Boy, Scotland sure knows how to make it rain. Heavy showers one minute, sunshine the next, followed by misty rain. All weather types within the hour, let alone a day.

A drive West across Scotland through Kingside and Newtonmore, alongside Loch Laggan and Loch Spean we arrived at Fort William which lies between Loch Linnhe, Glen Nevis and the slopes of Ben Nevis, Brittain’s highest mountain. We could even see snow on top of the mountains. There is little left of the original Fort William, not that it would have mattered as it was pouring with rain and we didn’t get to see much.

We took the A82, following Loch Linnhe, to Glen Coe and Loch Leven. This, Scotland’s most famous glen, was written into the history books in 1692 when the MacDonalds were murdered by the Campbells in what became known as the Massacre of Glencoe.

We visited the National Trust Glencoe Visitor Centre that explained the massacre and also had interesting displays and video about how the glens and lochs were formed millions of years ago.

Back to Fort William we continued on to Fort Augustus which is a neat little village following the road as it crosses the Canal at the Southern end of Loch Ness.

We took an hour-long cruise on the Royal Scot around the southeastern part of Loch Ness itself. This side of the Loch is very steep and we saw a wild goat feeding about two thirds of the way down the slope.



The Royal Scot has the Loch’s most technologically advanced radar and navigation system aboard a cruise vessel and this provided an amazing view of the Loch on the monitors. Still, nothing beats an authentic photograph of the monster, eh?



After the cruise we drove along the western shore of Loch Ness to Inverness and drove through back to Aviemore.