Back in the Highlands

LSilly me I forgot to hit publish yesterday so you will have two to read today.

Afternoon finishing our Britannia tour,we hit the road back to the Scottish Highlands. Following a couple of comments on Facebook about some things we had missed seeing at Fort William, we thought we might regret not making the effort to back track the 200km. It doesn't sound like much in Australian terms (a couple of hours) but when travelling in the UK driving is a bit slower 200km was going to take at least 3+ hours and that's without stopping, but we were compelled to stop to take in scenes like these.

The photos don't really do justice to the majesty of these mountains. We have higher mountains in Australia but here in Scotland the roads follow the valley floor so the mountains rise up on either side, almost swallowing you. At one stop we had a piper adding to atmosphere, ahh, there is something about the bagpipes and these mountains. About 4 hours later we arrived at Fort William, which sits at the foot of Ben Nevis, the UK's tallest mountain, and is Scotland's major ski resort.

The next morning we got moving early as there was lots to see and do.

First stop Glenfinnan Viaduct also known as "Harry Potter" bridge.

The view in the opposite direction with someone hamming it up. I had to include one of these photos and our kids will get it. The tall skinny thing near the lake is a monument to "Bonnie Prince Charley".

Next stop Neptune's Staircase, a series of 7 locks on Calondian canal. These locks a capable of taken really big boats. This prawn boat was travelling from the sea in the south west to Loch Ness.

Next a cable car ride up Ben Nevis.

This is as close as you get without a big trek.

The view down to Fort William and Loch Linnhe. We enjoyed lunch near the top and back to our lodgings. We were all a little weary so decided to have a rest afternoon.

Following day we said goodbye to mountains and made our way south again to Yorkshire.

Not many photos today apart from a few of Loch Lomond along the way.

Thanks to Jane and Faye whose Facebook comments prompted us to revisited this beautiful part of Scotland it was well worth the 2 days of our travels, most memorable.

TOODLES