Sunny warm weather is a welcome change after the last couple cold rainy days as we travel to Fort William. One of the vendors at the craft fair recommended we take a side trip to Elgol beach for the beautiful views. The scenery along the way was beautiful, particularly the mountains reflected in the loch and the sheep keeping the grass well manicured along the road.
Elgol Beach was nice, but it didn’t quite live up to the hype, mostly because cloudy skies muted the views. The weather changes so quickly you never know what you’ll get.
The car park was nearly full with people queuing up for Misty Isle boat tour promising “lots and lots of puffins”. A rocky beach led to a flat outcropping.
Wildflowers taking root in the crevices are a stark contrast to the stones and seaweed. It’s incredible how such delicate looking flowers can grow in these harsh conditions.
A tabby cat lounged in the front seat of a caravan parked in the lot. A woman who works at a food stand nearby said she’s been living full-time in the van for 7 years. She said the cat is perfectly content in the small space and that she walks him on a leash when outside. Uh, seven years in a tiny van with a cat?! No thanks.
We didn’t stay at the beach for very long. The clouds cleared as we drove back down the road toward Mallaig.
Our best meal yet was lunch at Red Skye in Bradford. Like many places in Scotland, the building the restaurant occupies has a long history. It was once a schoolhouse heated entirely by wood fireplaces that are still in use today. Our waiter said he occasionally has customers who attended the school as children and it’s interesting to hear their stories.
We enjoyed traditional Scottish foods like Cullen skink, a rich cream soup made with haddock, potatoes and onion, squat lobsters sautéed in butter and garlic, broiled salmon and some of the best bread we’ve ever had. Delicious!
We arrived early at the ferry terminal in Mallaig where we were booked for the 4 PM ferry to Armadale. As luck would have it there was room for one more car on the 2:00 ferry so we squeezed in between two cars, barely clearing the ramp.
We’ll spend the next couple days in Fort William. It sits just below Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the United Kingdom at over 4,000′ above sea level. This area is full of shops and restaurants and has lots of outdoor activities like hiking and mountain biking.
Ashburn House B&B sits on a hill overlooking Loch Linnhe, just a short walk from downtown. The house and grounds are beautiful with colorful flowers and shrubs. Inside is a bit of a mixed bag. There are six guest rooms but no common areas other than a breakfast room that’s only available for a hour or so each morning.
Dwight and Paige have a lovely, bright room overlooking the loch with views of sailboats and sunsets over the water. Our room with a “view of the back garden”, overlooked the parking lot and an old above-ground pool which matched the black crushed velvet decor reminding me of an off-strip Las Vegas hotel.
Paige: Our room was lovely and did not look like Las Vegas in the least.
In the evenings we carried a chair and a tiny tray table from our room over to Dwight and Paige’s and crowded around to play cards, trying not to make too much noise. Once, the lady next door came over and asked us to shut the door so she could sleep. Oops! Now I understand why there’s a bowlful of ear plugs in the hallway.
Breakfast was a pretty good but nothing super remarkable. A small buffet offered typical breakfast fare. The fresh fruit was great and a basket of fresh croissants on the table was a nice touch.
It was nice to have a relaxing day without any travel to rest and recover. We walked along the canal to browse the shops on High Street and checked out the West Highland Museum. We stopped for lunch at Ben Nevis Bar and sat on the patio overlooking the water. The sunshine felt great but the stout wind was pretty chilly.
One of the most interesting displays at the museum was a secret portrait created with a painting technique used by Leonardo DaVinci. The image is unrecognizable except when viewed as a reflection in a glass cylinder, thus allowing Highlanders to toast Bonnie Prince Charlie without fear of being caught.
After an afternoon nap, Riley and I were eager to check out one of the hiking trails. Dwight dropped us off at the Braveheart Car Park near the Cow Hill trailhead around 4:30 and agreed to pick us up at 6:15 in time for our dinner reservations at 6:30. The hike was a little over 4 miles round trip with just over 1000’ elevation gain. The loop started along a gravel road and quickly became a steep uphill slog through the woods. Trees blocked the view until finally opening up to fantastic views of Ben Nevis to the East and Fort William to the West.
It took an hour and 12 minutes to get to the top so we only had about 30 minutes to get back to the car park. Riley led the way through a sheep pasture to shortcut the loop. I’m glad I wore my Xtra Tuf boots because I could feel the boggy ground trying to suck them off as we trudged through. Back on the trail, we made better time but I was worried we wouldn’t make it in time. The return loop was much prettier and a little shorter than the climb up. I called Dwight a few minutes before we were due to let him know we were still a ways away and that they should go ahead without us rather than miss the reservation. Paige gave the restaurant a heads up and was assured it would be fine if we were a few minutes late. I was happy when we finally turned a corner and saw Dwight and Paige in the car. We arrived only 2 minutes late for dinner so all was well.
Paige: I had a very interesting dinner which was a browned chicken breast over horseradish mashed potatoes and green beans. It was topped with a haggis cake which was very tasty. Imagine me eating haggis! I must say we’ve had some very interesting dishes here, many of which we had never heard of. Dwight, Riley, and Chris were more adventurous than I, but we all managed to have a variety of foods. The ubiquitous chips (french fries) managed to show up at practically every opportunity but they were consistently good as well. Sandwiches are a little interesting. If you order a cheese and ham (not ham and cheese, thank you), you get exactly that. Ham and cheese on bread. Nothing else. They will bring you condiments of little packets called sachets of ketchup, mustard, mayo, malt vinegar for your chips, and brown sauce which is a little like Worcestershire sauce.
The restaurant has beautiful views of the mountain a pastoral countryside. It was especially picturesque at sunset.
Spoonfeed 