Travel: Fort William, Fort Augustus, Inverness, Scotland

Just as I did previously in the summer of 2012, I signed up to take a bus tour to Scotland, via the Lochs and Glens company.  This business provides a pretty decent deal that includes travel and excursions, accommodations at their exclusive hotels, and meals for an all-in-one price.  This would be, like, the fifth time or so that I've gone on these type of trips; as always, it seems like it's mostly older or elderly folks taking these tours, with just a few exceptions.  I personally think that L&G is a good deal, because it's affordable and largely stress-free.

On this trip, the bus took me to the hotel at Fort William.  The Highland Hotel was recently renovated with a very clean and orderly interior, with pretty decent rooms.  It has stairs outside the front door that leads directly into the town, making it pretty easy to traverse to the main street where the shops are.

The Highland Hotel

On the first day of this trip, however, I was destined to visit the town of Fort Augustus.  Along the way, I got a magnificent view of Loch Lochy and the bens (mountains) on the other side of the water; there was a low cloud cover hanging over the brown hills, illuminated by the sun, and it looked really beautiful.

Passing by Loch Lochy.

Upon arriving at Fort Augustus, I had just a short time to explore.  This town is pretty small with very little to offer, but it does have some nice photographic opportunities.  On one side, Loch Ness is clearly visible, which looked very still and glassy.  On the other side, the River Oich rushed onward, past the ruined tower from an old ruined bridge, which stood very stoically in the middle of the water.  In the town itself, a series of locks runs through the whole thing, offering a place for boats to climb up to a higher level to travel down the water to Loch Oich.  Along either side of these locks were a few small shops and restaurants and things; on one part, you can see a pretty neat Loch Ness statue made of wire.  As far as the Loch Ness monster goes, I regret to say that I have no unusual sightings to report (and it really wouldn't surprise me if the monster doesn't really exist at all).

View of Loch Ness from Fort Augustus.

After seeing that town, we moved on to Inverness, a much larger and busier town built along the River Ness.  There is certainly an abundance of shopping and dining opportunities in this town.  Given the short time I was allotted, I went across a pedestrian bridge to get a better view of the buildings along the riverside.  Interestingly, there was a marathon going on, so I saw a whole bunch of Santa Clauses running along the river path and over the bridges.  Crossing the river again, I got a closer look at Inverness Castle.  Historically, the site had other castles that came and went, but the one that's currently intact is pretty new, dating back to 1836.  It is made of red sandstone, and features a lovely statue of Flora MacDonald (an influential figure from the Jacobite Rising) at its front.  I did not enter the castle (I'm not even sure if it's open to the public), but after a few good pictures, I returned to the town, where I visited a pretty neat Victorian-style shopping arcade.  Around this time of the year, more and more Christmas decor ordained the shops and streets; in front of a major shopping center, I beheld a pretty decent Christmas tree that pumped out an actual musical number on the hour.  Plus, in front of the Inverness Town Hall, I had a sighting of a guy in a knight's outfit giving out hugs, and a another guy dressed as Mickey Mouse in Santa's coat, dancing.

Inverness, as seen from across the river.

Front view of Inverness Castle

The next day, L&G's itinerary offered a trip to their hotels in Artgartan, and a stop in Inverary, which is a pretty nice town along the coast.  Having seen Inverary before, I opted to remain in Fort William and explore that area for a while.  Aside from the main town, which offers shopping, some nice Christmas lights, and a neat statue of an old man sitting on a bench, the town of Inverlochy can be reached on foot.  The directions to get there are a little complicated; we were instructed to go past Morrisons shopping center, cut across a cricket pitch, go down some street, go across some bridge, and I forget what else.  At first, I was actually on the wrong side of everything, but it was a chance to see the old fort gate and a very wicked-looking cemetery that seems to have fallen into disuse.  Upon going back around toward Morrisons, we found our way to Inverlochy, and there was a muddy path running alongside the water.  After a short hike, we reached Inverlochy Castle.  This castle is small and very ruined, offering little more than four stone walls with four ruined towers on every corner.  It's a ruin somewhat comparable, although smaller and less impressive, than Helmsley Castle in Yorkshire.  The castle is pretty neat though, and it is worth a look. 

Inverlochy Castle:  it doesn't get much more ruined than this.

Along the way, you can get a pretty decent view of Ben Nevis in the distance, which is the tallest mountain in all of Great Britain.  It is 4,409 feet high.  For the more adventurous travelers, this mountain offers opportunities for hiking and mountaineering.  There is even a marathon that takes runners partway up the mountain.  In Fort William, there are shops that can offer some outdoors gear, and possibly some outdoor activities.

Ben Nevis

Later, I got the chance to visit the museum at Fort William.  This museum is a pretty small building just off from a wide-open square in the middle of the main pedestrian street, and it's a free exhibit.  Right away, I was surprised as to how much this small museum had.  In the first room, separate from the others, the museum offered some artifacts from WWII, emphasizing the history of the Commandos.  I had never realized that the British Commandos had their origins in Scotland; upon the request of Winston Churchill, training was established in the Scottish Highlands around Achnacarry.  With the extreme weather and terrain of the highlands, it was the perfect place for the toughest and most extreme forms of physical training, survival training, live weapons exercises, and more.  These efforts led to the creation of very effective units that wreaked some serious havoc in the battlefield.  This history was quite enlightening.  The other exhibits in the museum went through some other interesting areas, including the Jacobite Risings and the Victorian age; it is actually pretty amazing how much had happened around the Fort William area, and how much had changed over the years (or, for that matter, how little some things have changed).

This is what Fort William looks like on a rainy winter day.

At the hotel, I was privy to some very nice helpings of haggis:  a Scottish meat pudding made from the combined organ meat of sheep, combined with spices and oat.  This stuff used to be stewed in a sheep's stomach, but these days, haggis is usually encased in regular sausage casing.  Most people act extremely disgusted by the mere thought of haggis, but I think the stuff is awesome.  Other days, I had a pretty decent turkey meal with plenty of vegetables and other sides.  Desert was offered after every dinner, and on the last day, I got a chance to eat something called a cranachan:  it is basically a type of cream with some tart berries, oatmeal, and perhaps a bit of whiskey.

Haggis, as seen at a common butcher's shop.  Mmmmmm...

That pretty much sums up my activities on this trip:  I got the great chance to take many fine pictures, see a few good sights, and eat a few good things.  Despite having a lot of overcast days and rain, it was a relaxing and fulfilling affair.  Fort William and Fort Augustus are worth a brief look, and Inverness is a larger town that may satisfy most visitors.  Along the way, the Scottish landscape is very lovely, and the country overall never fails to be enchanting.