Freshly Minted: The Highlands, Day 1

We had a lot on our plate today so we made sure to wake up early and get out of Inverness in the mid-morning. From there we drove back down to Loch Ness to see it in the day time. Also, the day was gorgeous--it was mostly cloudy, fairly warm, and no rain on the forecast. So we stopped a few more times along Loch Ness, took a few more pictures (including some of Urquhart Castle), but did not see any monster again. From there we headed out into the uncharted territories of the western highlands in the direction of Eilean Donan Castle, speeding along abandoned backgrounds. It was nice that these roads were largely empty because whenever we did encounter a car, they would usually be hurtling around sharp turns at breakneck speed. And if a car got behind us, they would tailgate us until they found just enough room to squeeze by and go hurtling on ahead and out of site...all this despite the fact that we were taking the roads at what seemed to us a speed bordering on dangerous. Apparently they drive like maniacs up here. We passed many beautiful Lochs along the way and drove through some spectacular mountains, stopping here or there to take a picture or just stretch our legs. We eventually got into the town near Eilean Donan and turned onto a side road that Google Maps told us to take to get to the castle, despite the fact that there was no signage for it. This did not worry us, though, and we continued along the road. We began being a little suspicious of the reliability of Google Maps when the road became one lane, and when it began snaking its way past private residences only directly on the shores of a Loch. After 20 minutes of this madness, the road became dirt, and still we continued on. We could even see the castle, and the nearer we got to it, the more it seemed like it was actually on the other side of the Loch. Our signal to turn around came when we basically took a slippery, mossy, dirt path that dead-ended at someone's Loch-front cabin. Joel skilfully maneuvered the car 180 degrees in a tight space with the Loch behind us if we made one false move, and we were eventually on our way back out of the one-way-road madness. 20 or so minutes later we were back on the main road and shortly passed several signs indicating that Eilean Donan Castle was just ahead...too little too late for us, though it was certainly an adventure we'll remember.

Arriving at Eilean Donan (which, by the way, is a castle famous from picture books, set spectacularly on an island in the middle of the Loch), we parked and felt relieved to be alive. We had a nice lunch out on the Loch, but decided not to pay to get into the castle, as it was mostly spectacular from the outside. After a half-hour or so there, we got back into the car and continued westwards towards the Isle of Skye, driving through more beautiful mountains and past more Lochs. Eventually we hit the coastline and crossed a bridge onto the Isle. We had no particular destination on the island, so we just kind of drove around looking at signs and pretty spots. We drove in the direction of a castle, but ended up just finding many beautiful spots to pull off and walk around and take pictures. Our road somewhat dead-ended in a small town where we visited a few tourist shops and headed back out towards the mainland. Getting back onto the mainland, we drove in the direction of Fort William, over more uncharted territory, past even more impressive-looking Lochs, and through even more spectacular mountains. After a several hour drive, and a few beauty-stops, we arrived in Fort William. It was a small town in the tallest section of the highlands, and a five-minute drive from our hostel that night, which was situated at the foot of Ben Nevis--the highest peak in the UK.

After restocking on some supplies in town, we drove to our hostel, unpacked our stuff, and decided to do a bit of hiking on the lower parts of Ben Nevis. Since it was already late afternoon/early evening and we were getting hungry we decided to only do an hour or so of hiking, but we were able to take some stunning photographs and get an idea of what was in store for us tomorrow if we decided to try hiking the mountain. The initial part of the trail was ludicrously steep, basically going straight up the mountain (no switch-backs here), and that in and of itself tired us out pretty quick. We decided on just taking a short loop which led us back to our hostel, and there we ravenously consumed our dinner before hanging out for the night in anticipation of an early hike tomorrow.

Loch Ness again (but still no Nessie...)

Driving through the highlands

In search of Eilean Donan Castle (but, hey, look on the bright side...we wouldn't have gotten that lovely picture you see above if we hadn't gotten lost on the wrong side of the Loch!)