Walking from Glasgow to Inverness

Inveroran to Fort William and Millaig: 2-6 Sep 2014

From Inveroran, we climbed up to Rannoch Moor on a Buachaille Etive Mor (The Great Shepherd of Etive). One of my ancestors was postmaster at Bonawe on Loch Etive. The town was created to smelt iron with charcoal from the birch forests now gone and on eof its projects was to cast cannon balls for the Napoleonic wars. My ancestor had to run across the hills to Oban twice a week for the mail but gave it up when the penny post was introduced. He said it was too complicated for him. We have a painting on our wall at home of Loch Etive and Buachaille Etive Mor. It is by my great uncle, Duncan McGregor Whyte, who travelled to Canada and Australia to paint before returning to live at Oban. His work is in collections in Edinburgh University, Oban and in Western Australia.

drover’s road and then across it to Glencoe and the Kingshouse Inn. Loch Rannoch and Loch Tummel lie further to the east. Rannoch Moor, they were pleased to tell us, is so large that it could hold the whole of the Lake District. The Moor is a flattish amphitheatre sloping gently to the east, that used to underlie an ice cap 12,000 years ago, feeding glaciers down the valleys to the sea. Opposite Kingshouse is

From Kingshouse, one of those inns larger on the inside than out, walkers head off down the glen before climbing the Devil’s Staircase, a military road over the passes to Loch Leven. A long time after General Wade, in 1906, the British government decided they could create an artificial lake and channel the water down penstocks and header pipes to a power plant on Loch Leven to make aluminium, the new wonder metal – of which Eros in Piccadilly Circus is made. The new model town to house the workers was going to be called Aluminiumville before everyone came to their senses and called it Kinlochleven. Aluminium is now made much more cheaply elsewhere although the water still powers the generators. The main road now bypasses the town which is looking very sad. A very helpful B&B owner helped scan some documents we needed to sell a rental flat in New Zealand. We still had to find a solicitor willing to guarantee we were who we said we were.

From Kinlochleven, the track climbs up and over a pass where the victorious MacDonalds harried the Mcintoshes in the 14^th century. Once over the pass, a very rough drover’s road that was hard on ankles, wound down the high valley to an abandoned farm. And then to a surprising stop for tea provided by the volunteers who maintain the track. We were passed by a group of 13 Germans and another group of 18 Invernessians and numerous others as we approached Ben Nevis and the final descent into Fort William. Fort William was established by General Monck on Cromwell’s orders to be one of a chain of forts in the highlands, this one on the western sea. It was rebuilt and strengthened under King William and then again after the Jacobite rebellions. A nice town with a High Street suffering from a large supermarket nearby.

We had a day off to find some new boots. Both our pairs were leaking and therefore liable to produce blisters. Gordon was successful but Kerry failed to find her brand. And we also found a helpful solicitor to vouch for us. He was off to a shinty match – gaelic hockey with bent wood clubs instead of hockey sticks and very few rules. Fort William was also experiencing a convergence of healthy-looking people who wanted to run up Ben Nevis. About 1344m up with the record being about 90 minutes up and back. Daft idea, if you ask me. We, on the other hand, took a train to Mallaig passing Sheil water, Lochailort and Morar to the sea.
In the process going over the long, long Glenfinian viaduct made famous by Harry Potter. If we’d taken the steam train, we could have travelled in the same compartments with sliding doors as our heroes from Hogwarts. When we got to Mallaig, we had an ice cream and came back again past Brigadoon dreamscapes in slanting afternoon sunlight to a wonderful fish restaurant on a pier. Our ankles were very grateful for their day off.