IRELAND and SCOTLAND - Day 14 - October 14, 2023

IN THE HIGHLANDS - MORNING RAIN, AFTERNOON SNOW, EVENING RAIN - Day 14 - October 14, 2023

Our B & B is a cozy inn on a hill overlooking Loch Linnhe in old town Fort William. One of the items offered for breakfast today was haggis. I haven’t convinced myself to eat it yet - perhaps tomorrow morning.

It was a brisk highland morning, at around 38 degrees with a stiff breeze, when we drove south to see Inchree Falls. Most of the waterfalls around here are running pretty well with all the recent rain. There’s a short trail up to a viewpoint.

A group of climbers was working its way down the falls while we were there. 

We were planning to continue south to see a few more sights, but we saw the sky clearing and decided to go north a few miles to ride the Ben Nevis Gondola while there was an opening in the weather.

The enclosed ski gondolas (4 person) go about halfway up Aonach Mor. The top of the mountain is at 4000’, which makes it the eighth highest in Scotland. Today’s air temperature at 2100’ was 32F with a wind chill of around 25F. When we stepped out of the gondola, we walked right into our first taste of winter weather.

Karen and Laura opted to wait in the little cafe at the top of the gondola.  Paul and I took a little one hour walk to a viewpoint. 

The wind was howling at this elevation and then we started to get snow showers coming in horizontally. Every few minutes it would stop snowing and the sun would come out. It was cold, but the 360 degree view of the Glencoe Valley, the nearby lochs, and Ben Nevis (highest mountain in UK at 4413’) was well worth it.

When we got back down to our car, it seemed a little warmer, but not much. We drove back south through Glencoe to see The Meeting of Three Waters waterfall. Once we were there, we realized we’d already seen it on yesterday’s drive. We just didn’t recognize it with all the clouds and rain that day.

Back in Fort William, we hit the Crofter Bar for dinner. It’s a locals hangout pub and we got a good feel for the Saturday night atmosphere. When we got back to the B & B and told our host where we’d eaten, she asked if we had seen any fights at the pub and she seemed surprised that we hadn’t. Turns out that we really did go to the right place for local flavor.

NEXT: Portree, Isle of Skye