Today we started the Great Glen Way (GGW) which runs north-east from Fort William to Inverness. The start of the GGW, it has to be said, is not impressive. The guidebook says to come out of the station, walk through Morrison’s car park and turn left beside MacDonalds.
We first bought some lunch for the next two days at Tesco then headed for the car park. Despite the inauspicious start we very soon saw a steam train puffing away. It was the morning steam train to Mallaig which runs during the summer. We strolled on- we thought we had only 11 miles today-and took a short detour to see the sea lock at the end of the canal. As luck would have it, two boats were entering the lock, one on its way back to Norway. We watched for a while then set off again
The GGW runs along the Caledonian Canal which connects three lochs to form a route from the sea at Inverness to the sea at Fort William. It was built by Thomas Telford, and completed in 1822. The GGW runs at water level for a lot of the way but does head up into the hills as well.
There were lots of cyclists out today, it was a fine flat path beside the water. Not enough benches though…
We passed Neptune’s Staircase, a flight of locks. There was a cafe but as we had only just set out (and had a large cooked breakfast) we didn’t stop. The weather was good, it was sunny and warm but a fairly stiff breeze kept us cool and we made good progress. Due to the lack of benches we had lunch on the grass verge and I changed my shoes. I am breaking in my new walking shoes. My feet (and legs) don’t quite know what to make of them. The soles are thicker (good on the canal path, and less sore on the feet) but less flexible (feels like walking on a board). I’m definitely using my muscles differently. When I swapped back to my old shoes however, they felt really uncomfortable. I expect I’ll get used to the new ones by the time I reach Inverness.
Eventually, we reached the Moy swing bridge-it was built for the farmer whose land was divided by the canal. The bridge keeper had to row between the two halves to open it and it is still operated by hand. When we passed it it was open so I’m not sure whether it is ever closed these days. The swing bridge at Gairlochy (where we left the canal to reach our campsite) is automated and we saw it opening for a couple of boats. By Gairlochy we had already done twelve miles and still had a mile to go to our campsite.
We were staying at the Gairlochy Holiday Park, a small caravan park with a grass area for tents. It was comfortable, clean and it not only had electric sockets where we could charge our phones, but also WiFi. And we managed to have our meal before the midges started to appear. What more could you want?
Rose's LEJOG 