if we could see which one we stayed in last time but they all looked the same so we were unsure. Drove through Glen Coe and had a look at their ski station – all these places were on our route so we didn’t need to detour. On to Loch Lomand where we stopped for lunch on the grass alongside the Loch at Tarbet, had a doze and read our books in the sun. There are boat rides on the Loch from here so watched a few of those go out. After that the journey is nearly all motorway round Glasgow and on to Carlisle. We arrived at the spot in the pennines where we stayed on the way up at about 5.30. Not so many flowers or baby birds this time but a lovely spot all the same, surrounded by sheep and some horses. Had a scraped together pasta tea, using up all the left overs. Should be home by tomorrow afternoon, just under 300 miles to go. |
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