Hiking in Fort William
Wednesday, March 8th, 2006 11:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mothwingEverybody hold your thumbs, Crocky is in a French test at the moment! It's about the Future tense, terrible stuff.
Apart from that: we managed it! We did manage to obtain reasonably-priced tickets (£15) and went to Fort William, hiking. The bus tour up there alone is absolutely worth it, the landscape is so absolutely gorgeous. Although we could not really see that much of it because of our luck with the weather. Yesterday, it was warm, sunny, cloudy, and dry.
Yesterday, it was cold, rainy, and everything was hidden in thick, white mist, which of course has an appeal of it's own. The rain and the could sucked, though.
I'll show of the ton of pictures we've taken as soon as I can load them on the stick and have time to select some to show you. All of them will probably go to bugbitten.
So, and here comes my completely over-awed account of our trip.
Caution, cheese and possibly bad prose ahead!
We reached home at 21:58 and walked home through the drizzle happily, wet through and too tired to cook so it was Fish and Chips on the way back.
So, everybody visit Scotland! Why? Glencoe alone is reason enough. :)
Apart from that: we managed it! We did manage to obtain reasonably-priced tickets (£15) and went to Fort William, hiking. The bus tour up there alone is absolutely worth it, the landscape is so absolutely gorgeous. Although we could not really see that much of it because of our luck with the weather. Yesterday, it was warm, sunny, cloudy, and dry.
Yesterday, it was cold, rainy, and everything was hidden in thick, white mist, which of course has an appeal of it's own. The rain and the could sucked, though.
I'll show of the ton of pictures we've taken as soon as I can load them on the stick and have time to select some to show you. All of them will probably go to bugbitten.
So, and here comes my completely over-awed account of our trip.
Caution, cheese and possibly bad prose ahead!
To have as much time as possible we chose a bus that would leave at 7:08 at a bus station in Hillhead, around three quarters of an hour from home. Being my usual organised self I only planned half an hour of time for the way there, so after starting to make breakfast I panicked, through everybody out of bed and made them hurry along the sleepy roads of Partick. Never again. We were 18 minutes early in the end and pretty exhausted from the way there. But the bus did arrive exactly on time, and off we were.
Just outside Glasgow, the landscape already becomes absolutely beautiful with forests, hills, grass - which were hidden in thick mist due to our luck with the weather, and everytime we turned a corner, we were surprised with a sight which was even more beautiful than that we had just left.
Due to the thick mists, it was not easy at first to see anything at all, but as we were driving along Loch Lomond, the mist became less thick and after that, we were driving through an enchanted fairy landscape which at times seemed to alien to be real.
Loch Lomond, for example. The huge hills on the other side of the lake were hidden in mist but still somewhat visible, just the outlines melting into and out of sight in the thick white clouds.
The mist was floating a meter above the mirror-like surface of the lake, curling and uncurling, seemingly extending long, white fingers to touch the surface.
The water of the lake itself was silvery-white, with the reflection of the white mists above it and absolutely calm and plain, only very occasionally stirred by waterfowl. Wow. It was an absolutely stunning sight I will never forget.
Due to a sudden cold snap, snow glazed the hilltops around the lake. All along the way, there were frozen waterfalls attached to the schist and granite walls we passed. The small streams which normally come down the hills in white, dancing lines were frozen in mid-move and stuck to the rocks - the whole stream was basically one gigantic icicle.
We passed through glens with only one lone road in the middle and high mountains on both sides, miles and miles of frozen heather extending away as far as we could see, also covered in snow, melting into the walls of mist which obscured the hills on either side.
On either side of the road, there were shallow lakes which disappeared and appeared between the heather, not one huge mass of water, more a huge amount of deep puddles connected and disconnected by heather and huge granite boulders. These, too, were frozen over and covered in snow.
There were no houses, no sheep, not even birds. For miles, it seemed, there was no one, nothing, no life, just this road and the hills.
The next settlement we did see was a single house truly in the middle of nowhere. It was almost a comic sight, hills on either side, heather until it touched the horizon and the mist, frozen streams and lakes - and in the middle of this strangely empty landscape this one house and a party of backpackers marching towards it. You have no idea how suddenly, it was strangely sad and reassuring at the same time to see other human beings!
Glencoe, which we passed next, is one of the most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen. Everybody go there!
The mist had become even less thick by the time we passed through, and therefore we could get a great view on the gorgeous landscape. Huge, craggy hills, a deep lake... Sigh. Beautiful. Someone has taken a picture of it which can be found here. We're definitely going to go back there in summer.
We had hoped for the entire journey that the weather would get better, but it did not. When we arrived in Fort William, the mist was still thick and it had started to rain. The first thing we did, boringly, was to have a cup of coffee at Morrison's.
Then, we set out to make a tour of the surrounding hills. Mountains. Whatever they're defined as.
Due to the mist, the rain and the cold, we didn't even attempt to climb Ben Nevis. It would have been too dangerous - and the tourist center which sells the maps is closed "Until Spring". March IS spring!!
But it was better that way, I guess.
We had a great time hiking around in the misty forests of the mountain opposite Ben Nevis. It was wet and cold, but the sight at the top was just gorgeous. We walked along that mountain range for a while until we reached the end of the trail. Which consisted mostly of frozen or thawing mud. Not nice to walk around in. There, the mountain range we were hiking along on and the train of Ben Nevis were somehow touching, but I couldn't really see if they really do due to the ever-present mist.
There were thick forests of needle-less larches all around, smelling of wet wood and earth and wet needles. The narrow trail through that red forest were always hidden in mists ahead, meandering up the mountain and through these quiet forests. No birds, again. No life, nothing. Just us. It was really great.
We reached a clearing near the top and paused to be awe-struck because of the view. It was absolutely stunning. There was a little river curling along in the valley, the tops of nearly all the mountains were still hidden in curling mist, most of all Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Great Britain, as every schoolchild knows. There was snow on it's top, too. Good thing we didn't climb up there! We didn't even have a map or a compass!
There will be around a million pictures of Ben Nevis once I have the time to upload them. :)
Down we went along another trail through a once more enchanted-seeming forest of birches. Finally! These were covered in the most elaborate lichen - and still, everywhere, curling mist. Sigh. Beautiful!
We went back to Fort William along a river path along a beautiful, clean, broad streamlet and spent the rest of the day on the shores of the beautiful lake close by, I have to look up it's name. The thick mist and fog had returned and around three rain settled in and made it very uncomfortable to be outside, but the lake was so beautiful we didn't really mind. The huge hills on the other side of the shore seemed to rise immediately out of the lake and were reflected in it whenever the rain wasn't too hard. Beau-ti-ful.
The remainder of the afternoon, we spent in Fort William. It's a very pretty, quiet little town I really pity because it seems to live of the tourists alone. There are a dozen shops which offer highland-related souvenirs - even Claymores! Crocky wants one.
The inhabitants are absolutely friendly. For example the local artist we met when we were passing by the art gallery. They have unusual, very pretty pillars next to the entrance. These are compiled of slices of different materials, sandstone, granite, schist, glass, wood and aluminium. Granite and sandstone were piled up at the bottom, above that schist, then wood and aluminium, glass on top. In the wood, names were engraved. We looked at that for a while and as we were looking, this friendly middle aged man came out and explained that this had been arranged by him. The names were those of local school children who had put "messages to the future" in the gaps between the stones.
"It's about change," he said. "Each layer signifies a part of the past of this place, the materials have been collected from local areas and contribute to what is today, and the messages, even though they are for the future, also commemorate the present."
Wow. I have never heard someone actually SAY something like that, it sounded like something someone would write. Very nice, impressive guy who loves his work (working in the local art gallery). Also a very impressive idea for a school project.
It was nearly time to go back, we spent the last hour absolutely tired, dirty, but happy at Morrison's again - it's just next to the coach station - and then we were off home. It was dark to see much, but even so, the outlines of the misty hills against the dark sky and the occasional brightly-lit house were beautiful.
Just outside Glasgow, the landscape already becomes absolutely beautiful with forests, hills, grass - which were hidden in thick mist due to our luck with the weather, and everytime we turned a corner, we were surprised with a sight which was even more beautiful than that we had just left.
Due to the thick mists, it was not easy at first to see anything at all, but as we were driving along Loch Lomond, the mist became less thick and after that, we were driving through an enchanted fairy landscape which at times seemed to alien to be real.
Loch Lomond, for example. The huge hills on the other side of the lake were hidden in mist but still somewhat visible, just the outlines melting into and out of sight in the thick white clouds.
The mist was floating a meter above the mirror-like surface of the lake, curling and uncurling, seemingly extending long, white fingers to touch the surface.
The water of the lake itself was silvery-white, with the reflection of the white mists above it and absolutely calm and plain, only very occasionally stirred by waterfowl. Wow. It was an absolutely stunning sight I will never forget.
Due to a sudden cold snap, snow glazed the hilltops around the lake. All along the way, there were frozen waterfalls attached to the schist and granite walls we passed. The small streams which normally come down the hills in white, dancing lines were frozen in mid-move and stuck to the rocks - the whole stream was basically one gigantic icicle.
We passed through glens with only one lone road in the middle and high mountains on both sides, miles and miles of frozen heather extending away as far as we could see, also covered in snow, melting into the walls of mist which obscured the hills on either side.
On either side of the road, there were shallow lakes which disappeared and appeared between the heather, not one huge mass of water, more a huge amount of deep puddles connected and disconnected by heather and huge granite boulders. These, too, were frozen over and covered in snow.
There were no houses, no sheep, not even birds. For miles, it seemed, there was no one, nothing, no life, just this road and the hills.
The next settlement we did see was a single house truly in the middle of nowhere. It was almost a comic sight, hills on either side, heather until it touched the horizon and the mist, frozen streams and lakes - and in the middle of this strangely empty landscape this one house and a party of backpackers marching towards it. You have no idea how suddenly, it was strangely sad and reassuring at the same time to see other human beings!
Glencoe, which we passed next, is one of the most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen. Everybody go there!
The mist had become even less thick by the time we passed through, and therefore we could get a great view on the gorgeous landscape. Huge, craggy hills, a deep lake... Sigh. Beautiful. Someone has taken a picture of it which can be found here. We're definitely going to go back there in summer.
We had hoped for the entire journey that the weather would get better, but it did not. When we arrived in Fort William, the mist was still thick and it had started to rain. The first thing we did, boringly, was to have a cup of coffee at Morrison's.
Then, we set out to make a tour of the surrounding hills. Mountains. Whatever they're defined as.
Due to the mist, the rain and the cold, we didn't even attempt to climb Ben Nevis. It would have been too dangerous - and the tourist center which sells the maps is closed "Until Spring". March IS spring!!
But it was better that way, I guess.
We had a great time hiking around in the misty forests of the mountain opposite Ben Nevis. It was wet and cold, but the sight at the top was just gorgeous. We walked along that mountain range for a while until we reached the end of the trail. Which consisted mostly of frozen or thawing mud. Not nice to walk around in. There, the mountain range we were hiking along on and the train of Ben Nevis were somehow touching, but I couldn't really see if they really do due to the ever-present mist.
There were thick forests of needle-less larches all around, smelling of wet wood and earth and wet needles. The narrow trail through that red forest were always hidden in mists ahead, meandering up the mountain and through these quiet forests. No birds, again. No life, nothing. Just us. It was really great.
We reached a clearing near the top and paused to be awe-struck because of the view. It was absolutely stunning. There was a little river curling along in the valley, the tops of nearly all the mountains were still hidden in curling mist, most of all Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Great Britain, as every schoolchild knows. There was snow on it's top, too. Good thing we didn't climb up there! We didn't even have a map or a compass!
There will be around a million pictures of Ben Nevis once I have the time to upload them. :)
Down we went along another trail through a once more enchanted-seeming forest of birches. Finally! These were covered in the most elaborate lichen - and still, everywhere, curling mist. Sigh. Beautiful!
We went back to Fort William along a river path along a beautiful, clean, broad streamlet and spent the rest of the day on the shores of the beautiful lake close by, I have to look up it's name. The thick mist and fog had returned and around three rain settled in and made it very uncomfortable to be outside, but the lake was so beautiful we didn't really mind. The huge hills on the other side of the shore seemed to rise immediately out of the lake and were reflected in it whenever the rain wasn't too hard. Beau-ti-ful.
The remainder of the afternoon, we spent in Fort William. It's a very pretty, quiet little town I really pity because it seems to live of the tourists alone. There are a dozen shops which offer highland-related souvenirs - even Claymores! Crocky wants one.
The inhabitants are absolutely friendly. For example the local artist we met when we were passing by the art gallery. They have unusual, very pretty pillars next to the entrance. These are compiled of slices of different materials, sandstone, granite, schist, glass, wood and aluminium. Granite and sandstone were piled up at the bottom, above that schist, then wood and aluminium, glass on top. In the wood, names were engraved. We looked at that for a while and as we were looking, this friendly middle aged man came out and explained that this had been arranged by him. The names were those of local school children who had put "messages to the future" in the gaps between the stones.
"It's about change," he said. "Each layer signifies a part of the past of this place, the materials have been collected from local areas and contribute to what is today, and the messages, even though they are for the future, also commemorate the present."
Wow. I have never heard someone actually SAY something like that, it sounded like something someone would write. Very nice, impressive guy who loves his work (working in the local art gallery). Also a very impressive idea for a school project.
It was nearly time to go back, we spent the last hour absolutely tired, dirty, but happy at Morrison's again - it's just next to the coach station - and then we were off home. It was dark to see much, but even so, the outlines of the misty hills against the dark sky and the occasional brightly-lit house were beautiful.
We reached home at 21:58 and walked home through the drizzle happily, wet through and too tired to cook so it was Fish and Chips on the way back.
So, everybody visit Scotland! Why? Glencoe alone is reason enough. :)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: Wednesday, March 8th, 2006 01:30 pm (UTC)Have I mentioned how much I love Scotland? ;)
Btw: The day we made that highland tour I´m talking about, the weather was just the same. Misty, foggy, rainy, and not everybody of us had an umbrella, so we had to borrow a few from our bus driver, but we absolutely didn´t mind either. I´ve never been in such a beautiful country before... And that kinda weather just belongs to it like everything else. :)
no subject
Date: Friday, March 10th, 2006 12:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Friday, March 10th, 2006 04:24 pm (UTC)And if I can´t upload them in the next few days, cause I´ve come under some time pressure here with my paper, then I´ll simply show them from a CD-R., they're also burned out already. ;)
But on bugbitten I also wanted to write little comments and stuff, like you always do, so I haven´t simply put them there yet, without a word. Also have to figure out how to scale them down in size when putting 'em there and all. How it all works there on the site.
And again, I so wanna go back to these places... Inverness even had a decent youth hostel, which Stirling didn´t. Beautiful from the outside, the latter was built into an old castle-like establishment, but on the inside we didn´t even have sockets in our rooms, for razors or hair-dryers... And I had to sit in the corridor the whole time, drying my clothes and other stuff because some idiot managed to throw my backpack down to the floor (inside our coach) while we were away for lunch, so that 1 liter of Grapefruit juice had all the time in the world to make it´s way though everything I had with me, including my walkman and books... :(
The others went to see Stirling in the meantime, of course, I didn´t even make one step outside, since I somehow had to save my stuff... Nice day, I can tell you. :(
PS.: Good luck with your concert and papers, I´m sure you´ll do great. :) *hugs*
But shame on me for crying over one nasty paper when you have to do so much. When do your holidays start, btw?
no subject
Date: Wednesday, March 8th, 2006 01:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Friday, March 10th, 2006 06:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Friday, March 10th, 2006 12:18 pm (UTC)