Captain's Log

Fort William

I’d spent the morning walking from last night's campsite in Glen Nevis to the official finish of the West Highland Way, at the statue of the weary walker in Fort William. As one Venture finished, another one started; my thoughts were now on my next Venture, the Great Glen Way. The start of the trail was at the other end of town and so I returned down its pedestrianised high street and restocked my provisions at the large Morrisons supermarket near the roundabout. I must have overdone it a bit since my rucksack felt exceedingly heavy as I waddled back out of the entrance. I wasn’t sure if there would be any water sources on this first stretch of the walk and so I was also carrying 2.5 litres of water. Fortunately, the start of the Great Glen Way was at Fort William’s old fort (hence the town’s name), which was only a couple of minutes walk from the supermarket. There was a large stone monument that signified the start of the trail and plenty of information boards that gave historical details of the fort. To be honest, there wasn’t much of the fort that was still in evidence. There was an old canon that pointed towards the Hebridean Princess that was moored  out in Loch Linnhe, but I wasn’t sure whether this was a replica or the Real McCoy. It felt good to be starting a new trail. It was a perfect day with blue skies and bright sunshine. I'd climbed Ben Nevis yesterday and looked down on this spot. The Ben was also clear of cloud today; it seemed remarkable weather for Scotland. 

The Great Glen

Look at a map of Scotland and there appears to be a straight line valley going from the southwest to the northeast coast. This is the Great Glen. Depending on your views, this was either created by divine intervention, the home building of a water bound mythical monster, or a geological fault on the earth’s surface. As much as I’d like the mythical monster theory to be true, the geological fault has my backing.  All the action happened a mere 430 million years ago when the continent of Laurentia (now known as Canada) came face to face with Avalonia. The glaciers of the ice ages (the last one 12,000 years ago) has given the glen the smooth sides we see today. The resulting long valley provides a handy feature to the thru hiker in that you can achieve a relatively flat walk between the west and east coasts of Scotland (or the other way around if you so desire). It is therefore not surprising that in 2002 the Great Glen Way was opened, a 79 mile trail from Fort William on the west coast, to Inverness on the east. A lot of the lower areas of the fault have filled up with water and become Loch Lochy, Loch Oich, the mighty Loch Ness and the minnow, Loch Dochfour. The engineer Thomas Telford was quick to latch on to the transport possibilities of this natural valley of linked lakes (sorry lochs), and built the Caledonian Canal to connect them all. Due to the civil engineer’s achievements, you can now sail right across the middle of Scotland. Not surprisingly, the Great Glen Way makes good use of the accompanying towpaths. Not only that, but the trail also makes use of a disused railway giving yet more flat walking. Those who prefer more elevated views have the option of a higher level route for part of the way between Fort Augustus and Invermoriston.  

The Great Glen’s natural features weren’t only useful to hikers, sailors and civil engineers, but to generals too. Three forts were built along the glen to suppress those pesky Jacobites. Fort George (as in General George Wade), was positioned to the northeast of Inverness. Fort Augustus is in the middle at the southern end of Loch Ness. Fort William (named after William of Orange) was positioned at the sea loch of Loch Linnhe. General George Wade became famous for designing and overseeing the roads that supported this front line. He built over 250 miles of roads (or rather his minions did) including the 770m high one over the Corrieyairack Pass to the Great Glen. There was of course a road built along the Great Glen itself. 

Inverlochy, Caol And Corpach

It seemed quite an odd start (or finish) to the Great Glen Way. Some people are a bit sniffy about it since it meanders near to housing estates and light industrial areas. I found it pleasant enough though, especially on a day like this. Ben Nevis always seemed to be at the edge of my vision on my right; it was hard to resist looking at it. Just before crossing Soldiers Bridge over the River Lochy, I spotted a fingerpost pointing to Inverlochy Castle. It was only just around the corner and so I went to have a peek. The ruin was also fenced off, but it was worth the short diversion. It is a 13th century castle and was the site of two battles. It is said to be unusual in that it has changed little since it was constructed. I crossed Soldiers Bridge (so named because it was built and gifted by the army to the local community) and made my way towards Caol. The trail led me to quite a nice promenade that had fine views along both Loch Linnhe and Eil as well as that dramatic view of Ben Nevis. Further along, I left the path and walked on the stony beach to get a closer look of the ‘Old Boat Of Caol’, a wreck of an old fishing boat. It is also known as the 'Corpach Wreck' and I presume there must be a bit of competition for wreckage rights between the two villages. It is quite a dramatic sight and makes a good foreground for photographs. I got back on to the trail and continued to follow it towards Corpach. Corpach in Gaelic roughly means ‘field of corpses.’ In times gone by, the village was used as a resting place for coffins containing Clan chieftains who were being transported to Iona to be buried. 

Caledonian Canal

The path eventually intersected with the Caledonian Canal. This actually felt like the start of the Great Glen Way to me, since I’d follow the canal and lochs all the way to Inverness. The canal is obviously an amazing engineering feat for its time. Thomas Telford started surveying the route in 1803 and by 1822, the canal opened for business. The fellow didn’t hang about. It has 29 locks, is 22 miles long and connects Loch Lochy, Loch Oich and Loch Ness. I saw 8 of these locks, more or less straight away, at the very impressive Neptune’s Staircase, which deals with a 19m difference in height between the sea and the canal to Loch Lochy. My Trailblazer guide told me that it takes a boat 1.5 hours to get through all the locks.   

The day was heating up and so I crossed one of the locks to the Moorings Hotel café on the other side. I ordered a cold bottle of beer and two cakes and sat outside at one of the tables with an unbeatable view of Ben Nevis. It is important to keep your calorie intake and hydration levels high when you thru-hike. I started chatting to a fellow on the next table who was also having a beer. He was cycling from Oban to Inverness with his family. He reckoned that you could cycle it all offroad now. I actually saw more cyclists on the Great Glen Way than I did walkers. I toyed with the idea of having another beer, but I still had a few more miles to go before I reached my wildcamp for the night. I said goodbye to the fellow and that I’d see him later when he cycled past me. I set off again along the towpath, but only did about a hundred metres before I came across another cafe advertising ice-cream. I couldn’t resist and within a couple of minutes I was sitting outside eating a cappuccino flavoured ice-cream cornet. And it was very nice too. At this rate, I'd be lucky to reach Inverness by Christmas. I set off again, determined that no matter what café I’d find next, I’d just ignore it and continue. 

Billy And Luke

The towpath was hard on the feet, but at least it didn’t undulate. The views were stunning, with flowering gorse bushes providing lovely vivid yellow colours against the blue water of the canal and the sky. I heard a shout behind me and my drinking buddy from the Moorings Hotel cycled past me with his family.
‘I stopped for another beer’ he taunted me as they motored by. They didn’t seem to be doing much pedalling on their electric bikes.
‘I wished I’d had another one, now’ I shouted after him.  

I was really enjoying the walk along the towpath. Gradually, Ben Nevis and Carn Mor Dearg were being left behind. Anoch Beag and the Grey Corries were still on my right. I dropped down off the towpath to have a look at the Shengain Aqueduct. Mickey, on the West Highland Way, had recommended to me that it was worth a look. The aqueduct allows the canal to bridge the Allt Shengain. As I stood admiring the engineering I heard an engine behind me and was surprised to find a van approaching along the stone track. It squeezed by me and then disappeared down one of the tunnels with what looked like only a couple of inches to spare on either side.   

The Great Glen Way felt totally different to the West Highland Way.  The Great Glen Way felt much more relaxed. There were so many people on the West Highland Way that sometimes it felt you were in a race with everybody else. I was very surprised to find so few people doing the Great Glen Way. I probably met only a dozen people doing it on the six days it took me to walk it. Admittedly, I did meet some of them multiple times. Two of these were Billy and Luke who were planning to do the walk in five days. I caught up with them as they were having a rest on some grass, a mile or so from Gairlochy. By their age difference, they could have been father and son, but there was no familial resemblance. They were Scottish and this was their first time on the trail. They were a friendly pair and it was nice chatting with them. They intended wildcamping further along Loch Lochy than me, and so I said that I’d see them later and left them to  enjoy their break.     

Loch Lochy

My original intention was to camp at the locks at Gairlochy which connects the canal to Loch Lochy. I’d hired a Trailblazer key to allow me access to the Trailblazer ‘wildcamp’ facilities along the canal. There were several of these sites along the Great Glen Way. In the end, I only ended up camping at one of them, and never actually used the key to use their facilities.Most of the time, the campsite locations arrived too early in the day for me to camp. This was the case today at Gairlochy. It was only about 15:00 and with the late sunsets it seemed a waste of the day to not make the most of the sunshine. I decided that I’d walk for another hour or so and then find a pitch along Loch Lochy. The path became a shaded woodland trail and worked its way around some houses before descending to the side of Loch Lochy. There was a lovely view across the loch and this just got better and better as the path followed its shore. I reached a point where there was an area large enough to pitch my tent and which had a stunning view down the length of the loch. This would do me fine and I heaved my rucksack off my back. I sat down to have a rest and admire that amazing view. After about 10 minutes Billy and Luke turned up. They intended to camp further up the loch near Clunes and after a chat, they bid me good evening and continued along the trail. A Typhoon and C130 Hercules had been pottering up and down the Great Glen intermittently all day. As I admired that stunning view down the loch, the C130 appeared from my left and then banked over to head towards Fort William. I bet the people in the plane had a great view too. 

It had been an excellent start to the Great Glen Way and I’d really enjoyed it. The walking was much easier than the West Highland Way and I did wonder whether I’d have been better organising a 5 day, rather than a 6 day schedule. I wasn’t going to worry about that now though.