The start of the Great Glen, Neptunes Staircase, Fairy wood and the Commando Memorial

Half Day Trip or a Full day with Picnic and Walks

This is a pleasant and easy half day drive, not far away from us, with walks and picnic opportunities, showing some of the best views of Ben Nevis in the distance from the banks of the Caledonian canal.
You can marvel at the work of Thomas Telford and William Jessop (www.scottishcanals.co.uk) along this route you follow the canal to Loch Lochy.

Take the A82 into Fort William travel through the town and take the A830 in the direction of Mallaig, drive just over a mile across the swing bridge over the canal, and take the next right on the B8004, signed to Neptunes Stair Case, Banavie. On you right, in a short way, is the car park for Neptunes Stair Case, a set of locks taking boats up into the higher reach of the canal, the views here are stunning, back across to Ben Nevis, Anoch Mor and beyond.

Re trace your steps and leave the car park turning right onto the B8004, this single track road offers spectacular views over the mountains beyond, travel 6 miles to the Gairloch turn off, keeping left straight onto B8005 to Achnacary, where their is the Clan Cameron Museum.



If you are want to go on a short walk into the enchanting FAIRY WOOD, a must for children of all ages, KIDS LOVE THIS, you travel about a mile after the junction, LOOKING out for a bridge across a burn which has a WOODEN DECK. When you cross this park immediately on the right or left,(there are off road parking places. Go through the large high wooden gate on the right of the road, and walk down the path, towards the loch side.
LOOK OUT for a pile of peebles and some bird feathers arranged on the ground at the end of a path on your right, walking still towards the loch, turn onto this path. You will come to a larger path crossing, yours go across this and slightly to your right, IF you really want to you WILL have found the entrance to the secret wood, known mainly to local people only and full of SURPRISES.

The wood was laid out by a local lady to cheer up children, the wood is a good place to take a picnic by the shore of the LOCH LOCHY

From here time permitting you can either carry on up the valley and see EAS CAIG-AIG waterfall, made famous as a location in the film Rob Roy, and is a dead end and you come back the same way, carry onto the side of LOCH ARKAIG

The way back is to retrace you steps back to the road junction at GAIRLOCHY turn left B8004 back over the bridge single track swing bridge at GAIRLOCHY in the direction of SPEAN BRIDGE, the lock side area is good to watch the boats on the canal and there are some picnic tables here.
Carry on the road towards Spean Bridge and the COMMANDO MEMORIAL, which is at the junction of the A82, turn right here back through Spean Bridge Back to Fort William


There are fantastic views over the mountains on this drive don't forget the camera its one of the best ways to see BEN NEVIS as you are far enough away to see the whole mountain range.

If you fancy a bit of exercise while you are up on holiday, you can't beat a leisurely cycle on the new path from Glencoe to Kentallen.
Ian and I went yesterday and we had a great time, approx. 7 miles from Glencoe village to the Holly Tree. The scenery is stunning, part of the track goes along the old railway line and along the coast of Loch Linnhe.

We started out in Glencoe village at the Glencoe Cafe www.facebook.com/pages/Glencoe-Cafe we thought we would fuel up before we went!!! A lovely cafe, which does great home cooked food and yummy cakes.

If you don't have your own bikes you can hire them in Glencoe village from www.crankitupgear.com , great for all types of advice on bikes, repairs etc.

So fueled up and ready to go we headed off, it was a cracking warm and sunny day. We travelled all the way to the Holly Tree in Kentallen and it took us about 40 mins, its a fairly easy run. You pass the Ballachulish Golf club known as the Dragon's Tooth Golf Club, where if you fancy a drink or lunch is well worth stopping.www.dragonstooth.co.uk

You can also get a lovely meal at the Holly Tree Hotel, the setting is beautiful, right on the edge of Loch Linnhe looking out towards Ardmamurchan Penisular. We stopped here for a coffee and sat outside on the decking, www.hollytreehotel.co.uk



If you are feeling very energetic you could always stop at the Isles of Glencoe on your way back and have a swim. They do an offer if you have your lunch there, you can get a free swim, but don't worry for those not that energetic there is a sauna and jacuzzi!!! www.islesofglencoe.com

The cycle path is a great way to get around and see a bit of the area without going in the car. You can stop often and get plenty of drink breaks if you need them!!

The Pap of Glencoe or known in Gaelic as "Sgorr na Ciche" is perhaps one of the best known landmarks in this area of Lochaber. A distinctive conical shape, it is a reasonably straightforward but quite hard walk from Glencoe village. It is not a very long walk, about 5 miles (not a Munro)779 metres but the ascent is quite steep and rocky, it can take anything from 3 hours to 6 hours but the views of Glencoe, The Mamore hills and Loch Leven are spectacular, well worth the hike!

This picture is take of the Pap from the site, as you can see it's very impressive rising straight out of the Loch.



As you can see from this picture taken by the Lewis Family last week, who all climbed the mountain and said the views were fantastic! You can see the chalet park www.glencoeselfcatering.co.uk and it shows how high the mountains are behind the site.



For all the details on where to start the walk etc go to the Walk Highlands website, which is a great site for many walks in the area. It gives you loads of information on distance, time, level of walk etc www.walkhighlands.co.uk

For those that saw the report on midges on the BBC on the 17th June you will know the report didn't paint a very good picture of the area and the "Dreaded Midge"!!!! Glencoe and the surrounding area is one of the most beautiful in the world and we would hate to see people not visiting because of midges.

For those of you who are interested in what the weather has been doing here in the last few months, here are a few statistics for your info.

The Scottish Six Day Motorbike Trials are over for another year and unlike last year the weather was fantastic, with several sunny days.

Here is a typical week on holiday at Loch Leven Chalets, this is the diary of the Shea Family who stayed for a week at the beg. of April.